Cropping while post-processing wedding shots for delivery to client... help please!

[christopheroquist]

I recently shot a friend's wedding and am really happy with most of the results. I need to finish editing all of

these and give her a CD with the files on them so she can have them and print them. I'm in the process of doing

some editing/processing on them and this includes cropping. My Rebel XT gives files that are 48x32 at 72 dpi

(which gives 8x12s at 288 dpi, probably close to 300dpi for a high-quality print).

 

So I guess I have two questions:

 

1. Does it matter if I resize the images that I am not cropping? Meaning, is it the same when a client takes the

files to get them printed if the image is at 48x32 at 72dpi than 8x12 at 288dpi, or should I resize all of these

to 8x12?

 

2. The photos that I am cropping, should I just crop these at whatever sizes will yield a dpi close to 300. If I

want a tighter crop, maybe make the size 4x6 instead? And in the case that some are cropped tighter, should I

give the client a list of all the images with the maximum sizes she can print each image at?

 

What do you guys do?

 

Thanks!

[rffffffff]

if the image is 10x10 at 100dpi, it is exactly the same as if it were 1000x1000 at 1dpi. the only thing that matters is the actual resolution in pixels, i.e. 1000px x 1000px. So don't worry about changing from 72 dpi to 288 dpi. as long as the overall pixel dimensions are the same it makes no difference.

 

We crop our images for the best presentation but as littlle as possible. If there is something in the picture that needs to be cropped out, we do so, but its really hard to decide if people are going to want 4x6's, 5x7s or 8x10s or 5x5s from an image, and if you crop them too much, you limit possibilites.

 

depending on the client, we'll force them into different sizes because they dont know better, but for the most part its better to leave it up to them if they have any sort of capabilites.

 

hope that helps.

[wedding-photography-denver]

You don't need to do anything about he DPi for printers. They usually try to keep somewhere over 180dpi but will use what they get.

 

As for the client. I do what ever I want to them crop wise, then burn them at 240dpi (though I don't care what DPi they are at) to a disk. They get what ever is there.

 

I have had clients print some at way too big (IMHO) for the res they had, but I always tell them to take the advice of the lab doing the prints. (NOT W-mart etc). It's not a big deal really and I would not worry about it unduly.

 

Also, don't set the size to 4x6 unless you are providing "proof only" resolution.

 

Best, D.

[david_schilling___chicago_]

Save the cropping for the printing stage.

[steve_c.5]

Christopher, this gets asked about monthy here, and my advice is to leave the images at the normal PPI (pixels per

inch) as they came out of the camera, and leave them at the native aspect ratio (height to width ratio). From my 12

megapixel camera, mine are 59" x 39" by 72ppi.

 

The reason is that you have no idea what size your client will want to print these, or which ones she'll want printed in

the end. I don't feel that spending that processing time resizing them all to 300ppi is really beneficial. Plus, resizing

is best done by a lab anyway, and if she wants to print them herself, she must either have some software to help her

with it, know what she's doing, or seek advice from you.

 

Also, the aspect ratio is important to preserve. Again, you have no idea what images she'll want to print, or what

sizes she'll want of each image, so trying to crop them all to a certain size is not a good idea. Also, you should

always frame your shots a little wider than necessary, because of the areas of the image that will be lost to various

crop sizes.

 

The other reason I keep the same height to width ratio (even if I rotate or crop an image slightly to recompose it) is

because I print all my images in a color proof book, with the images laid out 4 per page. If you do haphazard crops of

them, they will look hodgepodge and the edges won't line up when printed this way.

 

Again, as David says, save the actual cropping for the printing stage.

[steve_hovland]

When I make my first edit I crop to 4x6, vertical or horizontal, as I go, but only if I think the picture needs it.

 

I only crop the group shots to tighten the frame, and assume 8x10 is the final size.

 

I do not use a pixel setting on the crop tool so I preserve the "natural" pixel count.

 

I have Bridge and Photoshop both open so I can just click and image to go to PS.

 

I think it's important to check the skin tone at this point.

 

I like to see the red value of a skin highlight at about 200. Yellow should be 5-15% or above magenta.

 

I shoot with flash a lot because it's the easiest way to avoid blue skin.

[tigercosmos]

Unless you are actually printing the images do not crop. Cropping may make a photo look great on your screen but when you lose 10% or more of the sides in a frame after it is printed - well... make it easy on yourself and leave the cropping up to the printer.