Trouble making uncropped 4x6 prints

BloodyChamp · Jun 21, 2017

Hi all...this is my first post. I registered here because I flat out can't fix this problem that I've looked everywhere to fix. I like photography and either way I'm sure I'll end up hanging around. This seems like the best place to ask, although the question probably could have fit in a few of the forums.

How can you print 4x6 photos from the phone camera (and a few downloads and screenshots) that don't automatically crop at the photo kiosks in stores? You can bypass the cropping but then it gives you those lame white bars on the sides. I just want a 4x6 print that matches the photo from 1 end of the print to the other like we'd had for the first 1900 years or so of this little thing called photography lol!

Kisoks have let me down for years now (and the last 1 that worked was the discontinued HP ones in Walmart, which only worked when you made a 1 photo collage which collaged that whole photograph). Snapfish worked for a while, then Walmart.com until yesterday. I've since tried several other online services and nothing has worked.

I've been looking at photo printers, particularly the Canon Selphy, but it does the same thing and the peel off thing it does on the sides isn't to attractive. The Canon FB said that can be fixed through the settings but Idk...any advice would be a help lol!

480sparky · Jun 21, 2017

You need to shoot with a 4x6 aspect ratio to start with.

SCraig · Jun 21, 2017

What he said. The only way you can get 4x6 prints without cropping the sides or top and bottom is if you are using a 4x6 (2x3) aspect ratio to start with. If the aspect ratio of the photograph doesn't match that of the paper something has to give.

BloodyChamp · Jun 21, 2017

Here are the options on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S4). I took a picture each size when I first got it and tried them all at the Kodak kiosk and they all had the same problem. I just ignored it until now because I could still just do it online. Granted the Kodak kiosk here is basically a yellow dumpster in a drug store. That could have been the problem or I could have accidentally done 1 1 size twice and forgot the other or something.

tirediron · Jun 21, 2017

You plain can't do it with that 'phone. You need a 2:3 aspect ratio.

BloodyChamp · Jun 21, 2017

Well this is just LAME lol

Light Guru · Jun 21, 2017

Your camera does NOT take photos in a 4x6 (2x3) aspect ratio! You will need to crop them if you want 4x6 prints with no bars on the sides.

BloodyChamp said:
I just want a 4x6 print that matches the photo from 1 end of the print to the other like we'd had for the first 1900 years or so of this little thing called photography

Well first off photography has not been around for 1900 years. And the 4x6 ratio print is actually rather new in the history of photography.

SquarePeg · Jun 21, 2017

Shoot a bit wider and leave room for the crop.

480sparky · Jun 21, 2017

EDIT them to 4x6. THEN print the EDITED image.

BloodyChamp · Jun 21, 2017

Guru with some sick burns

Designer · Jun 21, 2017

Light Guru said:
..the 4x6 ratio print is actually rather new in the history of photography.

New and popular, according to the abundance of frames in that size. I try to find 4x5 frames at my frame source, but have found very few that size. Lots of 4x6's.

table1349 · Jun 21, 2017

BloodyChamp said:
Well this is just LAME lol

No, this is photography. You have to envision the shot well enough to shoot just wide enough to crop to what you want.

480sparky · Jun 21, 2017

gryphonslair99 said:
BloodyChamp said:

Well this is just LAME lol

Click to expand...

No, this is photography. You have to envision the shot well enough to shoot just wide enough to crop to what you want.

Just like one has to envision printing a 5x7. Or 11x14. Or 20x24. :encouragement:

Light Guru · Jun 21, 2017

Designer said:
New and popular, according to the abundance of frames in that size. I try to find 4x5 frames at my frame source, but have found very few that size. Lots of 4x6's.

And yet if you jump up in size you wont find many 8x12 frames (same aspect ratio as 4x6) but 8x10 (same aspect ratio as 4x5) frames are super easy to find. The framing industry is messed up.

KmH · Jun 21, 2017

Do the math!
6 / 4 = 1.5 Which means the long side is 1.5 x longer than the short side and a 4x6 is a distinct rectangle.
4 / 3 = 1.33 So your original phone photo is closer to being a square and is not as rectangular. So it has to be cropped to make a 4x6 print.

8x10 is yet another aspect ratio - 5:4.