Most Basic Question Ever...

canerino · Aug 23, 2004

Sorry for being such an idiot.....

I am using PSE 2.0.... When preparing images to print (I use Adorama), how do I resize my image so that it doesnt have to be cropped at the online printing service? I know to just go to image size, but sometimes if the image is square, for example, it doesnt allow me to size it 8x10 or 5x7. Is there a way to avoid this terrible cropping when ordering prints?

Also, another basic question: When in the image resizing window, I see that PSE has preset the DPI at 180, should I increase that? If so, should it be 200? 300? I usually dont print over 8x10...

Thanks for taking the time for such an easy question!

Chuck

canerino · Aug 23, 2004

No help for a brother?

canerino said:
Sorry for being such an idiot.....

I am using PSE 2.0.... When preparing images to print (I use
Adorama), how do I resize my image so that it doesnt have to be
cropped at the online printing service? I know to just go to image
size, but sometimes if the image is square, for example, it doesnt
allow me to size it 8x10 or 5x7. Is there a way to avoid this
terrible cropping when ordering prints?

Also, another basic question: When in the image resizing window, I
see that PSE has preset the DPI at 180, should I increase that? If
so, should it be 200? 300? I usually dont print over 8x10...

Thanks for taking the time for such an easy question!

Chuck

Robert Williams80668 · Aug 23, 2004

canerino said:
Sorry for being such an idiot.....

I am using PSE 2.0.... When preparing images to print (I use
Adorama), how do I resize my image so that it doesnt have to be
cropped at the online printing service? I know to just go to image
size, but sometimes if the image is square, for example, it doesnt
allow me to size it 8x10 or 5x7. Is there a way to avoid this
terrible cropping when ordering prints?

Also, another basic question: When in the image resizing window, I
see that PSE has preset the DPI at 180, should I increase that? If
so, should it be 200? 300? I usually dont print over 8x10...

Thanks for taking the time for such an easy question!

Chuck

--
Chuck:

Not such a basic question and no basic answer. There is no way I know of to crop or resize a square picture to 8x10 or 5x7 and not lose some of the picture. It's just plain physics. The best you can do is to crop to the exact size you want and request that no cropping be done by Adorama. Some people suggest over sizing by .25 on each side to allow for tyhe cropping they do even if you ask that they not.

Now, if your question includes how to crop to 8x10, choose the crop tool and look up at the bar where it shows the width. Set to 8x10 or 10x8 and crop. The size will automatically retain that size. Most labs will tell you what resolution they need but I always stay at 300 to be safe. Hope this helps, brother.

Robert Williams
NAPP
PBase Supporter
http://www.pbase.com/robert8194

Mr. Jalapeno · Aug 23, 2004

canerino said:
canerino said:

I am using PSE 2.0.... When preparing images to print (I use
Adorama), how do I resize my image so that it doesnt have to be
cropped at the online printing service? I know to just go to image
size, but sometimes if the image is square, for example, it doesnt
allow me to size it 8x10 or 5x7. Is there a way to avoid this
terrible cropping when ordering prints?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, there's no way of getting around cropping your image to fit the traditional sizes that you've mentioned. In the PS Elements Image Size dialog, you can uncheck the 'Constrain Proportions' box and enter those traditional sizes, but this will stretch your images in a way that I'm sure you'll find unacceptable.

canerino said:
canerino said:

Also, another basic question: When in the image resizing window, I
see that PSE has preset the DPI at 180, should I increase that? If
so, should it be 200? 300? I usually dont print over 8x10...

Click to expand...

I assume that Adorama needs 300 DPI (PPI) to produce prints.

PS Elements' PPI from a digital camera image is an arbitrary (and meaningless) figure. Since the image has no implied or intended "inch" size, the only thing that indicates resolution is the pixel dimensions of the image. What's important is the number of pixels. If you look at your image size (height/width) at 180 PPI, you will find that it's quite a large print size. Changing it to 300 PPI will give you a smaller print size.
Using PS/Elements, go to Image-> Image Size.
Uncheck the 'Resample Image' box...leave the other boxes checked.
Choose the resolution you want (300 PPI in your case).

Now put a check back into the 'Resample Image' box and choose the Width or Height that you want.
That should do the trick.

canerino · Aug 23, 2004

Thanks for taking the time! I truly appreciate it.

Its frustrating!!!!!! I cant believe that I will have to crop down images most of the time.........ugh

Robert Williams said:
canerino said:

Sorry for being such an idiot.....

I am using PSE 2.0.... When preparing images to print (I use
Adorama), how do I resize my image so that it doesnt have to be
cropped at the online printing service? I know to just go to image
size, but sometimes if the image is square, for example, it doesnt
allow me to size it 8x10 or 5x7. Is there a way to avoid this
terrible cropping when ordering prints?

Also, another basic question: When in the image resizing window, I
see that PSE has preset the DPI at 180, should I increase that? If
so, should it be 200? 300? I usually dont print over 8x10...

Thanks for taking the time for such an easy question!

Chuck

Click to expand...

--
Chuck:

Not such a basic question and no basic answer. There is no way I
know of to crop or resize a square picture to 8x10 or 5x7 and not
lose some of the picture. It's just plain physics. The best you
can do is to crop to the exact size you want and request that no
cropping be done by Adorama. Some people suggest over sizing by .25
on each side to allow for tyhe cropping they do even if you ask
that they not.

Now, if your question includes how to crop to 8x10, choose the crop
tool and look up at the bar where it shows the width. Set to 8x10
or 10x8 and crop. The size will automatically retain that size.
Most labs will tell you what resolution they need but I always stay
at 300 to be safe. Hope this helps, brother.

Robert Williams
NAPP
PBase Supporter
http://www.pbase.com/robert8194

dpnew · Aug 23, 2004

I just wanted to expand on what Mr. Jalapeno said.

As was stated, the resolution setting has no affect on an image displayed on a computer screen. The only thing that matters is the pixel dimensions. You can experiment with different sizes, but 640 x 480 pixels is usually about as big as you would want to display on your screen or on the web.

The resolution does make a difference when printing an image because, in that case, it helps determine the physical size of your print. The physical size of your print will be the pixel dimensions divided by the resolution setting. So, if you have a 1800 x 1200 pixel image with a 300 pixels/inch resolution setting, then the print will be 1800/300 x 1200/300 or 6 x 4 inches.

To summarize, onscreen the image size is determined only by the pixel dimensions, and for prints, the print size is determined by the pixel dimensions divided by the resolution setting.

I hope that helps.

Mr. Jalapeno said:
Mr. Jalapeno said:

Mr. Jalapeno said:

I am using PSE 2.0.... When preparing images to print (I use
Adorama), how do I resize my image so that it doesnt have to be
cropped at the online printing service? I know to just go to image
size, but sometimes if the image is square, for example, it doesnt
allow me to size it 8x10 or 5x7. Is there a way to avoid this
terrible cropping when ordering prints?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, there's no way of getting around cropping your image
to fit the traditional sizes that you've mentioned. In the PS
Elements Image Size dialog, you can uncheck the 'Constrain
Proportions' box and enter those traditional sizes, but this will
stretch your images in a way that I'm sure you'll find unacceptable.

Mr. Jalapeno said:

Mr. Jalapeno said:

Also, another basic question: When in the image resizing window, I
see that PSE has preset the DPI at 180, should I increase that? If
so, should it be 200? 300? I usually dont print over 8x10...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I assume that Adorama needs 300 DPI (PPI) to produce prints.
PS Elements' PPI from a digital camera image is an arbitrary (and
meaningless) figure. Since the image has no implied or intended
"inch" size, the only thing that indicates resolution is the pixel
dimensions of the image. What's important is the number of pixels.
If you look at your image size (height/width) at 180 PPI, you will
find that it's quite a large print size. Changing it to 300 PPI
will give you a smaller print size.
Using PS/Elements, go to Image-> Image Size.
Uncheck the 'Resample Image' box...leave the other boxes checked.
Choose the resolution you want (300 PPI in your case).
Now put a check back into the 'Resample Image' box and choose the
Width or Height that you want.
That should do the trick.

FJBrad · Aug 23, 2004

canerino said:
Sorry for being such an idiot.....

We all are, it's just a matter of degree.
Lets say you have a 5x5" image at 180PPI and want to get it printed in a lab.

You could leave the image at 180 PPI and it should print fine, but 250PPI or 300PPI is usually better.

Go to Image> resize> canvas and increase the canvas width to 7". The additional image area will be whatever color is currently set to background. Change the background to a color before the canvas resize if you want to make sure the auto printer doesn't crop back to 5" (some will do this if the extra canvas area is white).
Then just trim off the excess 2" from the 5x7 print to get your 5x5.

Only want to trim one edge? Punch the side arrow in the canvas dialogue box so the additional canvas only goes on one side.

--
Brad Oaks
Pbase supporter

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Most Basic Question Ever...

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