Do You Print Your Photos? Something You Should Know About Aspect Ratio

Do You Print Your Photos? Something You Should Know About Aspect Ratio

Have you ever printed a digital photo to frame, only to find it didn't fit the frame properly? This is why.

Traditional 35mm cameras have an aspect ratio of 3:2. This is the the ratio between the width and height of the photograph. Photo frames are sized, 4X6, 5X7, 8X10, according to this ratio.

Digital cameras, however, have an aspect ratio of 4:3, so if you wanted a 4X6 sized photo for a frame, the digital will print at 4X5.3, and that means, when you try to print a digital photo, it will not fit correctly in the frame you purchased. So, what do you do to fix this problem?

To fix the problem you will have to crop your photo to the right size before printing. Most labs will center and crop the photo for you, but that may not be the best solution. Unless your photo has plenty of 'extra' room around it, and the subject is centered, an important part of your photo may be cropped out.

Most photo editing programs have a crop tool. I use Photoshop, so this tutorial is how to properly crop a photo to a frame size using Photoshop. The idea is the same no matter what program you use.

Photoshop allows you to choose the frame size you want your image to fit. This is how to do it.

Let's use this photo of Siamangs at the San Diego Zoo.

This is the original image size:

If you try to resize the image using the 'Image Size' command, you will run into problems. Look what happens when I try to change the size here:

If I put in the 10, it defaults to the 4:3 aspect ratio, and I'm not getting what I want.

So, to make this work, I have to use the cropping tool.

Then, go to the options bar, and tell Photoshop I want the image to be 10 in wide, and 8 in high.

Now I can grab the crop tool and pull out. It will stop at the 8X10 size. It is here that I decide where I want the crop. What stays, and what goes. I can move the cropped area around until I decide what works best. 

This is where I've decided I want my crop. Now, I'll right click, and choose 'crop'.

This is the result.

Now go to the 'Image Size' dialogue box, and check to see if your dimensions are what you wanted:

Yep! You're good to go print!

The endangered Siamang, (in the ape family), can live up to 30+ years in captivity.

While the illegal pet trade takes a toll on wild populations, the principal threat to the Siamang is habitat loss in both Malaysia and Sumatra. Palm oil production is clearing large swathes of forest, reducing the habitat of the Siamang.

"You could fit all the surviving members of the 25 species in a single football stadium; that's how few of them remain on earth today."
Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International