The Number One Cause of Cropped Digital PrintsWriten by Chris Roberts
You've just taken the photo of a lifetime with your digital camera.
It has perfect light, a great composition, and the photography muse was clearly smiling upon you when you took the shot.
You send it off to the printers, and what you get back is terribly disappointing.
A quarter of your image is gone!
The brilliant composition that you so carefully crafted when you took the photo doesn't have the same impact as the image you see on your computer.
What in the world happened?
Aspect Ratio
Welcome to the world of aspect ratio.
It sounds mathematical, but it is easy to understand once the following four points makes sense:
- A standard 4x6 print has an aspect ratio of 2:3 (4x6 divided by 2)
- A single film negative also has an aspect ratio of 2:3
- Some digital camera sensors do not have an aspect ratio of 2:3
- Aspect ratios are usually written with the long side first (3:2)
Remember when you used to get your film photos developed into 4x6 prints?
The photo that you took was the photo you got in the print. Since the aspect ratio of film is the same as a 4x6 print, no cropping takes place.
But the aspect ratio of your digital camera might be 4:3 (a common alternative to the 3:2 ratio).
Here's the key point: every photo that you take with a 4:3 digital camera will get cropped when you make a standard 4x6 print. Since the aspect ratios aren't equivalent, some of your image is lost.
Larger Print Sizes
People who own digital cameras with 3:2 sensors might be feeling pretty smug right about now. But even you are not immune to the effects of aspect ratio.
Let's say that you take your 3:2 image and make a 5x7 or 8x10 inch print. Do you think you see the problem here? 3:2 is not equivalent to 7:5, nor is it equivalent to 5:4 (8x10 divided by 2).
Every 3:2 photo that you print at 5x7 or 8x10 will get cropped - you're now in the same boat as all of those 4:3 people trying to make 4x6 prints.
True, this problem is not the same as the previous one. You're far more likely to make 4x6 prints than 5x7 or 8x10. If the 4x6 prints remain intact and only the larger sizes get cropped then 90% of the prints you make will turn out fine.
Your Options
If you are buying a new digital camera, find out beforehand what the aspect ratio of the sensor is.
- If you want to make a lot of 4x6 prints, get a camera with a 3:2 sensor
- If you enjoy making larger size prints, it won't matter what the sensor's aspect ratio is - both 3:2 and 4:3 will get cropped in some way
- If you never want to print your photos, then the 4:3 ratio is actually more convenient since 4:3 is the same aspect ratio as your monitor - this makes it easy to use your photos for desktop backgrounds
If you already own a digital camera, there's not too much you can do about print cropping - it will happen one way or another.
The only way to control it is to do the cropping yourself. In every photo that you take, leave additional space around the borders of the image.
Use your favorite image editing program and set your cropping tool to the aspect ratio of the print that you want to make (3:2 for 4x6, 7:5 for 5x7 and 5:4 for 8x10). When you crop the photo for the appropriate print size, you are in control of the parts of the image that get lost.
This way you won't get any nasty surprises when you get the prints back from your most recent tropical vacation.
Chris Roberts dispenses practical plain-English advice and information about digital SLR cameras at the Digital SLR Guide. His 5-week ecourse in digital SLR technique helps beginners get the most out of their digital SLR cameras.