Cropping

[Krieg]

Hi everyone I'm a newb in the photgraphy world and was wondering what program everyone uses to crop their images while not loosing image quality when it gets smaller. Is Photoshop one of the better programs? Will just about any program do a good job without sacraficing the quality? Another thing, Is it always best to use the highest quality and than resizing from there? Sorry if this is in the wrong section.

[steven]

Not the wrong section.

Regardless of the program when you crop an image you are throwing away something.
It is another question if you are throwing away something you need or will notice.
I use PS CS and it does a good job at croping but I think any graphic program can do croping.
Now when you resize your image that is one place there are alot of opinions. Again I like PS CS because I paid for and darn it I'm going to like it;)

To the last question, you should always start with as large an image as possible so as to have the maximum detail possible.
But if you know you are not going to publish to anything other than the web (low resolution) there is little benefit to having high resolution to start with.
You will want high resolution if you are printing and the larger the prints the more resolution you want.

[robertwgross]

This is an excellent reason not to store your images in JPEG. Each time you crop and save, you throw away a little more detail in the remainder.

---Bob Gross---

[tim]

This thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=58037) may be interesting to you.

Every image editing program will let you crop. Photoshop is probably the most powerful, and also probably the most difficult to use.

[Red]

Photoshop is probably the most powerful, and also probably the most difficult to use.
:lol: So true. Photoshop is a real bitch to get to grips with when you are starting out. Try this: http://www.digimods.co.uk/tutorials/tutorials.htm
It's all car related, but it's good fun, and will teach you a lot about the tools of PS and how you can achieve things.

[tim]

Alternately, read at least 3 photoshop books. Photoshop for photographers is great, camera raw with adobe PS is great, and the low down and dirty PS CS tricks book rocks. There are links and proper titles in the sticky thread.

[OceanRider]

I think it would further be helpful to others to explain the propper way to change this number when you do want to print. This is how I was taught using Photoshop.

First off, if I am going to print an image on my inkjet printer, I have found that 240 DPI is more then sufficient. If I am going to have it printed somewhere like Costco where they use a Fuji Frontier, I set it at 300 DPI.

Here is what I do in Photoshop:

1) Crop image to the appropriate proportions. I do this with the selection tool, not the crop tool. The crop tool does a number of things automatically that you may not want. Set the selection tool style to Fixed Aspect Ratio and set the width and height to the size you would like (i.e. 4x6). Select the crop area and click on Image --> Crop menu.

2) Set the DPI. Click on Image --> Image Size menu. Make sure Resample is UNCHECKED. Enter new resolution (i.e. 300 DPI). You'll notice the width and height will chage when you do this. Do not worry about it.

3) Set printed size. Click on Image --> Image Size menu. Make sure Resample is checked as well as Constraint Proportions, and Scale Styles. Enter desired width under document size and it should adjust the height to the appropriate size automatically.

You now have an image that is sized to a specific height/width for a given Print Resolution. Don't forget to save it with a different name so as to keep your original. I normally use something like CRW_5555_5x7.JPG or something similar.

[Krieg]

Hmm good info, Thanks everyone. I guess I outta run out and get myself a copy of Photoshop. Thx for the links Red and Tim. So do a lot of you guys shoot in Raw? I know it takes up way more space on your memory card, but is it really worth it?

[robertwgross]

So do a lot of you guys shoot in Raw? I know it takes up way more space on your memory card, but is it really worth it?

CF card space is cheap, and getting cheaper every day. This is especially true since the very most recent cameras are able to utilize most of the speed of the fastest cards. As a result, the slower cards are being dumped at lower and lower prices. If your camera has little CF interface speed, then it can use those slower cards nicely, and it saves you some cash.

---Bob Gross---

[Red]

If you're new to Photoshop shoot in JPEG.

Basically RAW gives you more control once the pic is on your computer, so if you take a few pics and tweek the hell out of them go with RAW.
If you tend to shoot it and only do minor tweeks you'll probably prefer having space for more photos.