Enlarging in Elements

[talford]

After spending frustrating hours uploading photos for enlargement, I am finally resolved to go to the place I should have started with. So, someone please tell me why some of my image is cropped out when I print an 8 x 10 or larger. I'm sure it is a simple fix in Elements due to the way I saved it but I cannot figure it out for myself.

[tim]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=330455&highlight=aspect+ratio
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=352264&highlight=aspect+ratio

[StewartR]

You need to think in terms of the aspect ratio - the length of your image divided by its width. It doesn't really matter whether you think in terms of pixels, centimetres, inches, or whatever (so long as you use the same unit for both dimensions).

The native aspect ratio of all Canon DSLRs is 1.50. (For example pictures from your XTi are 3888x2592 pixels, and 3888/2592 = 1.50.) If you want to print at 6x4 or 12x8 then that's the same aspect ratio and so you can print the whole image. But other common print sizes (e.g. 7x5, 10x8, ...) don't have the 1.50 ratio, so you need to crop out some of the image. I know you can do the sums yourself, but just as an illustration:

* 1.50 = 12x8, 6x4, standard uncropped photo
* 1.44 = 11.5x8
* 1.41 = A5, A4, A3 etc. paper
* 1.40 = 7x5
* 1.33 = standard PC monitor
* 1.25 = 10x8

Note that the 1.50 ratio is the largest, which means that you'll always need to crop the long dimension of your picture (i.e. make it squarer) to fit on these other shapes.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=108131