Photography Friends...need help....

nun69

nun69

New member
LR users.....I want to crop my photos, but I am wondering what size to crop? I want them to be able to print, 4x6/5x7/8x10/11x14/16x20/20x24....what is a good size to crop them and then save? I want to make sure if I save at 16x20 that the 4x6 is going to print well just as well as the other sizes./....help me out
 
I usually keep the 4x6 ratio. I save them as large as I can so I can shrink to the size needed later. Does that make sense or am I rambling again?
 
Britt do you edit in LR or PS? see I want to crop them, but I want a crop size that will print up to like 20x24 with out any pixel distortion and then will also print 4x6 just as well.....so guess maybe I answered my own question, I should do 16x20 (but that doesn't seem like it is the 4x6 ratio)....maybe I am over thinking it LOL!
 
I edit in both. I prefer to batch edit some basic stuff in LR then indivually I will import them to PS and do touches there. I usually save them between a 36x48- 20x24 Depending on how much I need to crop off, if any.
 
so basically 36x48 or 20x24 is the same ratio as 4x6? I guess that is my ultimate question LOL!
 
If you will be printing, I would probably wait to crop until you have decided which size you want. I know that certain printers will need a certain amount extra around the edges of the photo so that it is not cut off(depending on size and type of print). It may be best to check with the printer you will use since most usually have some type of guideline.
 
Angie the sizes you reference in your original post have different aspect ratios, so there is no perfect answer. It also depends on why you're cropping your photos. What method are you using for printing? Are you printing them directly or ordering prints? If it's the latter, you can usually adjust the printable area. Any time you crop photos, you lose some of your data, depending how much you crop out.
 
I agree with Sherri. I.E. You can't crop a 4x6 into an 8x10 without losing some of the photo as 8x10 is wider. I would save at the original size/ratio and then size and crop as you print depending on what size you want.

For the senior photo shoots I did these past few months, my customers were not that savvy on the computer so I gave them their photos cropped into all the standard sizes so they could print easily.
 
see I am cropping pics from a wedding (just a friend) and she is not that computer savvy so I wanted to make sure I crop before I give them to her. I am not doing any printing, but just giving her a disc so she can print. I don't suspect she will print anything bigger than possibly a 16x20, they will probably print mostly 4x6.....
 
nun69 said:
see I am cropping pics from a wedding (just a friend) and she is not that computer savvy so I wanted to make sure I crop before I give them to her. I am not doing any printing, but just giving her a disc so she can print. I don't suspect she will print anything bigger than possibly a 16x20, they will probably print mostly 4x6.....
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That's what I did for all my photo shoots Angie. I gave them a CD with folders for 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, wallet size, black/white, and then I asked them if they wanted any printed larger so I could include those also.

If she is not computer savvy, you will need to crop/size for her. I had one friend that I made a graduation announcement/invitation for her and made sure I told her it was sized to 4x6. Then she uploaded it to Costco and printed it 5x7. :blink: Since I got one of the invitations, I got to see it and it was slightly cut off on one side so the whole thing didn't look centered. If she had let me know she wanted 5x7, I could have sized it for her.
 
I crop and save at all ratios... and label them that way...

I'd probably do 4x6 for all the photos and give her a thumbnail printout then ask her if any of the photos she plans on printing at bigger than 4x6 and ask her what sizes so that you can crop it accordingly for her... if you're wanting to take them off your HD, then I'd put a DVD together of just her pictures so that you can crop them correctly for her... only because this is her wedding and it may take her a while to figure out what she wants to have printed and at what size
 
ok....so say I only want to crop like 3 or 4 out of the whole batch....I think maybe my workflow isn't that great LOL

so I go through all of them and delete the bad ones
then I go back and delete a 2nd time
then I go through and tweak and crop as I go......
then I just export them all in to one folder....

so I know I could export them all as 4x6 into one folder or 5x7 in to one folder and so on, bit what I guess I am asking is can I crop it whoever I want in LR and then if I export them all as 4x6 they will be correctly saved? does that make sense?

i.e. say I crop a photo just a little off the top, if I save it at 4x6 it will print at 4x6? I think I am confused because I feel like if I crop in LR, then it won't print correctly....it has been a long time since I printed so I don't even know how they will print.....
 
Hmmm no matter what size you save it at, the options for print size will be chosen at the printer. So like Mary was saying, the file could be 4x6, but if the user selects a different size, then that's what they'll get, even if it wrecks the quality a little. But to get the proper crop that you want and aspect ratio, I thinkit can save some confusion for the user to have them resized first. On the other hand, do they really want to upload the same photo several times in order to get different print sizes? However, lots of online printing places will allow you to choose the crop based off one size that you uploaded. I.e. if I uploaded the file with the original aspect ratio to mpix, mpix just alerts me that a crop is necessary for some print sizes that I'm ordering and then it allows me to adjust the crop for each of those prints. Mpix is also nice because it will tell me exactly how large of a print I can get from a certain file. I always refer people to mpix for their prints :D
 
Oh, and the largest size you can print to is also going to depend on the megapixels on your camera, file size, etc.
 
I don't know what version of LR you have, but I have LR2 and in my program the crop tool allows you to choose the aspect ratio vs. actually cropping to a particular size. For example, for a 4x6, I wouldn't recommend actually cropping to 4x6, just use the 4x6 aspect ratio in LR, that way you preserve the maximum amount of data and can print photos at larger sizes that share the same aspect ratio. Most photos SOOC are 4x6. As long as you don't crop too much of the periphery off the images, most of them will be interchangeable for printing (there will just be some bleed space that doesn't print when the aspect ratios aren't identical).

Here is an example of what would happen if you wanted to print a photo SOOC as a 5x7. Notice the edges are clipped on either side. You can select different aspect ratios in LR to show you how much gets clipped.

 
SeattleSheri said:
I don't know what version of LR you have, but I have LR2 and in my program the crop tool allows you to choose the aspect ratio vs. actually cropping to a particular size. For example, for a 4x6, I wouldn't recommend actually cropping to 4x6, just use the 4x6 aspect ratio in LR, that way you preserve the maximum amount of data and can print photos at larger sizes that share the same aspect ratio. Most photos SOOC are 4x6. As long as you don't crop too much of the periphery off the images, most of them will be interchangeable for printing (there will just be some bleed space that doesn't print when the aspect ratios aren't identical).
Click to expand...

Yes, This is what I do! The ratio, not the size. :) Thanks for saying it more wisely!
 
nun69 said:
ok....so say I only want to crop like 3 or 4 out of the whole batch....I think maybe my workflow isn't that great LOL

so I go through all of them and delete the bad ones
then I go back and delete a 2nd time
then I go through and tweak and crop as I go......
then I just export them all in to one folder....

so I know I could export them all as 4x6 into one folder or 5x7 in to one folder and so on, bit what I guess I am asking is can I crop it whoever I want in LR and then if I export them all as 4x6 they will be correctly saved? does that make sense?

i.e. say I crop a photo just a little off the top, if I save it at 4x6 it will print at 4x6? I think I am confused because I feel like if I crop in LR, then it won't print correctly....it has been a long time since I printed so I don't even know how they will print.....
Click to expand...


When you export them you have the option of sticking them in whatever folder you chose and the image size to be a certain size. However I don't know how it would do automatic cropping. I think it is more of a you take a photo at 36x48 but do an image size of 4x6 when exporting it would just shrink it. However depending on your resolution some places may not print a 4x6 as a 4x6 without it being blurry/pixely/etc. Mpix tells you like Erin said. I prefer Mpix to print with as well. I do all 4x6 ratio for clinets unless they ask otherwise. I also suggest printing with Mpix so they can crop how they see fit if they do not order prints from me.
I use LR5 and it lets me set the ration, not just the size. :) Check your settings and see what your doing when your cropping it?
 
gotcha....you know what Sheri that is exactly what I do so I am trying to compare apples with oranges!!! aspect ratio vs print size LOL...no wonder I was so freaking confused...thanks so much for all the help girls ♥
 
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