Photoshop / digital camera question with printing - HELP!

[Analog]

OK, so I go and print 400 4x6s at Sam's club at one time (family trip). When I get them back, they are automatically chopped to the aspect ratio of 4x6, which means with my Nikon 5700, its aspect ratio and the 4x6 aspect ratio are slightly different.

Some prints have important areas cut off, which is a real waste. Is there a program that I can run the jpgs through so that it reformats them to prevent this from happening? I would hate to have to do each one at a time in photoshop et. al.

HELP!

PS: I'm sure this is a common complaint, but I am somehow clueless as to an easy fix.

 

i also have the CP5700, but have never had the problems you speak of
I touch, tweak, crop and resize all photos before printing though.

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: jntdesign
i also have the CP5700, but have never had the problems you speak of
I touch, tweak, crop and resize all photos before printing though.

Okay, so assuming that I would do that too, how do you easily assure that you are fitting the aspect ratio of the target print (say 4x6)?

 

[yllus]

If you've got Adobe Photoshop, you can go to Image Size in the menus and directly input a print size to 4.00" by 6.00". Create an Action doing that. Then, you could then go to File > Automate and run through an entire directory of pictures.

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: yllus
If you've got Adobe Photoshop, you can go to Image Size in the menus and directly input a print size to 4.00" by 6.00". Create an Action doing that. Then, you could then go to File > Automate and run through an entire directory of pictures.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

 

[dman]

That's resizing though and not smart cropping. What happens is when the picture is cropped to 4x6 ratio from the 2272x1152 or whatever resolution the picture is in, some of the data has to be tossed OR a border (white) would need to be put on the picture. Costco didn't originalyl have an option for a border... but they do no. I'm not sure if SAMS/Walmart does or not.

You can use the crop tool and set it to a resolution of 4x6 or 5x7 in Paintshop or Photoshop but it's a PITA and has to be done for each photo you want to print. I know of no automated way to crop pictures that would do better than you could... the computer isn't going to know what parts of the pictures are unimportant... only you will.

That said, using paintshop or photoshop is not the easiest way... there are probably other beginner programs that have preset crop tools for 4x6 or 5x7. I don't know of any free ones or any that I've found that really make that process easy. Thus, the border option is the safest bet if you want to automate it, have the program ADD borders to the pictures to get them to the right resolution, not resize them down.

One thing I've done, cuz I'm cheap, is to make 2x 3x2 pics out of one 4x6 print by cropping two photo's into 2x3 and then pasting them into a 4x6 new window. Sometimes I just want a wallet/portrait shot and the rest of the picture is garbage.

 

[Viper GTS]

You're dealing with the difference between consumer digicams which shoot 4:3 and standard print sizes, which are not 4:3.

There is not automated way to pick the best 3:2 image out of a 4:3 source, you need to do it manually. No software can tell what you deemed important when you took the picture.

Luckily it's not that hard to do manually. What resolution are your source images?

Viper GTS

 

hit Image > size

change the width to 6inches but don't hit OK yet
if the height is now LESS than 4, change the height to 4inches (this should increase the width)

Now hit OK
Now go to your Image > Canvas size and make the canvase 4 x 6 (make sure your background layer isn't locked)
this will allow you to move the image around to find the best crop without a using the crop tool

if the photo won't fit in that ratio, you'll need to crop it to be smaller and then make the image bigger, and then crop to the 4x6 ratio again.
(it's a helluva lot easier to SHOW someone how to do this than it is to explain over the intarweb)

 

[ZOXXO]

In the future, use the 3:2 ratio setting for shots targeted for prints.