GETTING PHOTOS PRINTED CORRECTLY
by Phil Ball
Q. When I want prints made, I send them to the local store and they
make nice prints for me. The problem is that sometimes they cut something
important out of my images along one edge or another. Why do they do that?
A. It is one of the oddities of the photographic world that print sizes and
images shapes do not always match. Put simply, the shape of the image
frequently does not match the shape of most prints. When comparing the sizes
of the sides of the print, it turns out that they are simply just not the
same shape as the original image and in order to make a print that size, the
lab has cut off a little of both opposite sides to make it fit.
For instance, your camera may make an image that is a ratio of 4:3. That
means that there are 1/3 more pixels on the long side than there are on the
short side. So if the image is 4:3 ratio, enlarging it would make a 8"x6" or
a 16"x12" print which would still maintain the 4:3 ratio so your print would
show the entire image. But if you want to make a more common 8"x10" print,
some of the original image on the 8" sides will have to be left out since an
8"x10" print is squarer than the original 4:3 image. To make it fit, you
would either have to squeeze the image which might make noticeable and
objectionable distortions, or you would have to cut some of the image off.
The lab simply takes the only valid choice and leaves some of the image off
to make it fit onto the more square shape of an 8"x10" print.
The only way to control this effect is to crop the images before sending
them to the lab. Then you can decide how you want them adjusted to fit the
paper. This is just one of those things that you have to put up with since
there is no better way to fit your images to paper.
Published: Courier 11/3/13 - Page 3C