cropping for print

JE
Posted By
Jody_Ellis
Jun 29, 2008
Views
258
Replies
7
Status
Closed
I have looked all over for this information but can’t seem to find it – sooo if you are cropping a photo to send to a lab for print, I have heard that you need to make it a little smaller than the required output size because the labs allow a certain leeway for printer ‘error’. In other words, a 4 X 6 inch print should be sized 3.89 X 5.68 (I made these numbers up!). My question is (are) then is there a formula for deciding how much smaller to make the print size? Is there a chart? Is each lab noticibly different?
Thanks for advice,
j.
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JR
John_R_Nielsen
Jun 30, 2008
I don’t know about every system, but on the one that I’m most familiar with, the Fuji Frontier, it does not use any size information in the file. Rather, it scales the image to fit whatever size print is ordered.

If the image is not the same aspect ratio as the print, it will crop the image, unless you specify "No Crop", which will take the image large as possible on the print size, with extra white added to fill the print.

What you refer to as "Printer error" would more properly be called "Allowance for trim".
JE
Jody_Ellis
Jun 30, 2008
Thanks John (especially for the ‘allowance for trim" – I had no idea what to call it!). I keep running into this problem in books and most recently in a Photoshop class but maybe it is one of those things that used to be true and isn’t anymore… Anyway, thanks for getting back to me.
j.
S
Silkrooster
Jul 1, 2008
Yeah I can vouch for what John is saying. I recently took in some photos I assumed needed to be cropped 4 x 5 and the Fuji system printed them at 4 x 6. the only problem I saw was the top of some heads were slightly trimed. But know I know what size to crop to. Frankly I don’t think I would even worry about the slight scaling.
JE
Jody_Ellis
Jul 1, 2008
Ah, ha! I think I finally found the information I was looking for (tests are in the works). The specific cropping info is in the DryCreek printer profiles document at:
<http://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/using_printer_profiles.htm> My usual lab uses a Noritsu printer and they say that, though the print size should be at 300 ppi the canvas size needs to be a little larger to allow for ‘trim’. There is a chart in the document for other print sizes.
For example:
4in X 6in = 1200 ppi X 1800 ppi image crop but a canvas size of 1228 ppi X 1842 ppi. Apparently, most labs blow the print up by 1 or 2% to allow for trim and this will allow the excess canvas to be trimmed instead of the actual picture.
j.
JR
John_R_Nielsen
Jul 1, 2008
Silkrooster –

If you did indeed want your finished print to be 4×5 inches, you could order them as 4×5, or as 4×6 ‘No crop’.
S
Silkrooster
Jul 1, 2008
First time I ever used their service. So Noobie lessons for me. lol. The more I use their machine the better I’ll understand all the options. And thanks thats good to know.
For now I am using the fuji machine at Walmart. (Oh I can see the shuttering faces) I figure it the best for me at the moment until I need a pro service. Do you know if it can handle a picture package. I thought I saw that option for a single image on the machine. I am assuming that you just pick the 8 x 10 size and it should handle a jpg of that size.
Though the file size would be huge. I just got the Canon 40D about a month ago. So lessons there as well.
BTW does anybody know why the Kodak machine can not read a compactFlash card. But the Fuji Machine can?
Sorry for getting a little off topic.
JE
Jody_Ellis
Jul 1, 2008
Test is back – big improvement in color using the techniques in the Drycreek document. Incidentally, DryCreek isn’t a photo service. They calibrate the printers and create the printer profiles for us to use when editing our prints to go to the lab. And, FYI – i.e. Wallmart, I use Costco all the time and they do a great job.
Now, back to the sizing. I just got my prints back from Costco (I had increased the canvas size by the recommended pixels in the Drycreek document) and they had a small white border around the top and both sides but no border on the bottom of all the prints. I’m going to fool around with this somemore and see if I can fine tune it (o.k. obsesive/compulsive personality…).

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