DSCL print size probs

AshleyC

AshleyC

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Anyone used these people? Apparently they have a good rep so i thought id give them a go but im having trouble getting my image uploaded and printed.

Ive an image that photoshop is telling me is 15.6" x 6.6" at 300dpi



Uploading it to their site i choose the 18"x12" template as this is the only one that will fit , i dont mind space to cut off round the edges. However their little red template thing is showing as too small for my image.



I sent an email to their CS dept and they sent me a link to a youtube video on how to crop an image, i dont need to crop it as it should fit in their template.

it looks like even though my image is 6 inches high their website has pushed it out to fit the 12" height of the template which is no good.

The only thing i can think of is that they dont print at 300dpi which would make my image appear bigger. Can anyone confirm this or have any ideas how i go about making things fit?
 
Look at the option you have chosen. 'PreSized'

Resize the image in PS and crop it to the right size. Its how I do all my prints that I send to DSCL and they all come out fine! :)
 
Select the panoramic print option of 6 x 18 too..it will help lots.
 
but it is presized, thats the point. Its smaller than their 18x12 how can i crop a smaller image to fit a larger template. Surely my image should show as fitting their template left to right with 3 inches white space top and bottom.

Im sure they all do come out fine once you get past this stage :)
 
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When you get to the order stage, have you tried both options.

Towards the bottom you have the choice of "crop to fit" or "shrink to fit", one of those should make it fit albeit with borders, which you say you don't mind.

You would need to drop your image to 6" on the short side first though, losing a bit of the ends from the long edge.
 
i shouldnt have crop an image thats smaller than the page im trying to print it on.

I got round it by just increasing the canvas size to 18x12 and uploading that. An extra step but no biggy. I didnt see the crop or shrink options, i'll have a closer look next time.
 
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No, No, No.

Your image is approx 16 inches by 7 inches. They do not offer anything in that size format so you have to resize your image to suit their size templates.

What editing program do you use?

If a Photoshop style, you need to first crop the image to a ratio that they are using.

There are a couple of ways to do this but this is what I would do.

DSCL-Tutorial.jpg


If you follow what buttons/tools and the settings I have selected, with your image of the pixel size you have.... the selection box will automatically build itself to suit the correct ratio. Move the box around until you are happy with where it should be, then go to Image>Crop and now you should have a resized image to their template size.

You may need to do a quick sharpen edit to to check the resize done in PS.

Or use the other method that Admirable has used in post #5...lol
 
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Ignore me, I drink too much, :bonk:
 
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I know they dont offer a 16x7 but they do a 18x12 in which my image, all of it, will happily sit. I dont want to crop a single pixel off it as thats the image i want to see.

What ive done is just increased the canvas size (cs5) to 18x12 and saved that out. So ive got my 15x6ish image sat in the middle of it unmolested with a bit of white paper around it which can be easily trimmed off when it arrives.

Photobox offer the option of fitting your image into a template if it will go, but theyre incapable of printing the colours right, so i dont see what the problem is with DSCL. If the image is smaller than the page you want to print on then whats the problem, why should i have to chop chunks off it just to get the ratio right.

Anyway, this way works. Next time when im stitching panoramas together i'll bear their sizes in mind so it will fit edge to edge :)
 
Well in that case, here is another work around for you.

Open up a new document in CS5 at 18x12 inches, then select your image then copy and paste onto the new 18x12 image (if your image is smaller than 18x12, as in this case it is) and then move the added image to where you want it on the new sized page, flatten and save. Upload as an 18x12 and then trim when you get it back.
 
That's not a problem I've ever had with them. I can put the smaller images onto larger paper like you are trying to do and it automatically drops it into the centre of the paper.

That said, your interface looks slightly different to mine. I sue the Desktop Kiosk.
 
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If your image is 15.6" x 6.6" and the lab offers a print size of 18x12", as has been said, make a new canvas at 18"x12" then drop in your 15.6" x 6.6" image into the 18"x12" canvas, centre it and then flatten, then go to select all - edit - stroke - width 3 pixels - colour - black - location - inside. This will give you a print size of 18x12 because the stroke will stop the uploady software thinking your file is 15.6" x 6.6", the fact that the stroke is there it will think that you are uploading an 18x12 file, this works for us when people bring in odd sizes for printing to standard print sizes.

Joan
 
I would do it like this:

1) Choose a size of print that you want DSCL to use from their standards sizes.
2) Create a photoshop file the size at 300dpi
3) copy your image into the new PS file
4) Transform it/stroke it as you want
5) Save as 100% quality sRGB jpeg
6) Upload using the pre-sized/pre corrected (pro only) option
7) Done

It's what I do with non-standard images and has never failed me yet.
 
essexash said:
i shouldnt have crop an image thats smaller than the page im trying to print it on.

I got round it by just increasing the canvas size to 18x12 and uploading that. An extra step but no biggy. I didnt see the crop or shrink options, i'll have a closer look next time.
Click to expand...

You don't need to crop you need to expand the canvas size to the required size. You've selected the option that says you've resized the image to be 18x12 at 300dpi, but you haven't. You need to make up the extra space around the image with blank canvas or it'll print wrong.
 
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