How to crop pictures with correct print aspect e.g. 4x6..

Hi All;

I have a Canon printer which I loved; but used knockoff ink cartridges and one leaked; took printer in for service; canon paid an auth repair shop to clean the printer (yay)

While in the shop; my folks heard 'printer is not working' and bought me an HP printer...

I LOVE the quality of the HP unit; BUT...

With the canon; there was an app called Easy Photo Print that would allow you to put the 'crop' rectangle on the picture to show what area of the full size picture you wanted to print. If you enlarged it vertically; the horizontal would also grow-thus retaining the L by W ratio.

Problem is; it only works when printing to the Canon printer.

Is there a free or cheap (< $20) application for windows that will let me do the same thing?

As seen here:

Thanks in advance..

-ToM D.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

In Photoshop CS use the select tool, and in the options bar choose 'fixed aspect ratio'. Enter 6 wide and 4 high, and the correct ration will always be selected. Choose Image | Crop to crop it.

I don't know if PS elements does it or not., but it's worth a go. Photoshop's invaluable to me, well worth it's price, especially if you can get an upgrade price.

Will this let me 'drag' or re-size the cropped selection until I get what I like?


The outer frame in the pic shown above can be resized until I find a framing I like + I can slide it around until I get it exactly how I want it.

Sorry If I'm not explaining this better..

-Tom D.

yes it will. quite nicly too.

PS Elements does it!

As mrsmac says PSE will do this too. After selecting the crop tool, type in the width and height dimensions you want and the aspect ratio will be maintained when you click and drag. Once you let go of the mouse you can subsequently click on the cropped area and move the selection while keeping the left click of the mouse depressed.....very easy and I use it a lot.

Just a note, however, PSE will 'remember' your selection for the next time you use the crop tool so you will either need to reset it for more random dimensions or re-type your new crop width and height dimensions for an alternative print size.

Gordon

Thanks all!

I can't believe I didn't notice the size bar on the top of the screen (The default in my PS 7.0 was pixels; when I changed measurements to inches it became too obvious).

Again; thanks

-Tom D

I am not sure.

I founded that I can use Select tool to select (and then Crop) the picture just with requred aspect ration.

But I can't use Crop tool to crop the picture with preselected aspect ratio without resampling.

You can easy move and resize "crop tool selection".
But I can just move (no resize) my "select tool selection".

Or may be I am just missing something....

Kostyanych wrote:
I am not sure.

I founded that I can use Select tool to select (and then Crop) the picture just with requred aspect ration.

But I can't use Crop tool to crop the picture with preselected aspect ratio without resampling.

You can easy move and resize "crop tool selection".
But I can just move (no resize) my "select tool selection".

Or may be I am just missing something....

If you don't want to resample when cropping, make sure that the "resolution" field is blank. If it's not, the cropping tool will resample the image to comply with the resolution specified.

If you wanted the whole image. Not just a cropped section. Couldn't u just change the image size to desired print size?

Yes you can but that's not what was asked.

Or, I have just founded the solution.

I have tried to clean resolution box before. But!!!

If you put just number into width and height for the crop tool (in the toolbar on the top) PS will put px in these windows.
And in this case you will get resample anyway.

But if you put 8 in into the width and 10 in into the height, and clear resolution window you will get the crop wihtout resampling. Also you will get funny resolution (like 5.6 px/inch)
But it is very easy to fix.

Before I have tried just first way. And I was getting resample every time.

Well, now everything is clear for me.

Kostyanych wrote:
Or, I have just founded the solution.

I have tried to clean resolution box before. But!!!

If you put just number into width and height for the crop tool (in the toolbar on the top) PS will put px in these windows.
And in this case you will get resample anyway.

But if you put 8 in into the width and 10 in into the height, and clear resolution window you will get the crop wihtout resampling. Also you will get funny resolution (like 5.6 px/inch)
But it is very easy to fix.

Before I have tried just first way. And I was getting resample every time.

Well, now everything is clear for me.

Yes, you're right about the Pixels unit. I always use the Inches unit so it never occurred to me that your resampling problem may have been related to the unit (Pixels in your case) you were using.