The basic dilemma is that the camera file size does not fit the standard output sizes, and the proportions of the various standard sizes don't match each other either. My solution is to keep my edited images full frame, or exactly as I've cropped them and adjust as needed before printing.

If the image doesn't fill the dimensions of the output size exactly I scale to whichever dimension produces the largest image on the stock output size without cropping, then increase the canvas size to the paper size, which fills the other dimension with a blank border. Expanding the canvas size to the print size prevents the automated printer at Costco from resizing the image during output. Printing odd sized images with odd sized borders works for me because I now mat my display prints to the next largest standard frame size anyway. The process can be automated with a Photoshop action for each output size, and done in batch mode via a droplet

If you don't cut your own mats a good solution for maintaining full-frame or exact cropping on standard size paper is to use a matting action, like Dave Jasek's, to increase the overall size to the next largest largest standard size. For example, a full frame 5" x 8.4" image would be matted up to a standard 8" x 10" size frame. I've tried his action and the end product looks very much like a real canvas matte. Hopefully Dave will chime in with a link, or you can search the threads for it.

If you want to size the image to exactly fill a standard format with a borderless print the only recourse is to crop the image manually to the paper size with the cropping tool so you can control what is cropped off. That's done easily in Photoshop by entering the dimensions and desired output resolution in the tool bar on the top. You can also save your commonly used configurations in the pull-down menu.

Regardless of how I crop rename the file (e.g., EDIT0039_08_10.jpg, EDIT0039_05_07.jpg ) to keep track of different sizes of the same image and eliminate the possibillity of overwriting an orginal with a copy.

Chuck Gardner


Babe wrote:
>
>
> I am working with PS7 and have an Epson Photo 890 printer and plan
> to get a bigger/better printer some time down the road. Most of
> images are soft copies and I want to now set up a way to resize my
> cropped/uncropped files to various sizes for printing on my home
> printer as well as saving the various sizes on a CD for someone
> else to do the printing.
>
> How do I resize in PS7 without losing quality for the various
> sizes, to conform to the 'standard' image sizes one would specify
> with film images for example e.g. wallet sizes, 5 x 7, 8 x 10? I'd
> like to also print on A4 sheets too. How would I calculate for
> various proportions, actually, in Europe, we would be looking at 9
> x 13cm, 10 x 15 cm etc etc so understanding how and where to enter
> the relative ratios would be more productive than entering absolute
> values.
>
> An example I have is an image which after cropping is :
>
> 1132 x 988 pixels. I wanted to save this on a CD so that the
> person could easily send it in a lab for printing with the various
> size options. To test just for an A4 sheet, I tried the crop icon
> entering my width as 259mm and height 210mm @ 300pixels/cm. Then
> in PS7, I went to print with preview but still didn't get the
> entire image to fit completely on the A4 size.
>
> I guess there are two separate issues here, using crop tool and
> image size.
>
> I would truly appreciate any help on this.
>
> babe
>
> --
> LIFE ON THE FLY
>
> http://www.pbase.com/image/16946060/original.jpg