Help...Trying to convert 4x5 to 4x6! Help!

So the title says it all! I am getting so fustrated trying to convert my

digital images so that I can order regular size prints. I know I should be

leaving a little more room when I take my shots...but have any of you had any

images you love and didn't leave that extra room, then when you go to print its

cropped?! I was playing in photoshop cs3...I put faded edges, put a border, and

have been trying everything to make the picture look ok...needless to say I am

unhappy with how they are turning out! Anyone have any advice of tips to throw

my way?! I am desperate need!

Thank You

Jacki

just add some extra white border using the canvas to bring the print size ratio up to the size you want.

How do you feel about resizing the canvas up to to a 4x6 crop, ordering the 4x6, then cutting off the unneeded border(s) with a paper trimmer or scissors?

why not just order 4x5 prints...many of the online photo printers such as adorama.com or mpix.com offer 4x5. As well as any pro Lab (4x5 is alo a medium and large format film print size)

What about when a customer wants an 8x10 and the size of my image is 8x12?

Other stores offer 4.5x6 prints as well. You do have options.

 

If you're dead certain on going with 4x6 then I would go the route Ellis suggested.

I am only set on the sizes 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 because thats what customers seem to want! Printing these crops out some of the image.

For my personal use it doesn't bother me what size it is!

 

Thanks

Jacki

You have to plan ahead of time while taking the photo. If you know what sizes and aspect ratios your customers want then compose the image so that it will be okay at all of them.

 

35mm film and virtually all DSLRs have a 3:2 aspect ratio. Most point and shoots are 4:3. Large format 4x5 film is obviously 4:5. Many medium format cameras are 6x7 or 6x6 (1:1 square)

 

You can get a replacement focusing screen from Katz Eye Optics that has custom crop lines etched into it. It will help you previsualize a 5:4 crop or whatever.

"Printing these crops out some of the image." - Don't crop out. Just add boarder like Ellis suggested.

"...thats what customers seem to want!"

 

Ok, that's different. We have to contend with that, too. Previsualizing the shot in all the possible crops is just a habit you have to get into. However, there are options when that isn't possible or you start having too much fun and just plain forget.

 

Have you played with adding a bit of background along the long edge(s)? I've been doing that since my first introduction to digital retouching (on a state of the art 486DX-100 with a full 100 megabytes of disk space). We do it all the time.

 

Try this:

First resize the canvas to the crop you need, then either clone in some new background, or select some edge area and transform it (Ctrl-T) wider/taller to fill in the gap. It takes some practice (doesn't everything?) but it can save a picture. You can also, sometimes, expand/compress the whole image in one dimension, just be sure the effect is not visible: about 5% seems to be the limit (and don't make people look heavier! Skinnier is usually OK).

I have been doing a variation. Make a white 4x6 blank layer same resolution as your

picture and add a 4x5 pic on top and flatten the layers. You end up with with 1/2"

borders on both ends.

 

In the future, compose so the top or bottom or some of each can be cropped off so you

can get a 4x6.

I don't know what camera you're using, but most digital cameras have a "Quality" or "Size" setting of "3:2."

 

That's the setting you want on your camera if the goal is 4x6 prints.

I am using a Nikon D80. The image size I have been taking is (large) 3872x2592/10.0M. I dont know what that means but I can change it to (medium) 2596x1944/5.6M or (small) 1936x1296/2.5M. Anyone know what all that means? I will have to find my manual!

 

Thanx

Jacki

I load all my files to a website I have at Smugmug. They have a print option for making 4x5.3 prints from 4:3 files, which means no cropping, and they fit great inside proof books designed for 4x6 prints....

 

http://www.smugmug.com/prints/4xd-prints

 

I know there are other online labs that offer this service. This is the route I would go.

[[i am using a Nikon D80. The image size I have been taking is (large) 3872x2592/10.0M. I dont know what that means but I can change it to (medium) 2596x1944/5.6M or (small) 1936x1296/2.5M. Anyone know what all that means? I will have to find my manual! ]]

 

This will have no affect on the aspect ratio of your images. Those settings are just throwing information away. I would recommend always shooting everything at Large.

Do you understand what an aspect ratio is? It's width divided by height. Do the math. You have a typo in your numbers for the D80. The 2596 should be 2896.

 

3872/2592 = 1.49

2896/1944 = 1.49

1936/1296 = 1.49

 

4x6 print = 6/4 = 1.5

 

The aspect ratio of images from your D80 almost perfectly fits a 4x6 print so there is no need to crop. You can print 8x12, 12x18, 20x30. All of those are 1.5:1 aspect ratios.

 

Stick to the largest size. Learn to previsualize your image for the other crop sizes and then crop when you need to. If you have a hard time previsualizing then order a replacement focusing screen.

 

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/page--Custom-Grid-Crop-Lines--gridlines.html

>>The image size I have been taking is (large) 3872x2592/10.0M. I dont know what that means but I can change it << NO DON'T ! :-)

 

Get your brain around ratios .... 6x4 is 3:2 and 5x4 is 5:4

 

If you don't want the printer to do nasty things to your photo the simplest. if time consuming, is to make the alterations and give the printer a different file. It will not know any better and will print what you want.

 

There is one solution which can work in some situations is to re-size the picture with the "maintain format' un-clicked .. the trouble with this is that you make people fatter etc. in the landscape mode and taller [thinner] in the portrait mode when you change 5x4 to 6x4.

There is a way, it's called seam carving

 

Google "liquid resizer" and quite a few programs come up, google "seam carving" for more info about it

I just wanted to say I googled seam carving...it is soo neat! Thanx kyle!

Jacki, I'm confused here. The d-80 files are right to crop to a 4x6 right out of the camera. Just down load to your computer and use crop tool to make 4x6 to print. Not sure where or how you are getting a 4x5 from a d80. The only cropping problems most run into is the 8x10. 4x6 should be no problem from a d80...Just as Walt said above

Jacki, the solution is very simple. You can either add border, as others have suggested, or you can have the photos printed through Adorama. Adorama will do non-standard sizes, and they let you specify whether you want your images cropped to fit to the paper size or left intact, with two of the margins being wide. Anyway, maintaining aspect ratio and keeping all of your image is simply not a problem. Printing to an EXACT size takes a bit of figuring, though, as you would have to compute the margins/borders yourself, and you might even have to add some margin to get it how you want it.

 

BTW, Adorama also provides color management profiles, so that you can get EXACTLY what you want.

 

I really can't recommend them enough.

OOO my bad i typed that wrong...I am trying to convert 4x6 to a 4x5! I want to be able to make 8x10s without cropping any of the image out! thanx

jacki

[[i want to be able to make 8x10s without cropping]]

 

The solution is the same. You will need to add borders to your canvas in order to achieve the correct aspect ratio.