crop sizes

[OZAmateur]

Ive noticed that on a number of posts you guys are talking about different crop sizes.
I have always just cropped the photo to how i like them with no regard to a size or percentage.
talking more specifically...its been mentioned i should try a 7x something crop or you guys will suggest a something x something crop.

What are you talking about????
does this relate to standard photo paper sizes?

[Gemini2261]

Ive noticed that on a number of posts you guys are talking about different crop sizes.
I have always just cropped the photo to how i like them with no regard to a size or percentage.
talking more specifically...its been mentioned i should try a 7x something crop or you guys will suggest a something x something crop.

What are you talking about????


does this relate to standard photo paper sizes?

Haha, good question & one I want to know more about after doing a crop & having a go at having it printed...when I got the pic half the head was missing I need someone to "please explain".

[kiwi]

Thts the point, prints are usually done to a particular size, eg 5x7inch. So if you crop a photo square it would be if scaled to the paper size 5x5 inches so you'd have 2" left

[ameerat42]

For me it's partly standard camera aspect ratios and typically printing aspects ratios, hence 3:2, 4:5, 16:9, etc. Hope this helps. Am.

Gee! I was still in time to add this as an edit: But I sometimes crop to suit the scene instead, and when printed, I sometimes end up with a lot of white space top and/or bottom. That's not a big problem, though.

[OZAmateur]

is there somewhere we can go to view these standard sizes?
on photoshop for instance how would i crop an image to these standard sizes? Is there a preset sized crop option?

[kiwi]

Wikipedia is a good start, or any photo lab

Most common sizes to print are ( in inches)

4x6
5x7
6x8
8x10

And any multiple, eg 20x30

In Photoshop you can set various crop defaults like these or do it ad-hoc

[ameerat42]

OZAm...
Here for a start maybe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_%28image%29

In Photoshop (here CS2), you have the Crop tool and the Rectangular Marquee tool, both available from the toolbar. For each one you can set the Fixed Size or Fixed Aspect Ratio, respectively. Then, you can use Image Size or Canvas Size to control the aspect ratio. (Explore these yourself - too much to explain.) The only place you can choose some pre-set sizes is from the File-New command (again, have a look). The image below is an example of some different aspect ratios, done using the Rectangular Marquee tool, which is shown in the included toolbar. Have a look at the menu bar, where I have selected the last one used, 1:1 ratio. Hope this helps, Am.

[Wayne]

Bear in mind most DSLR cameras don't take prints at 8x10 natively. The usual ratio is 3:2 so the comparable size is 8x12 (almost identical to A4), which strangely isn't as common with the print labs.

[salnel]

I use lr3 and found that I can crop to the size I want to print, so if I want a 7x5 print, then the crop overlay tells me how much I am going to lose when it's printed.Then I can adjust the photo so I don't lose someone's head! Very helpful