cropping & then developing (size questions)

[kamina]

I just got a digital camera, and will shortly send my first pictures to be developed. This may sound like a stupid question, but I'm wondering what happens if I end up with a (for example) 10 x 10 cm image after my cropping?

Should I constantly keep some kind of balance between width and hight while cropping, or what do you usually do?

[Longwatcher]

What I usually do when cropping is determine what my final print size will be. Since I usually print on 8.5"x11" paper I routinely crop for that ratio.

However, every once in awhile a picture just has to be cropped differently to look right and then I just crop it the way it should be and then put a side border on it, which is frequently either black/white or a pattern, which hopefully does not detract from the picture.

The real pain is the crop is different for each paper size I use 4x6, 8.5x11, 11x17, and 13x19.

So in summary if the picture looks it's best the way you have it cropped, don't worry about the picture, worry about the frame at that point.

Just my opinion, feel free to ignore.

[kamina]

That sounds pretty much like I expected it to be.

I've been looking at the offerings of the local photography shops, and they seem to have diferant size prints that they are offering for digital cameras, and then normal film. Is this due to the ratio the pictures come out in as default?

Are the digital images printed with diferant equipment the normal photos? :oops:

(now that I started with silly questions I might as well pack them all in one thread) :D

[maderito]

That sounds pretty much like I expected it to be.

I've been looking at the offerings of the local photography shops, and they seem to have diferant size prints that they are offering for digital cameras, and then normal film. Is this due to the ratio the pictures come out in as default?

Are the digital images printed with diferant equipment the normal photos? :oops:

(now that I started with silly questions I might as well pack them all in one thread) :D

A Digital 35 mm SLR has the same "aspect ratio" (width to height) as a film SLR. It's 3 to 2. The 35mm SLR image plane is 36mm X 24mm. The 10D and D-Rebel use only a portion of that size but still maintain a 3 to 2 aspect ratio. So that translates easily into a 6" by 4" (same as 4 X 6) print with no cropping - thus the standard digital or film print size from the print shop.

Yes, film, transparency, and digital printing systems are different. It may be simpler to resize prints on a digital systems (I'm not sure) - thus greater selections on the print shop menu. However, custom labs will give you anything you want in terms of size.

If you don't work with your shots in an image editing application, you are at the mercy of the lab when it comes to printing for sizes other than 4 X 6. Take a 5 X 7 or 8 X 10 print: most labs will try to center the main image and not cut off heads, toes, etc. With experience, you can crop your images to exactly the dimensions you want before you send them on to the lab.

Your questions are not silly - they are basic and everyone has to struggle with them along the way. Thanks for asking :)

[4walls]

That sounds pretty much like I expected it to be.

I've been looking at the offerings of the local photography shops, and they seem to have diferant size prints that they are offering for digital cameras, and then normal film. Is this due to the ratio the pictures come out in as default?

Are the digital images printed with diferant equipment the normal photos? :oops:


A Digital 35 mm SLR has the same "aspect ratio" (width to height) as a film SLR. It's 3 to 2. The 35mm SLR image plane is 36mm X 24mm. The 10D and D-Rebel use only a portion of that size but still maintain a 3 to 2 aspect ratio. So that translates easily into a 6" by 4" (same as 4 X 6) print with no cropping - thus the standard digital or film print size from the print shop.

If you are not shooting with a DSLR, then your aspect ratio will be 4:3 and not 3:2. This will be a problem if the lab tries to print a 4x6 for you. They will have to crop. Also, they will print on a different machine for film and for digital). You may find that your lab can do enlargements over 8 inches wide for film but not for digital. The machines that do digital wider than 8 inches are big bucks and only the bigger labs typically have these machines.

[kamina]

I'm using a Canon A70 for now. I wanted to wait a while still untill I get a slr, and also make sure that I really am intrested in photography enough to spend that kind of money... I believe it's taking photos in 3:4 ratio, atleast from what I calculated.

[chris.bailey]

No one right way, its very much a peronal preference as to how you want to store stuff and preferred picture sizes.I now tend to crop or crop and add white space to ISO A4 (not much of a crop from a full frames worth). I then know that all my Photoshop files are at that common size even if the A4 sheet contains a lot of white paper. ISO A4 scales down to 7x5 without further crop. You can print 2 7 x 5 on a sheet of A4 and most labs offer a 7 x 5 option. 7 x 5 is a much nicer size than 6 x 4, the extra inch makes a lot of difference.

My only problem is then if I want a 10 x 8 or 10 x 12 rather than an A4 but heh you cant have everything

[atleypnorth]

Are the digital images printed with diferant equipment the normal photos? :oops:


That depends - modern mini labs (eg from Agfa / Fufi + others) are
in fact totally digital. When they print from negative the machine scans the negative and then prints from the scan. The companies who mass develop film and print tend to do this on the 'old fashioned' machines.

From a UK perspective ...