Cropping and Resizing

I have a "full frame" digital camera, I shoot RAW, and I use ACR and

CS2. I prefer not to crop until after I have converted the RAW

file. When I crop, I want to maintain the 2x3 aspect ratio, I want

to maintain resolution of 300 pixels per inch, and I want to discard

as little data as possible. However, if I set the crop tool to 4x6,

for instance, to maintain the 2x3 aspect ratio, then the image size

is either reduced to 1200x1800 at 300 dpi (if I set the resolution in

the crop tool to 300) or the resolution is increased to 772 dpi (if I

leave blank the resolution in the crop tool). When I crop the RAW

image before converting, this does not happen. I cannot figure out

how to crop in CS2 the way I am able to crop in ACR. (Assume the

printer I use can print the image size I want regardless of which way

I crop.) Thanks for your help.

Ignore the dpi setting until you get ready to print. It doesn't matter what's in there. The only thing that matters it the total size in pixels.

Does that mean I need to change the dpi to 300 when the time comes to print? If so, I'd rather not have to do that. I print large batches of photos through a local lab on a Frontier, so once I save as JPEG, I'd like the image to be print-ready.

This is how I do it. I select the crop tool in PS CS2. Set the size at 6"by 4"

set the resolution at 300 ppi. Use crop tool. check perspective if I need to

correct perspective, if not I leave the perspective unchecked. Move crop

around to get the composition I want. Crop. Change from 16 bits to 8 bits

per channel. Save as jpeg. It is now ready for printing in 6X4 size at 300dpi.

Sandy

Search Photo.net for "ppi" - the first entry is Bob Atkins' article "Display, Printing, DPI and PPI":

 

www.photo.net/learn/resize/

Sandy, you describe what I have been doing, which leads to an image size of 1200x1800. That is what I'm trying to avoid. Vladimir, thanks for the link. Unfortunately, it doesn't really answer my question. Basically, I want the crop tool in CS2 to work like the crop tool in ACR. I want to crop using a 2x3 ratio. I don't want to reduce the image to 1200x1800, and I don't want to change the ppi from 300. In ACR, the crop tool allows you to do this without having to make individual size or resolution entries for each image. Can the crop tool in CS2 be set up to operate the same way? Thanks again.

A friend found the answer, which is: you can't make the crop tool in CS2 do what I want it to do. Instead, you have to use the marquee tool, and set a fixed aspect ratio.

I use the Crop Tool all the time and it never resizes my images. Guess how? Just leave the Resolution box BLANK. It's too simple. Then you can crop at whatever ratio you want -- 8x10, 3x2, whatever is entered in the Width and Height boxes.

Right, Ken, but then the resolution is changed. I want the resolution to remain 300 ppi and to avoid resampling. That is how the crop tool works in ACR. That is not how the crop tool works in CS2. So, you have to use the technique I described above, unless someone can tell me otherwise. Here's the explanation from Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2: "Cropping to an Aspect Ratio. Letﾒs say you want to crop your image to a four-by-six aspect ratio..., but you donﾒt want to resample the image... The Cropping Tool canﾒt perform this task anymore, so you need a different technique. First, select the Marquee (rectangular selection) tool and choose the Fixed Aspect Ratio from the Style popup menu in the Options bar. The Options bar then lets you type values into the Height and Width fields (here youﾒd type 4 and 6). Next, marquee the area you want cropped, and then select Crop from the Image menu..."