Confused about prints - DPChallenge Forums

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

12/05/2004 01:10:38 PM · #1

So I went to Wal-Mart to get some quick prints made and I asked if they just resize them to fit into a 4x6 print and he said "no"...so I'm confused at this point.

Do I really have to resize them all? I'm not that concerned about quality at this point...also, what dpi would they print at?

The guy must have been wrong...what do you guys think?

faidoi

Pentax K10D

12/05/2004 01:13:44 PM · #2

If you don't crop yourself I think most places will crop and you may lost the part of the shot that you wanted to include. I think it's best to crop yourself.

12/05/2004 01:16:41 PM · #3

But if I have a print that's 6" x 8" at 180 dpi, do I need to shrink it to 4 x 5.333 at 180 dpi or 300 dpi or what?

I might be missing something altogether...help!

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

12/05/2004 01:25:00 PM · #4

Please help me out here...95% of you must know the answer to this!

moodville

Nikon D100

12/05/2004 01:31:37 PM · #5

They say you can get good quality prints at 150 dpi for the size that you want printed. If you want to print 4x6 then you should crop the image to the 4x6 ratio, whether that is 4x6 or 8x12 doesnt really matter, it's the ratio size that is important.

In photoshop I will use the crop tool set to either 8x10 or 8x12 and 'crop' the image. When I crop an out of the camera image to 8x10 it normally ends up as a 254 dpi (or similar). That is more than enough dpi for me to print out at 8x10 or 4x6.

If your image is 7x9 (a very odd ratio size) and you take it to walmart then you can use their machine to fiddle with the image to get the most of that image in the frame but everything outside of the 4x6 frame will be cropped out. That is why it is best to go in with the ratio size that you want.

So you dont have to resize them all if you dont want to but if you want your images to look like the images on your machine then you're going to have to crop them into the size ratio (4x6, 5x7, 8x10 etc) that walmart prints at. Just make sure they are above 150 dpi for that print size to get the best print quality.

Walmart is also now offering uploading online and going to the store for pick-up for stores with one-hour printing. If you use the online option then there is the option there to fit-to-size or crop the image to meet the print size requirements. You can also add funky borders and change to black and white and all that gimmicky fun stuff too.

Message edited by author 2004-12-05 13:34:14.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

12/05/2004 01:32:09 PM · #6

If you don't want to crop, then change the size to 4x5.333 without resampling (let the dpi be whatever it is ...), then increase the Canvas Size to 4x6 -- you can trim off the extra later.

That way you should get the whole picture.

12/05/2004 01:36:34 PM · #7

Okay, so the aspect ratio is what's important...they will in fact 'resize it' for me, right?

Example: An 10x14 photo will be printed just fine as a 5x7..it won't just crop 5x7 out of the photo?

Message edited by author 2004-12-05 13:36:48.

moodville

Nikon D100

12/05/2004 01:41:00 PM · #8

Originally posted by thatcloudthere:

Okay, so the aspect ratio is what's important...they will in fact 'resize it' for me, right?

Example: An 10x14 photo will be printed just fine as a 5x7..it won't just crop 5x7 out of the photo?

Correct, an 5x7 is the same ratio size as a 10x14. If you took a 5x7 and wanted an 8x10 print then the ratio size is not the same and so something will be cropped out. They dont usually take a 5x7 and resize it to 8x10 as that would mean a very distorted image. They just remove the excess past that ratio size just like cropping.

So a 4x6 can be printed as a 8x12 (although walmart does not print 8x12's) if the dpi is good enough and so on through 16x24.

An 4x5 (which isnt available as a print size at walmart) can be printed as an 8x10 or a 16x20 and so on.

Message edited by author 2004-12-05 13:42:01.