Dimension / Printing Problem

F
Posted By
Fruit2O
Nov 24, 2006
Views
233
Replies
7
Status
Closed
I’m using an Epson 1280 – but I suspect this applies to any printer: Let’s say I have a photo (200DPI) that I have cropped to 4"x6". I want to print one copy. IfI use a sheet of 8 1/2"x11" paper, it will print in the missle of the sheet – thus wasting the rest of the sheet. So I create a blank canvas at 200DPI and 8 1/2"X11" – then drag my 4×6 over to it and place it so that I have paper left over to print something else – OR I might arrange to print two of this same 4×6 on the same sheet. I use the Ruler function and all looks well. However, the finished 4×6 or two 4×6’s are approximately 8% smaller after printing. Can someone tell me what’s happening? Also, perhaps there is a better way to make the most use of a sheet of paper and still get the dimensions of the prints that I want as a result. I suspect that I’m going about this wrong. I’m also assuming that a 4×6 at 200 DPI should fit on a 8 1/2×11 (200DPI) without shrinking or changing dimension in any way. Please help.

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B
bmoag
Nov 24, 2006
How I do it/works for me:
First you should print at 300 dpi to achieve best results overall. When the 1280 was its best printer Epson had a lot of info on its site and recommended no lower than 260 dpi, optimal at 300 dpi. If you keep your images at 300dpi through your workflow life is easier.
Resize your image appropriately using the image/size command. Simply cropping to a 4×6 ratio is not enough. If you have to convert to 300 dpi the bicubic sharper setting is probably best (other opinions unwelcome). Do this prior to applying software sharpening.
Create a new document, letter sized, at 300dpi.
Copy your sized/software sharpened image and paste on the empty new document.
Do not check the resize to fit box.
How do you measure an 8% change? I never measured that closely and maybe I am getting the same change!
F
Fruit2O
Nov 24, 2006
On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 17:43:20 GMT, "bmoag" wrote:

How I do it/works for me:
First you should print at 300 dpi to achieve best results overall. When the 1280 was its best printer Epson had a lot of info on its site and recommended no lower than 260 dpi, optimal at 300 dpi.

OK, 300 DPI it will be from now on.

If you keep your
images at 300dpi through your workflow life is easier.
Resize your image appropriately using the image/size command. Simply cropping to a 4×6 ratio is not enough.

Please explain…..after cropping, I always make sure the resolution is 200 DPI.

It seems like I’m usually working with an image that NEEDS cropping to fit a particular frame.

If you have to convert to 300 dpi the
bicubic sharper setting is probably best (other opinions unwelcome). Do this prior to applying software sharpening.

OK, understood. But cn you explain why bicubic?

Create a new document, letter sized, at 300dpi.
Copy your sized/software sharpened image and paste on the empty new document.

This is as opposed to my dragging the image onto the 8 1/2×11 blank image. What is the differebce.

Do not check the resize to fit box.

Never touch it.

How do you measure an 8% change? I never measured that closely and maybe I am getting the same change!

It’s mathematical. I can expalin in another posting. But it’s easy to recognize if you crop to a 4×6 and the result is slightly smaller.

Thanks for the help.
TB
Tony Blair
Nov 24, 2006
"Fruit2O" wrote in message
I’m using an Epson 1280 – but I suspect this applies to any printer: Let’s say I have a photo (200DPI) that I have cropped to 4"x6". I want to print one copy. IfI use a sheet of 8 1/2"x11" paper, it will print in the missle of the sheet – thus wasting the rest of the sheet. So I create a blank canvas at 200DPI and 8 1/2"X11" – then drag my 4×6 over to it and place it so that I have paper left over to print something else – OR I might arrange to print two of this same 4×6 on the same sheet. I use the Ruler function and all looks well. However, the finished 4×6 or two 4×6’s are approximately 8% smaller after printing. Can someone tell me what’s happening? Also, perhaps there is a better way to make the most use of a sheet of paper and still get the dimensions of the prints that I want as a result. I suspect that I’m going about this wrong. I’m also assuming that a 4×6 at 200 DPI should fit on a 8 1/2×11 (200DPI) without shrinking or changing dimension in any way. Please help.

Are you getting mixed up between dpi (dots per inch – printer resolution) and ppi (pixels per inch – image on computer resolution) A good quality printer will print far in excess of 300dpi, whereas 240-300ppi will probably suffice for image resolution!
F
Fruit2O
Nov 25, 2006
On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 20:41:16 -0000, "Harry Limey" wrote:

"Fruit2O" wrote in message
I’m using an Epson 1280 – but I suspect this applies to any printer: Let’s say I have a photo (200DPI) that I have cropped to 4"x6". I want to print one copy. IfI use a sheet of 8 1/2"x11" paper, it will print in the missle of the sheet – thus wasting the rest of the sheet. So I create a blank canvas at 200DPI and 8 1/2"X11" – then drag my 4×6 over to it and place it so that I have paper left over to print something else – OR I might arrange to print two of this same 4×6 on the same sheet. I use the Ruler function and all looks well. However, the finished 4×6 or two 4×6’s are approximately 8% smaller after printing. Can someone tell me what’s happening? Also, perhaps there is a better way to make the most use of a sheet of paper and still get the dimensions of the prints that I want as a result. I suspect that I’m going about this wrong. I’m also assuming that a 4×6 at 200 DPI should fit on a 8 1/2×11 (200DPI) without shrinking or changing dimension in any way. Please help.

Are you getting mixed up between dpi (dots per inch – printer resolution) and ppi (pixels per inch – image on computer resolution) A good quality printer will print far in excess of 300dpi, whereas 240-300ppi will probably suffice for image resolution!

Yes, I was using the terms interchangably – and shouldn’t have. However, the basic problem remains that my resulting print is always slightly smaller than it should be.
D
donest
Nov 26, 2006
We use PhotoShop as a design program. It’s important that the size of the printed image measures the same as it did in PhotoShop and technical drawings with dimensions on them match what you measure. The only time that it has not printed to size is when we use 300 dpi and the doc size is 8.5 x 11 inches. 300 dpi has nothing to do with it, that’s just what we use.We always got the message when printing that "some clipping might occur". Sometimes it DID clip! We solved the problem by making the document size slightly smaller than the paper size (i.e. 8 x 10.5). This always works for us now.

"Fruit2O" wrote in message
On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 20:41:16 -0000, "Harry Limey" wrote:

"Fruit2O" wrote in message
I’m using an Epson 1280 – but I suspect this applies to any printer: Let’s say I have a photo (200DPI) that I have cropped to 4"x6". I want to print one copy. IfI use a sheet of 8 1/2"x11" paper, it will print in the missle of the sheet – thus wasting the rest of the sheet. So I create a blank canvas at 200DPI and 8 1/2"X11" – then drag my 4×6 over to it and place it so that I have paper left over to print something else – OR I might arrange to print two of this same 4×6 on the same sheet. I use the Ruler function and all looks well. However, the finished 4×6 or two 4×6’s are approximately 8% smaller after printing. Can someone tell me what’s happening? Also, perhaps there is a better way to make the most use of a sheet of paper and still get the dimensions of the prints that I want as a result. I suspect that I’m going about this wrong. I’m also assuming that a 4×6 at 200 DPI should fit on a 8 1/2×11 (200DPI) without shrinking or changing dimension in any way. Please help.

Are you getting mixed up between dpi (dots per inch – printer resolution) and ppi (pixels per inch – image on computer resolution) A good quality printer will print far in excess of 300dpi, whereas 240-300ppi will probably suffice for image resolution!

Yes, I was using the terms interchangably – and shouldn’t have. However, the basic problem remains that my resulting print is always slightly smaller than it should be.
JF
John Forest
Nov 26, 2006
My method for solving this is to cut the 8 1/2 X 11 sheets into three 4 1/4 X 6 3/4 sheets and print on them. I trim the printed image after printing if I want borderless prints. I created a custom paper size in the printer driver to cover this paper size. My images always measure the correct size as closely as I can measure. To cut the paper, first cut a 6 3/4 X 8 1/2 piece and then cut it in half. The first cut leaves a 4 1/4 X 8 1/2 piece which I don’t bother to cut down to 6 3/4, since I will be trimming it again after printing. I believe that if you select borderless printing on the Epson 1280 that the driver changes the image size slightly to assure borderless printing, but this usually tends to increase the image size rather than decrease it.
R
Rob
Nov 27, 2006
Fruit2O wrote:

I’m using an Epson 1280 – but I suspect this applies to any printer: Let’s say I have a photo (200DPI) that I have cropped to 4"x6". I want to print one copy. IfI use a sheet of 8 1/2"x11" paper, it will print in the missle of the sheet – thus wasting the rest of the sheet. So I create a blank canvas at 200DPI and 8 1/2"X11" – then drag my 4×6 over to it and place it so that I have paper left over to print something else – OR I might arrange to print two of this same 4×6 on the same sheet. I use the Ruler function and all looks well. However, the finished 4×6 or two 4×6’s are approximately 8% smaller after printing. Can someone tell me what’s happening? Also, perhaps there is a better way to make the most use of a sheet of paper and still get the dimensions of the prints that I want as a result. I suspect that I’m going about this wrong. I’m also assuming that a 4×6 at 200 DPI should fit on a 8 1/2×11 (200DPI) without shrinking or changing dimension in any way. Please help.

So you have made an image of 6×4" at 300dpi.(what ever size) correct????

You want to print to a 8.5×11 paper correct?????

Use – Print with Preview

Start with looking there, unclicking "Center Image", then you can position the image anywhere around on the page with the mouse.

there are boxes to set paper size etc printer settings etc etc etc

you can scale to size, fit to page etc.

And BTW this is where you print from, cause it does heaps of other things as well that may interest you in getting your printing work flow correct.

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