cropping advice before sending off to print

[northlondon43]

Hi everyone
I'm just starting to pp a numberof holiday photos with a view to getting them printed in 10x8 size. Some of thephotos require cropping, others don't. In the former case should I crop with a 10x8 ratio or doesn't it matter? In any case should I resize all the photos to 10x8 just before I send them off. I've read a few articles on cropping & resizing but am still really confused.
Many thanks

[Andrew76]

Hmm, well it depends how you're having them printed, and how you're camera is capturing them I guess. If your camera is saving them in a 2:3 format, then I would highly recommend cropping the ones you want printed in 4:5 format (8x10). Otherwise it may be left up to the devices of whomever is printing them, which may result in an undesirable outcome!

I would not recommend cropping all of your images to fit 8x10, unless of course that's how you want them. I take into account the size/ratio of print that I would like when I'm composing the image - so if it's a long, sweeping landscape, I'll probably leave it 2:3 and print to suit. For portraits etc, I prefer 4:5 - but this is all personal preference, and is largely dependent on taste, and composition.

Hope that helps a little?

[Manfred M]

If you don't crop them to the size you want printed, someone else will make the decision for you, and you may not like what has been done. If you are going for 8 x 10 then crop to that size.

If I have someone else do my prints, I always do the PP work and crop to the appropriate size before sending the images off.

I would not do this with your originals, though. Work on a copy only.

[northlondon43]

Thanks Andrew though I have no idea what ratio my camera, Samsung nx11, captures in.
Manfred - I appreciate the cropping advice. Still no clue about the relationship between cropping and resizing (if there is one) for printing though.

[Andrew76]

No worries - that's simple enough. I'm not familiar with your camera, but I can almost guarantee that it takes photos 2:3. Easy enough to check - when you open them in your computer software to view/edit them, what ratio are they in?

As for the cropping vs resizing lesson - now keep in mind I'll probably get my head bit off for this answer - but to keep it simple for right now, don't worry about resizing - just crop the images to get them to the ratio/size that YOU want, so that they'll fit into frames/albums for you.

Then, when you have time - visit the 'Understanding Image Re-Sizing' tutorial on this site. Should clear up a few of your questions.

[northlondon43]

Cheers , Andrew....that's the kind of simple answer I wanted...
People..please don't bite his head off :-P

[Andrew76]

[Dave Humphries]

What ratio the shots were captured in may also depend upon the ratio you chose, looking at an NX-11 review, in common with many cameras, in addition to the sensor's 'native' 3:2, it allows selection of 16:9 or 1:1.

I agree it would be unwise at this stage to assign a physical size to the image, just do the ratio crop, on a copy file, as Andrew suggests and send them the largest size (in pixels) you can, especialy if the prints will be large. Be sure the colourspace is sRGB before sending them too.

[northlondon43]

Then, when you have time - visit the 'Understanding Image Re-Sizing' tutorial on this site. Should clear up a few of your questions.

Thanks Andrew but I found these tutorials way over my head. :-)