How to stop Loxley reframing prints

[jeff_ford]

Hi all

My wife has several hundred prints she wants to have printed by Loxley but we cant find how to stop the images being cropped/reframed

We just want to select a print size (15cm x 10cm) and have the images printed for 'best fit' within that. I'm surprised this sin't the default option, but we cannot find how to do this. 

 

Any suggestions please?

[Sandy Vongries]

Not familiar with the company, but generally the most consistent results are obtained when your desired print size matches the proportions of your format.  When they differ some cropping has to be done.  You could also pre crop images to the proportions you require before you send them.

[jeff_ford]

That's the problem, they've all been cropped. I don't understand why the integrity of the image is respected rather than enlarged to fill the paper. Seems ludicrous. I'm a cinematographer of 40 years, if somebody reframed my work to fit the screen like the old pan and scan for TV) I'd go nuts. 

[Tony Parsons]

Would not creating the images to a larger size, with generous white space on each edge, mean that even if cropped the resultant image would still contain the entire original photo (or other art) ?

[glen_h]

14 hours ago, jeff_ford said:

That's the problem, they've all been cropped. I don't understand why the integrity of the image is respected rather than enlarged to fill the paper. Seems ludicrous. I'm a cinematographer of 40 years, if somebody reframed my work to fit the screen like the old pan and scan for TV) I'd go nuts. 

But pan and scan is exactly the way they fill the screen, and exactly what you say they are not doing.

But most now have a web site that will let you crop appropriately, with the image on the screen.

They don't guarantee it exactly, for a variety of uncertainties in the process, but it should be close enough for the usual use.

But if you want the whole image, then you get bars on two sides, unless it is exactly the right ratio.

[jeff_ford]

5 hours ago, glen_h said:

But pan and scan is exactly the way they fill the screen, and exactly what you say they are not doing.

But most now have a web site that will let you crop appropriately, with the image on the screen.

They don't guarantee it exactly, for a variety of uncertainties in the process, but it should be close enough for the usual use.

But if you want the whole image, then you get bars on two sides, unless it is exactly the right ratio.

Then I've not explained it clearly. They are enlarging the image to fit the ratio of the paper (pan and scan....which should never have been allowed 😡). I WANT the bars. I want the image printed how it was intended. I'd rather trim the bars post printing than have them trim my image to fit their paper. How do I get them to retain the whole image WITHIN the paper ratio

[jeff_ford]

Take this image....I obviously want the full width....but when I load it onto their software it just reframes to 2 faces.....

She used to print everything herself on an old Epson R2800. But its no longer working and we hoped outsourcing the prints would be easier than replacing the printer.

But I may be wrong 😂

[Ken Katz]

Find a photo print company that will print the images in "letterbox" format, which would produce a white border on 2 sides of the image (like when viewing a high aspect ratio film on an HD TV screen).  In the US, I have only found Adoramapix with this option.

I have a solution using Lightroom to add a "letterbox" boarder to images sized for the print size you specify:

https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/534632-letterbox-print-feature/#comment-5750557

There is also a solution using Photoshop suggested by a Member

 

[AJG]

You need to add white space in Photoshop or another program to make the image size exactly what they will print.  If it is 4x6", for example then add white space on the top or sides to fit their format.  The canvas size adjustment in Photoshop will do this easily. This is part of the price you pay for inexpensive machine made prints--inflexible formatting requirements.

[glen_h]

Well, enough white space that you can crop off some of it off.

 

Adobe Acrobat Reader has the choice of filling the page or scaling to fit the whole image.

Many print sites, though, as you note, don't do that.

[jeff_ford]

Frustrating as there used to be a 'fix aspect ratio' option ........or similar terminology

adding borders isn't an option as there are around 1800 to be printed.

 

We'll buy a new printer, got boxes of Fine Art paper to use up anyway....🙂

 

[jeff_ford]

OK. so for others.....there is an option to 'FIT' which can be applied on a print by print basis, I'm waiting to hear if there is a global command to apply it to all 1800 uploaded images....

[jeff_ford]

On 11/21/2022 at 3:37 PM, Ken Katz said:

Find a photo print company that will print the images in "letterbox" format, which would produce a white border on 2 sides of the image (like when viewing a high aspect ratio film on an HD TV screen).  In the US, I have only found Adoramapix with this option.

I have a solution using Lightroom to add a "letterbox" boarder to images sized for the print size you specify:

https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/534632-letterbox-print-feature/#comment-5750557

There is also a solution using Photoshop suggested by a Member

 

Unfortunately that won't work, too many images to edit .... There is a solution on the Loxley site for individual prints , I'm waiting to see if this can be applied to multiple images

[jeff_ford]

YESSS!!!  ***SOLUTION***

 

I knew there was a way!

From Loxley:

Sorry for the confusion, I understand what you mean now.
 
When you are in the product builder if you select the fit button, then right-click on your images and select all. Then drag and drop the image in the picture box, this will fit all images.

 

THANK YOU LOXLEY

 

[glen_h]

My Linux system has a program called convert, which seems to actually be ImageMagick.

It has a huge number of options, which I suspect include adding a white border.

It is command line driven, and can easily be applied to a large number of files.

I have this csh script, which applies it to a set of files:

 

#!/bin/csh
foreach i ( $* )
set j=`echo $i | sed s/\\.JPG\$/s.JPG/ | sed s/\\.jpg\$/s.jpg/ | sed s/\\.jpeg\$/s.jpeg/`
echo $i
if( "$i" == "$j" ) echo equal
if( "$i" != "$j" ) convert $i -resize 1000x1000 -quality 100 $j
chmod 444 $j
touch -m $j
end

 

This one resamples the image down to at most 1000x1000, which I use before posting images.

It can easily be applied to 1800 files, or even more.