Paper vs. Photoshop Paper Dimensions

Hi There,

I don't do a ton of printing, but whenever I do I seem to have the same problem happen every time--no matter if I print at home and send the file out to a professional.

Whether I'm starting with a blank canvas for a composite project, or just working on a photo to get it ready for print, I will establish my dimensions. Let's say for either example I have the full image/canvas size set to 8x10.

I then set it to print on 8x10 paper, borderless, and the preview on the screen in Photoshop looks just fine (I'm using CS6 btw). Then when I print, a small amount is cropped off without any warning! I printed a composite last week at Costco (8x10) and I had a thin colored border around the whole image. The entire top of the picture with the border ended up being cut off (I created the border by added an inside stroke).

Why does this happen and how do I control it? Shouldn't a document set in the computer to 8x10 fill an 8x10 piece of paper exactly, without shrinking or expanding (or cropping for that matter)???

If it's not much, I would say it's just a matter of imprecision on the part of the cutting process. Prints aren't always exact right down to the millimeter.

Costco itself advises you to make your image dimensions a bit "bigger" than your desired full-bleed print to allow for a bit of "bleed-out". I don't have the card with their specific recommendations on-hand but I'm sure you could see them on their web site.

So, it makes sense to follow those recommendations with your home printing as well. I'd say experiment with this, test it out, and determine a good size in pixels for your full-bleed printing!

cdifoto wrote in post #15711522
If it's not much, I would say it's just a matter of imprecision on the part of the cutting process. Prints aren't always exact right down to the millimeter.

But if I'm printing a 4x6 image on a 4x6 piece of photo paper, then there is nothing to cut!

tonylong wrote in post #15711628
Costco itself advises you to make your image dimensions a bit "bigger" than your desired full-bleed print to allow for a bit of "bleed-out". I don't have the card with their specific recommendations on-hand but I'm sure you could see them on their web site.

So, it makes sense to follow those recommendations with your home printing as well. I'd say experiment with this, test it out, and determine a good size in pixels for your full-bleed printing!

Hmmmm. I understand everything you said, but I don't like it (the concept of it, not anything to do with you). Seems like quite an unnecessary frustration.

Ah, well, it's "The Nature of the Beast"!

For your home, inkjet printer there is usually a bleed or expansion control to tweak the full bleed (borderless) print - it is usually something in the printer dialog (software). In that case, you are feeding the printer a cut sheet paper with a specific dimension to whatever precision you think is necessary - you buy the paper in bulk (i.e., 4x6 in paper that is precut maybe too inaccurate for you?) or you buy lager sheets and pre-cut it to exact size. Somehow I have a hard time imagining that your pre-cut 4x6 is not precise enough.

For labs, they use roll paper, and cut it. You have to allow for the cutting process. Consult the printer that you send your work to for the margin - it can be up to 1/8 in.

If neither of these things work for you, you can loosen your crop, especially if you are going to mat and frame. If your crop really needs less than 1/8 in all around, you need to print yourself and carefully control your border, or, better yet, print your 4x6, for example, on larger paper and trim it manually yourself to include whatever area you want. That way you are not trying to print borderless and being disappointed with that small amount of trim. You can also send print jobs to a lab this way, just make your document size larger than the image size and trim manually instead of trying to get a perfect full bleed job.

It sounds like you may not have an appreciation for what you are trying to get your printer to do. Think about what it takes to accurately print at the edge of a piece of paper - it is not a simple task. What printer are you using? Unless you are using a professional grade inkjet printer, you should consider lowering your expectations slightly to align them with the capabilities of the printer.

kirk

RandMan wrote in post #15711638
But if I'm printing a 4x6 image on a 4x6 piece of photo paper, then there is nothing to cut!

Well, not for you to cut.

It's been a while since I have done my own full-bleed printing -- I ended up with piles of 4x6 and 5x7 prints just laying around collecting dust. When I've wanted something like that I just have a shop do a quick job.

But sure, you have to allow for a bit of "trimming"...

For my personal printing I've just gone to printing on paper that is bigger than my planned print size, and I have an "industrial strength" paper cutter that allows me to cut various print sizes (the printer handles 13x19 paper). For 5x7s, I just put together two to be printed on 8.5x11 paper (as well as 8x10 prints).

When you select to print full bleed on your home inkjet printer it actually increases the size of the image slightly to allow for both slight inaccuracy in the paper size, and for the possible error in placing the paper in the printer itself. Commercial printers do the same thing for the same reason, it stops you getting white strips along edges. I know that in my Canon MG5150 printer driver you can adjust the amount of expansion, I always have it set to minimum, and yes occasionally there is a very narrow strip on the paper. I sometimes print 10"×8" on A4 paper, and when trimming notice that the image is not always quite square on the paper, I print trim lines and they are not parallel with the paper when using a paper trimmer.

The only option that I can think of off hand for a lab that will give you an image "full bleed" to the exact dimensions of the image is Whitewall, who are based in Germany, but ship world wide. They print everything at custom sizes, and actually allow a white border on the paper that is extra to the specified print size. This would allow you to order a 16"×12" print that would be exactly that size but with 1" extra paper all round. Because of this you can actually have any aspect ratio print made up to the maximum size which IIRC is about 72"×120".

Alan