Resizing for Blurb books

Having a heck of a time understanding how to resize an image in photoshop, to fit the various containers. I can't get my head around why I can't get an image from a 40D to fit the dimensions at 300PPI.

Not sure what order to do what steps to obtain the desired end result.

I swear I am losing my marbles with this.

Thanks for your help.

What don't you understand, the whole concept of image size/resolution or just one particular size?

For example - if the image size is 6" x 4" and they want this at 300ppi then 6 x 300 = 1800 pixels and 4 x 300 = 1200 pixels.
Therefore an 1800 x 1200 pixel image @300ppi will print 6" x 4"

When I follow the recommendations for the container size, I don't get the same numbers on both dimensions as they prescribe. Plus whenever I change both numbers to match the prescribed size, I get a image that gets distorted.

You will have to 'crop' the images for the aspect ratio for the 'container', not resize them.

Your DSLR will have an aspect ratio of 3:2 - if the 'container' is 10" x 8" (for instance) that has an aspect ratio of 5:4 (2.5:2)

Bosscat wrote in post #5189709
When I follow the recommendations for the container size, I don't get the same numbers on both dimensions as they prescribe. Plus whenever I change both numbers to match the prescribed size, I get a image that gets distorted.

You first have to crop to fit the aspect ratio that's required, then you resize to fit the actual dimensions.

There are numerous "standard" sizes that don't have the same aspect ratio, e.g. 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 12x16 all are common print sizes that have different ratios. The only one of these that a Canon DSLR will match out-of-camera is the 4x6 (or by enlarging a 12x18). I don't know how exactly the images will match the 2x3 proportion, though.

At any rate, at any proportion other than 2x3 you'll have to crop off the long dimension at the ratio you need then resize to the dimension and the 300 ppi pixel density you need.

Hope this helps!

I understand the aspect ratios, just brain dead lately, from some personal issues, and probably why I am struggling with this.

Can't believe I made a book a year ago and it seemed pretty easy.

Bosscat wrote in post #5189821
I understand the aspect ratios, just brain dead lately, from some personal issues, and probably why I am struggling with this.

Can't believe I made a book a year ago and it seemed pretty easy.

I made 3 books last year and it was no sweat. I did not crop or resize anything beyond my original cropping decisions for content. Then I dragged the pictures into the blurb frames and dropped them. If the frame in the page had a little different aspect ratio the book just crops it automatically.

Then you can drag the pictures around in the frames as you wish. Also you can tell it not to crop and it will print with the original image ratio and set the sizing by whatever it takes to fit the whole thing in the available space.

Bottom line - you should not have to manually resize all of your shots to make a blurb book.

True, their software does a pretty good job & I used it for some of my cousins shots that they took with a P&S. Still, to get the max quality, I resized & sharpened to that size for the "Iron" book.

JeffreyG wrote in post #5190859
Bottom line - you should not have to manually resize all of your shots to make a blurb book.

Unless you want to maximize quality and minimize (transfer) size.

I just finished two books for a customer. Every page was created in CS2 because the Blurb s/w is woefully inadequate (IMHO) when it comes to layout options.

Every picture was cropped, resized and sharpened individually before being composited onto the page.

On the bright side, the actual book creation (in the Blurb s/w) took almost no time at all.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #5191583
Still, to get the max quality, I resized & sharpened to that size for the "Iron" book.

Thats what I am after, since if this turns out mint, I'll be able to sell an awful lot of copies of the book, and thats always been the goal.

If you do any full page images as I did, be sure to add a little extra image for the gutters.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #5194027
If you do any full page images as I did, be sure to add a little extra image for the gutters.

Thanks, I sometimes hate myself for getting some shots so right in camera, that I can't use them for full bleeds, or 8x10's 16x20's

Of course I have a shot I wanna use for a full page, but I think it may not have enough space round the edges.

I have decided to operate with a plan, and make notes of everything I do as I go along, instead of flying by the seat of my pants

Me, too! I shot transparency for decades & still have the habit of filling the frame. So I print 12" X 18"s!