Image Aspect Ratio Off

[smoke665]

Got in a hurry trying to finish the editing on about a dozen shots. I was on a roll thinking about the image when I cropped and not aspect ratios. Didn't discover my mistake until after I upload the files to the lab, and got to the order point. So now the question, do I go all the way back to the raw image file and start over? Or, can I resize the current jpeg to larger than necessary and re-crop it a standard size? I could live with a little loss of image area, but my concern is the effect if any on the quality of the print?

 

[480sparky]

Not enough information. We'll need to know what the pixel dimensions of the finished file is, and what size you are intending to print.

If you saved your editing steps as a raw file, you might be able to reload it and edit the crop step.

 

[smoke665]

They're varied on dimensions but overall I'd say a 20% increase would give me enough to work with. I keep a separate file of my raw images. On processed/edited I keep a flattened file, but I'm not sure that PSP 8 will let me unstacked the layers once it's saved and closed.Even if it would I usually crop at the very beginning to help on processor speed.

 

[smoke665]

Ok went back to a processed file, resized it to a larger image, cropped it to a 750 x 1050 300 dpi JPEG and saved it (wallet size minimum dimension per lad). Uploaded the files to the lab. Now when I order, the crop comes up correctly, but I'm getting an error message on the checkout page (Resolution needs to be at least 180 DPI for the image size you selected, quality may be affected). So now I'm not sure if it's a lab problem or what???? I've emailed them but they're closed today so guess I'm doomed to not get this order done this weekend.

 

[Watchful]

You don't use non destructive auto saves?

 

[480sparky]

750 x 1030? How big is the print gonna be?

 

[snowbear]

If I did the math correctly, I come up with 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" at 300 DPI; 180 DPI would give you about 4" x 5-3/4"

 

[KmH]

DPI is a printer resolution, not a print resolution.
Print resolution is Pixels Per Inch

1030 px divided 300 PPI = 3.43 inches
750 px divided by 300 PPI = 2.5 inches

Note that Photoshop is careful to use the proper term pixels/inch:

 

[jsecordphoto]

You don't use non destructive auto saves?

They mentioned that they flatten all the layers and save once the image is processed. Or maybe you just like asking questions that have already been answered

 

[Watchful]

Non destructive editing saves files so you don't lose the originals, incremental saves will make a series with one or two steps only done per for le. I was asking because the files will be hidden but still there, see?
Just offering some help to the op.
You can ignore it if you like as it wasn't said to you anyways.

 

[smoke665]

You don't use non destructive auto saves?

I duplicate my raw image file and work with the duplicate, thereby leaving the raw file as is. Once the duplicate is edited I flatten the image file to save space. PSP will let you separate the layers as long as the file is still open, but once closed you can do new edits, but not back out the old ones. I guess if the work was critical or if I had more than just few layers involved, I would look at the incremental saves, but most times if I like the image when I'm done with the edit, I probably won't change it, and the steps to recreate it to that point are few.

 

[Watchful]

Set your save type to incremental, or hit the little plus sign in the save dialogue to save as the same name incremented by 1. So if the file is called great shot, the saves will be great shot1, great shot2, etc. That way if you realize the first 4 steps were fine, but the 5th was wrong, you can go back as far as you need only to fix the error.

 

[smoke665]

DPI is a printer resolution, not a print resolution.
Print resolution is Pixels Per Inch


Sorry to much multi-tasking. You are correct the resolution was saved at 300 ppi, not dpi. The print was cropped to the dimensional information (750 x 1050) posted on the labs web site as the optimal for a wallet size of 2.5 x 3.5. Your calculation was off because you erroneously entered 1030.

 

[Watchful]

Image (file) resolution is Pixels per inch because the file is made of pixels. Print resolution is measured in dots per inch, the dots the printer lays down.

 

[Dave442]

I often have to supply different crops of photos. So I do not crop until the end and each crop has it's own copy name.

I guess if you have a flattened image and just need to fill in some border area that may not have had much processing anyway then I would just drop in the original file and blend that with your current crop and then make the new aspect ratio crop that you want to print at.