Square neg, rectnagular paper

Rob Ruttan · Apr 25, 2008

Greetings,

My first post! Anyway...there's a place in my town that does surprisingly good prints from stuff that's emailed to them. My problem is that I have 6x6 neg. scans I would like sent in, and because the paper sizes are not square, I'm going to probably have some awful cropping. I've been thinking that I could send something to be printed on, say, 12 x 10 or 12 x 18 paper, arranged so that the print is an 8 x 8 or a 10 x 10 in the middle of it. I'm sure that this can be done in Photoshop (CS2) but I'm lost as to how. Anyone have the patience to walk a novice through it? I'd be eternally grateful!

Thanks,

Rob

keithwms · Apr 25, 2008

Yeah what you do is simply add blank space so that your aspect ratio matches whatever they're using and then there will be no confusion. Then when you get it back you trim to a square plus whatever surround space you want.

In PS do this:

1) Open your file.
2) Use Image/Canvas Size to change your paper size to whatever they will be using. You will see an intuitive diagram that allows you to select where the image is placed.

Mind you, many places are using roll paper, so ask them if they can offer a lower price for a square cut. This will likely have no cost advantage unless you are doing really big enlargements, though.

Maretzo · Apr 25, 2008

Hi,

I am facing the same problem.
I print on A4 or A3 format, then cut the surplus, and insert it in a nice square matted frame.

Square format is so nice.

Salut, Serge

Rob Ruttan · Apr 26, 2008

maretzo said:
Hi,

I am facing the same problem.
I print on A4 or A3 format, then cut the surplus, and insert it in a nice square matted frame.

Square format is so nice.

Salut, Serge

Thanks, Serge. Can you tell me what A3 or A4 format is?

Thanks, Rob

Maretzo · Apr 26, 2008

I guess it is European format:
A4=210 x 297 mm
A3=297 x 420 mm

donbga · Apr 27, 2008

Rob Ruttan said:
Thanks, Serge. Can you tell me what A3 or A4 format is?

Thanks, Rob

Here are the 'A' paper sizes.

'A' size -- size in millimeters -- approx inches
2A0 -- 1,189 x 1,682 mm -- 46.8 x 66.2 in
A0 -- 841 x 1,189 mm -- 33.1 x 46.8 in
A1 -- 594 x 841 mm -- 23.4 x 33.1 in
A2 -- 420 x 594 mm -- 16.5 x 23.4 in
A3 -- 297 x 420 mm -- 11.7 x 16.5 in
A4 -- 210 x 297 mm -- 8.3 x 11.7 in
A5 -- 148 x 210 mm -- 5.8 x 8.3 in
A6 -- 105 x 148 mm -- 4.1 x 5.8 in
A7 -- 74 x 105 mm -- 2.9 x 4.1 in

Hope this helps,

Don Bryant

Rob Ruttan · May 6, 2008

Thanks for the help...but I'm still a bit lost. I open the file...set the image size to 8 x 8 (although it always comes to something weird like 8 x 8.18) and then set the canvas size for something like 11 x 14...figuring that this will give me an 8 x 8 image within an 11 x 14 paper, which I will trim as I wish...but it just doesn't happen. I get much smaller images than I think I should be getting. Maybe I'll take up painting instead!

LaurenceO · May 7, 2008

This may be an obvious thing, but you're not mixing centimetres and inches are you? When I see 6x6 that's usually a nice Hassy (or other) neg of 6x6cm = 2.5in rather than 6in. Which would give you a much smaller image than expected.

Another thing to note is resolution - although I'm not sure how this could be an issue here - if your scan is at eg. 4800dpi and you're setting frame size using eg.600 dpi you'll see a much smaller image again.

Lee L · May 7, 2008

Could the printer be using only the DPI settings to determine printed image size? They may be printing at a fixed DPI setting and letting image size fall where it may. Just ask them how image size is determined in their printing setup. That should allow you to adjust in software before sending the image in for printing. They are likely to be answering this question all the time.

Asking the lab is likely a faster path to success than internet speculation anyway.

Lee

keithwms · May 7, 2008

Rob, I tried the suggestion that I gave a few posts ago and it worked fine. If it doesn't work for you, then maybe the best thing is to locate a PS-experienced person who can show you by example. It's much easier to learn that way!

Also, there are now quite thorough podcasts online videos and such on these things. PS is one of the most talked-about subjects on the web. If you need general PS help and suggestions / feedback, let me refer you to another site where I participate, lightcafe.net, which has some genuine experts on PS (as well as more film-oriented folks like myself). Anyway I recall some folks on lightcafe had found some online PS tutorials very helpful and some of them produce these things themselves. I help people in the "real" world but find it quite frustrating to try to do it over the web, frankly!

Be patient!

thebanana · May 7, 2008

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question, but when I want an 8x8 inch print from a lab I simply adjust the canvas size of my 8x8 photo to 8x10, save the image and presto! Send the file in, and you get an 8x10 sheet of paper with an 8x8 print on it. Trim off the white edges and there you are.

Rob Ruttan · May 11, 2008

thebanana said:
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question, but when I want an 8x8 inch print from a lab I simply adjust the canvas size of my 8x8 photo to 8x10, save the image and presto! Send the file in, and you get an 8x10 sheet of paper with an 8x8 print on it. Trim off the white edges and there you are.

Yes, I recognize that it should be dead simple, but I seem to keep making a mess of it. I'll try the lightcafe page someone else recommended. Thanks to all for their input.

pschwart · May 11, 2008

Image -> Canvas size
specify the amount to *grow* the width/height, NOT the new canvas size.
Example: if canvas size is 8x8 and you want it to expand to 8x10, specify 0 width and 2 height.
Seems to me you should just be able to specify the paper size when you order prints and the image should be centered. If you want 8x8 full bleed (borderless) then you should be able to get this without monkeying around with the canvas size.

If your image size is not *exactly* 8x8, just uncheck the "constrain proportions" box when you resize the image.

RalphLambrecht · Nov 28, 2013

I like the look of a square neg printedin the upper 3rd of a rectangular paperin portrait orientation. looks coolang gets attention,which is half the battle in selling a print.check it out.

Doyle Thomas · Nov 29, 2013

at the risk of complicating your issue you could create a new image set to the paper size, resolution, and color space you plan to print to and then drag and drop more than one image on the sheet to trim later. might save you some $$.

Square neg, rectnagular paper

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