Help please - Resizing woes

[MrStorm]

This has probably been asked and answered a million times but I couldn't seem to find the exact answer by doing a search of the site so hoping someone can help me.

I've been trying to get into college to do an HND in photography but due to being unemployed I'm finding it hard to come up with the course fees, so a friend suggested I print and frame a few dozen of my best photos and try to sell them at one of the local car boot sales.

I need to resize my pics to A4 @ 300dpi so i can get them printed by DSCL but as the pics are all in 4:3 it's proving difficult.

ideally id like to be able to just resize them using photoshop but not sure the best way to do it due to the odd ratios without cropping and/or losing part of the image.

any help gratefully received. thanks in advance.
andrew

 

[EOS_JD]

You have a couple of ways to do this.

Easiest is crop
Or you could print with a slight border around the image - create an A4 and then paste the images you have onto the canvas and resize to suit.

But
An A4 image is 11.693" x 8.267"

To print at 300ppi means you need.......

11.693x300 = 3508
8.267x300 = 2480

......an image that is 3508 x 2480 pixels in size.

Funnily enough that is almost a 4:3 ratio - you would only be cropping a tiny amount to get an A4 print.

You cannot alter the ratio of an image without cropping it or squeezing it (not recommended). Just a fact that we all have to live with.

 

[arad85]

Is A4 the correct size. You should figure out the mount size for the prints first (I've not seen many A4 sized mounts - certificate frames yes, photo mounts - no - although I could be 100% wrong ).

 

[Yellowbelly]

List of standard frame sizes here.

 

[EOS_JD]

Good point Andy - Images should be mounted before framing.

 

[MrStorm]

You cannot alter the ratio of an image without cropping it or squeezing it (not recommended). Just a fact that we all have to live with.

many thanks for the info. is there any way i could squeeze it and see what it would look like before i would print it? when i alter the sizes in photoshop it doesnt seem to have any affect on the proportions of the image so doesnt give any indication of how it would actually look.

Is A4 the correct size. You should figure out the mount size for the prints first (I've not seen many A4 sized mounts - certificate frames yes, photo mounts - no - although I could be 100% wrong ).

its certificate frames im going to be using, for the simple reason that i can buy certificate frames much much cheaper than say 8x10's therefore allowing me to buy more stock for my first sale.

List of standard frame sizes here.

thanks for the info but as above, im pretty much committed to using A4 certificate frames due to cost.

 

[groovyf]

many thanks for the info. is there any way i could squeeze it and see what it would look like before i would print it? when i alter the sizes in photoshop it doesnt seem to have any affect on the proportions of the image so doesnt give any indication of how it would actually look.

In the Image - Image Size options, untick "Constrain Proportions", this will allow you to set specific height/width and will "squeeze" the image to give you an idea how it might look.

 

[Kerioak]

Take business cards with you as well - when I tried this sort of thing I did not sell any pictures but did pick up a few nice commissions

 

[EOS_JD]

Storm, why would you weant to distort the image at all? Crop it a little - Job done.