Sizing for prints vs. crop

[RockyPtJoe]

I wrestle with this everytime I do any cropping and try to set up the photo for printing, for example, an 8 x 10. Is there any tutorial or technique someone can point me to to simplify this? Right now, it's a brute force effort...going back and forth....

Thanks!!

[jfrancho]

What image editor are you using?

[RockyPtJoe]

PS CS2....

[Loa]

Hello,

If I understand your question correctly, you simply have to use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (basic tool used to make rectangular selections), select the "Fixed Ratio" option in the top options bar, and input your 8 by 10, or 10 by 8 for landscapes.

After that, all the selections (and crops) you'll make will have this ratio and should be perfect for the print out.

I know this option is available in CS3, and I'm pretty sure it's available in CS2 as well.

Good luck,

Loa

[jfrancho]

There are a couple of tools that you can use to crop an image to get a different aspect ratio. As Loa mentioned, the old school method is using the rectangular marquee tool.

Hit M to enable the marquee tool
Make sure New Selection push button is activated
Feather should be set to 0 px.
Choose Fixed Aspect Ratio from the Style droplist
For landscape, use 5 for width and 4 for height
To switch for portrait, hit the back and forth arrow button in the bar between the Width and Height boxes
Make a selection by click and drag the mouse from the upper left to the lower right corners.
If you don't exactly like the crop, or need to rotate, or resize it, use Select > Transform Selection...
Hit the "chain" link button to lock the aspect ratio and grab the corners and sides as needed to edit the selection
Hit Enter or click the check mark to apply the change.
Use Image > Crop to apply the crop.
Save and Exit - you're done

If that sounds like a lot of work, you're right! Here is a faster method:
Hit C to select the crop tool (new in CS2)
enter you're height and width numbers from above
LEAVE THE RESOLUTION BOX EMPTY!!!!
Click and drag the mouse to make your crop selection
You can do all the transforming you need to do right now
Hit Enter when you are satisfied with the crop
Save it.

Now printing opens up another can of worms. I generally print at 300ppi. I resize separately, using the Image > Image Resize... dialog, but you can save time using the resolution in the Crop Toolbar. You'd set the dimensions to the exact print size, or 8 and 10 and use 300 for Resolution. This will resize your image to the proper resolution for that print.

I do this separately because I like to try different resampling methods, but for general purposes, plain old bicubic will work fine. Bicubic sharper might work better if you are down sampling the image, and bicubic smoother might be better if you are up sampling the image. Note the use of the word might . You can change the default resampling method by going to Edit > Preferences > General under Image Interpolation.

Good luck.

[Loa]

Hello,

Never really used the crop tool directly... Always used the marquee then selected crop. One less step.

I *do* love old school though, like my smilies! ;-)

Loa

[RockyPtJoe]

Thanks to all...I'm learning PS as I go....there is SO much to that program!!!!

[EOS_JD]

Originally Posted by Loa

Never really used the crop tool directly... Always used the marquee then selected crop. One less step.

Where is the one step less?

Crop tool and crop to suit then just press enter job done.

[Loa]

Hello,

That's what I meant: using the crop tool saves one step. On the other hand, I often find myself using the marquee tool so it's not a big deal.

Selecting the crop tool instead of the marquee tool saves about 1 second. So even if you crop 200 times per day, you only save 3 minutes.

Don't know about you guys, but I can afford 3 minutes per day.

Loa

[jfrancho]

I actually use the marquee to create a "crop selection" and save it in the master psd file. I'll have the one file with three or four different crops saved as alpha channels, instead of maintaining several different versions of the same file. After I upload the jpegs to my lab, I just delete them. The alpha channels take up less room than the print res jpegs. So, actually, I do it the "old school way" fairly often. Spend a few pennies to save a dollar.

[Tom Swaman]

As the saying goes, "Different strokes for different folks." I tend to only use the crop tool and particularly if I am printing with borders. First, I like to vies the cropped image and recrop this if I do not like the crop or the subject placement. Second, I can dial in the height and width and resolution and not worry about different aspect ratios. I make enough wrong strokes that one more, one way or the other does not bother me.

Tom

[Driftwood]

I like to use the crop tool.

I set the width and height and also the resolution (at 300 ppi) to suit the size I want to print at.
I then create a new tool preset using this information and give it a suitable name.
So now I have crop tools preset for 10x8, 5x4, A4, A3, 12x16 ......... etc.

The advantage of including the resolution as well is that each of my presets not only crops the image to the proportions I want, but it also resizes the cropped image ready for printing.
The one downside is that the tool uses the Photoshop default algorithm for resizing so you can't decide which algorithm to use on an image by image basis.

Now whenever I crop an image I just select the correct crop tool from the list of tool presets I have stored.

[EOS_JD]

Originally Posted by Driftwood

I like to use the crop tool.

I set the width and height and also the resolution (at 300 ppi) to suit the size I want to print at.
I then create a new tool preset using this information and give it a suitable name.
So now I have crop tools preset for 10x8, 5x4, A4, A3, 12x16 ......... etc.

The advantage of including the resolution as well is that each of my presets not only crops the image to the proportions I want, but it also resizes the cropped image ready for printing.
The one downside is that the tool uses the Photoshop default algorithm for resizing so you can't decide which algorithm to use on an image by image basis.

Now whenever I crop an image I just select the correct crop tool from the list of tool presets I have stored.

If possible I try not to remove or add pixels from my images. When printing larger than A4 i go with the default number of pixels. That was you are not adding or removing anything from the image. All you are doing is reducing the resolution slightly and for images between A4 up to A3 I don't add pixels and print at the default resolution.

My A3+ images (19" x 13") from an 8Mp 20D print at 180ppi and look amazing. 300ppi is not always required.

[jfrancho]

300ppi is not always required.

That depends on the lab. If you are printing yourself, you can experiment to see what is acceptable, but some labs have certain requirements. Practical viewing distance comes into play as well, and you're right 180 ppi is plenty for most applications.

[Driftwood]

Originally Posted by EOS_JD

If possible I try not to remove or add pixels from my images. When printing larger than A4 i go with the default number of pixels. That was you are not adding or removing anything from the image. All you are doing is reducing the resolution slightly and for images between A4 up to A3 I don't add pixels and print at the default resolution.

My A3+ images (19" x 13") from an 8Mp 20D print at 180ppi and look amazing. 300ppi is not always required.

That's fine. You can still use the crop tool as I suggested, just don't input the resolution value.
You can still save the different crop tool presets for each ratio and have them on hand when you know the ratio you want to crop to.

[EOS_JD]

Originally Posted by Driftwood

That's fine. You can still use the crop tool as I suggested, just don't input the resolution value.
You can still save the different crop tool presets for each ratio and have them on hand when you know the ratio you want to crop to.

that's exactly what I do driftwood

[jfrancho]

If possible I try not to remove or add pixels from my images.

One more thing, I am not sure I'd trust the print driver to down sample my images, preferring to do this part myself, since I often sharpen based on resolution. Again, I do not print myself, so this may be different for at home printers.

[aam1234]

Another option for printing is to use Qimage.

Don't have it myself but many people swear by it.

[jfrancho]

Don't have it myself but many people swear by it.

That is one hell of an endorsement!

Seriously, I have heard nothing but good things about it as well.

[aam1234]

I was just thinking few minutes ago of downloading it and try it.