printing and resizing

[OceanRider]

hi all quick question:

I have a 20D, I shoot in L-FINE J-peg file size is 3504X2236.

I have a few pic I want to blow up to 5X7.

I don't want to crop in anyway.

Should I just change DPI to 300 and then save to file to take to photo-guy?

Or should I resize it also with apect ratio in PS to 5x7 or does it matter?

Confused!

joel

[prime80]

When you set it to 300DPI (with resampling OFF), your image size will be ~11.7" x 7.5". You will have to crop some in the 11.7" plane to get it to the correct ratio for a 5x7. I would suggest just setting your crop tool to 5x7 (or 7x5) and leave dpi blank. Then crop all the way across the 5" axis so you get all of that in the pic. Move your crop window to where you are happy and then crop it. Then you'll want to resize the resulting picture with resampling ON (I like Bicubic Sharper) to 300dpi. That should give you a 5x7/7x5 300dpi pic to take to the photo guy.

[kevin_c]

Just wondering why you do this in two steps and not just the one?
I crop to the desired size and resample to 300ppi at the same time.

[prime80]

I typically do too, but I've always gotten in the habit of explaining it that way because some people will read the one-step approach and think they can crop all they want that way. When I'm cropping quite a bit of the photo, I do the two-step so that I can see what my new dpi is before resampling.

[jhsurti]

If you dont want to crop, go to Image resize, uncheck the resampling, enter the document dimensions as 5 & 7. Done. The resolution will be set by itself.

[tim]

You don't need to do anything, just send it to a print firm and they'll print it how you like. It'll either have to be cropped or have borders to get the ratio of the paper to match the ratio of the image.

[kevin_c]

...It'll either have to be cropped or have borders to get the ratio of the paper to match the ratio of the image.

This is why I personally do the cropping/re-sizing myself to ensure no 'missing' heads or toes etc :) . That way the images come back cropped exactly the way you want them on the paper size you want (especially if you want it to fit an album or frame).
The main thing is to get the aspect ratio correct for the size of paper.

[flowe]

Regarding aspect ratio: Most people firmly believe in fitting their images to the aspect ratio of the paper. I rather fit the aspect ratio to my image content - as any painter would do. The resulting aspect ratio will be centred in printing with white space making up for the paper used. The white space can be cropped for matting and framing. Looks nice and diversified. Likewise, I refrain from down sampling for printing. Now, editing produces a single master for any print. This strategy vastly reduces the number of files to manage (and disc space), and - to me - works flawlessly. This doesn't necessarily apply to you, but it might be worth while to consider the advantages. :)