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Richard
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I know I've asked this before somewhere but I'm still a little confused.

My camera has a ratio of 3:2
I understand that should I desire to print a 6x4 or a 12x8 then the picture would come out just fine.

However if I want a 10x8 I end up with a headache looking at cropping etc.

If I take my picture to snappy snaps they seem to fit my picture as a 10x8 with very little crop and it looks fine.

However having just used Tesco to print a 10x8 a third of the picture was missing altogether. What are snappy snaps doing that tesco isn't ?

There are plenty of tutorials online that cover this subject but each one has a different way of explaining this. I'm looking for the explanation that a 5 year old can understand.

More to the point. Using Lightroom what options to I have to achieve a good result. Can I fit my picture onto a 10x8 without cropping and understandably have white lines around the final result? If so how should I be saving the file to do this?

Please help
 
You should be able to crop in lightroom to the required print size needed then export as a jpeg. I'm not sure thou if tesco's crop a little around like an extra 2mm so you might lose a little depending on the printers used. (only they can answer that)

but cropping to the required size should then allow for the correct print size (also on export make sure you set the dpi correctly.)
 
... Can I fit my picture onto a 10x8 without cropping and understandably have white lines around the final result?

Yes, you can fit it onto a 10x8 as long as you don't mind having a white area on part of the print.

A 550D file is 5184 x 3456 pixels (assuming image size is set to L in the camera).

If the printer is using 300 pixels per inch (ppi), a 5184 x 3456 file would produce a print that measures 17.28 inches on the longest side - but a 10-inch print at 300 ppi needs a file measuring 3000 pixels on the longest side.

So, to get down the longest side down to 10 inches you need to resize the 550D file to 3000 pixels on the longest side. If you preserve the original aspect ratio of 3:2 the other side will come out at 2000 pixels or 6.6666 inches.

In other words, the longest side of the print will be 10 inches and you won't lose any part of the image but there'll be 1.3334 inches of white on the shortest side.
 
I stopped using Tescos print due to cropping issues.

I always pp with Lightroom and prepair the images first.
 
Regardless of who you use to print your image from a 3x2 ratio to a 10x8 ratio they are going to lose/crop some of your image, unless you want an uneven white border.

I suspect that Snappy Snaps centred your image before printing thus losing some image from both sides of the print whereas Tesco have possibly cropped the image fully to the left or right hand side making the image loss more noticeable.

I'm not sure from your post if you don't understand how to crop an image ready for printing and therefore can't do it ............and getting frustrated in the process? Or, if you really do want to place your 3x2 ratio image on a 10x8 print. Either way we can help you understand how to achieve this.

I think long term it will be best to learn and understand the cropping process, from composition when first taking the shot and allowing space for cropping later in PP, to cropping your image suitable for printing in the size required.

Let me know what you think :)
 
I wanted to place my 3:2 ratio onto a 10x8 print.
I'm aware of taking into account when shooting how the picture will eventually look and to take this into account. The only reason I needed this was an exhibition needed it to be 10x8. I didn't want to lose any of the picture if I could help it so I was ready for the white lines to appear around the image. I tried explaining this to tesco but as someone already suggested, they just cropped the entire picture directly from the left hand side cutting off loads from the right. Strangely though even with this print the clarity looked as though it had been printed from an image with low res when I know it wasn't as I shot raw and exported as jpeg with no adjustments. Only reason I never went to snappy snaps was because I had to so this on a Sunday. Wish I had of waited now !!
 
I have just tried exporting resizing to fit in inches W 10 by H 8

Picture looks ok and dimensions are showing as 3400 x 2267. Is this right for a 10x8 ? If I took this in asking for a 10 x 8 print would it still be cropped losing the (400) and (267) parts?

Found a tutorial using photoshop to get it right exactly but I want to get it right using Lightroom only if I can
 
It can't be as I just re imported it and cropped overlayed a 10x8 and it still cropped it
 
As I said in post 3 - you need 3000 pixels on the long side to fill 10 inches at 300ppi.
 
10x8 is 3000px X 2400px
 
10x8 is 3000px X 2400px

So the best you can do is print at 3000 x 2000 - then the image will fill the long side but there'll be a white border down each short side.

The only other option (apart from cropping) is reduce the long side so that there's a white border all the way round. The border won't be even though.
 
I think I get you now. Why when I choose to export changing the W and H does Lightroom not automatically change the ppi? Or dpi whichever it is.

Obviously I don't wish to compromise the look of the picture when printed which is exactly what's happened by tesco printing it. It looks as though I've screen grabbed it from Facebook and all the pixels have escaped
 
So the best you can do is print at 3000 x 2000 - then the image will fill the long side but there'll be a white border down each short side.
The only other option (apart from cropping) is reduce the long side so that there's a white border all the way round. The border won't be even though.

The white border will be along the long side
 
I might be missing something here but if the exhibition want your image shown as a 10x8 print then they will not accept your entry as the paper will be 10x8 but the image on the paper will not be?
 
Can you post the image here?
 
I exported 3000 2400 and it gave me 3000 x 2000. Putting this pic back into Lightroom and checking with the crop tool it still wants me to crop the picture. This is normally where I give up. Under the crop and straighten I'm choosing 4x5/8x10
 
I exported 3000 2400 and it gave me 3000 x 2000. Putting this pic back into Lightroom and checking with the crop tool it still wants me to crop the picture. This is normally where I give up. Under the crop and straighten I'm choosing 4x5/8x10

Use Photoshop and do a trial run, like so:

1. Create a new document (A) that measures 10 inches x 8 inches at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch. Make it a plain white layer.

2. Create a second new document (B) that measures 3000 x 2000 pixels at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch. Make it a plain black layer.

3. Duplicate the black layer in file B and send it to file A. Press V and move it around so that the black and white layers are aligned on the short sides.

The black area now represents your printed image and the white area represents the border left on the 10x8 paper. This is exactly how a 3000x2000 pixel file will look when printed at 300ppi on a 10x8 sheet.

Here it is (ignore the grey area - it's just a background for the text):

52-1383219636-a309ba9e61b6569f7fa819b3d8b02c84.jpg
 
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In PS go to "image size;" uncheck the "constrain proportions" box and check the "resample" box. Then type in 8x10 into the document size...
This will slightly distort the image by compressing the long axis, but you loose nothing. The only other option is to crop off ~ 20% from the long axis. (In PS lock the crop tool aspect ratio to 8x10).

You do not need 300dpi/ppi...The machines at the professional lab I use for photographic prints (not inkjet) have a max capability of of 250dpi. The DPI you have is it unless you resample the image...I never resample to less dpi for smaller prints, and I seldom resample for larger prints (larger prints viewed from longer distances require less dpi). Resampling can cause issues worse than printing large at lower dpi...
 
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