The Photo Workshop, Philadelphia

Everything is going along fine with your computer until one day… your hard drive starts making funny noises … or the monitor starts to flicker and then dies altogether due to a bad motherboard. Both of these scenarios have happened to me personally and at work. If it hasn’t happened to you, I bet you’ve heard the horror stories. A dead computer means lost data and lost memories.

Do you have a back-up plan? And are you sticking to it regularly? I admit I don’t have all the answers and I can probably do a much better job both at work and at home. But it all comes down to making sure your precious memories are saved in at least 2 places and probably on different types of media.

When my internal hard drive failed, I didn’t have it all backed up onto CDs or DVDs. The research I did at that point pretty much said that “hard drives are designed to fail.” That doesn’t sound very promising. But the truth of the matter is that with moving parts, they won’t last forever. Do yourself a favor and get in the habit of saving your digital photos periodically onto CD or DVD. Do it monthly if you take a lot of pictures – makes it easier to remember.

Some people like the online back-up solutions. I’ve never looked into these services but there’s a monthly or yearly charge. It’s more likely to happen automatically, however, so it may be worth investigating. The other nice thing about this kind of back-up is that you’d be able to access your data elsewhere. So if something catastrophic happened to your house or apartment, you’ll be able to retrieve your data later if you have to replace your computer.

I know some people like to save a second copy of their data at an offsite storage facility like a safety deposit box. I’m paranoid about stuff but not that paranoid. Still, it’s not a bad idea. Maybe a relative wouldn’t mind putting a box of CDs in their closet for you.

The point here is to save your images in a few different places: internal hard drive, external hard drive, CD/DVD, online, and even as prints. We can always scan a print and make copies that way, although it is more expensive than printing directly from a CD or DVD.

Be sure to label your CDs/DVDs with a Sharpie-type pen and never use a pencil or ball point pen to write on your media. You will damage the information on the CD and render it useless. You’ll also want to keep the bottom scratch-free so make sure to keep it in a hard case.

Happy shooting and save your photos!

In digital photography, it’s hard to go very far without hearing the word, resolution. But what does it mean and how will it affect you and your images?

As you know, your digital images are made up of pixels. Resolution tells your output device (printer, monitor, etc.) how many pixels per inch (ppi) to use for your image. Sounds simple enough. But it can quickly get out of hand for the novice.

Monitors are low resolution. They only require 72 ppi to make your image look good on the screen. As a result, almost everything looks good on your monitor. Yes, you can tell when the image is out of focus but it’s basically going to be acceptable on the screen.

Printers, on the other hand, require at least twice as many ppi as monitors. Your home inkjet printer can make very nice looking enlargements using only 150 ppi. But your professional lab needs 300 ppi. This is why photos that have been resized for email often look so crummy when you have them printed anywhere but your home printer.

How can you check the resolution before using your digital image? If you have Photoshop Elements at home, open up the image and go to Image > Resize > Image Size. Here it will tell you have many pixels you have in the Width and Height as well as the resolution.

The resolution is 300 ppi

This will make a print slightly larger than 5×7. Your lab may even be able to double the size to 10×14 if necessary. But above that size, you’ll want to think twice.

Here’s the same image but I resized it to email. The resolution is now 72. Take a look at the information below. You can also see that the number of pixels has diminished.

The resolution is 72 ppi

If I were to change that 72 back to 300, the print size would be significantly smaller than the original 5×7. See below.

Email resolution changed to print resolution

I wouldn’t recommend printing this file at any size. Well, maybe you could get away with a wallet.

Here’s what you need to know… If you’re printing, resolution needs to be 300 ppi at the size you want to print (up to about 16×20). For larger prints, the resolution should still be 300 but it can be half the final size. That means a 20×30 poster could be prepared at 10×15 with a resolution of 300 ppi.

If you’re emailing the photo, the resolution should be 72 ppi and your pixel dimension will ideally be 600 or less on the longest side. You can crop your photo and specify the number of pixels and the resolution for this step.

Digital cameras are great but many don’t have very impressive optical zoom capabilities. As a result, our subject can be relatively small in the print area. Time to crop out all of that extra stuff and fill the frame with our subject. Just beware that you are deleting pixels, never to see them again and this can have a serious effect on your ability to print a decent looking image.

Our general rule of thumb here at the lab is to have at least 1200×1800 pixels for a 4×6. There’s some wiggle room here to have fewer pixels and get a good print, but try not to overdo it. And a word of caution – everything looks good on your screen, you can’t always predict what the print will look like from your computer screen.

Original image - 2560x1712 pixels

Here’s my other nephew, playing with some toy trucks. The original pixel dimensions are 2560×1712.

cropped to 948x1422 pixels

Next, I’ve cropped it to be a 4×6 vertical, taking out the tow trucks entirely. The pixel dimensions are now 948×1422. It’s smaller than our recommended size and there is a difference in the picture quality but in this case, most customers will probably be happy with the results.

Original image - 1280x1920 pixels

Cropped to 471x676 pixels

In the second example, I’ve taken an image that was 1280×1920 (that’s just over our recommended dimension) and cropped to the horse and rider in the lower left corner. Now the image is just 451×676 and its printed quality is noticeably reduced. You can tell the focus isn’t perfectly sharp and edges that should be smooth are now more jagged. On the screen, these imperfections may not look too bad, but the print will look “digital” (and not in a good way). I wouldn’t recommend cropping this much to make a 4×6 print. You’d be better off getting closer to your subject before taking the picture.

How do you tell what your pixel dimensions are? On a Windows PC, change your folder view to “Details.”

Change View to "Details"

If the dimensions aren’t listed, right-click along the top where it says “Name,” “Type,” etc. and scroll down to “More…” if necessary to find “Dimensions.”

If Dimensions are not visible, right-click on title bar and scroll down to More...

Click on "Dimensions" to add them to your Detail View

Using Picasa to crop your photos is quick and easy, but impossible to monitor what your pixel dimensions will be until you’re done. You can check the pixel dimensions towards the bottom of the screen after you’ve cropped the image.

Cropping in Picasa

After you crop, the dimensions show up below the image - 950x1424

Adobe’s Photoshop Elements makes it possible to put in the pixel dimensions you want but if you’re cropping out large portions of your image, the computer will make its own adjustments, and sometimes not for the better. Here, Elements has changed the resolution to less than half of what our printer requires.

Cropping in Photoshop Elements - Choose your width & height

The resolution is half what we need to make a decent 4x6 print

Here’s what to remember: the more pixels you start off with, the more you can afford to crop. For a 4×6 print, try to keep those dimensions to 1200×1800 or higher.

Happy Shooting!

When I was learning about photography, two things no one ever really talked about were proportions and cropping. No one mentioned that my images would be cropped every time I ordered enlargements. What do you mean I won’t get the whole image that I see on this 4×6 print? It wasn’t until I was ordering enlargements through a mail-order lab that there were instructions to draw on the negative sleeve how you would like the image cropped that it started to sink in.

Why all the confusion and sizes that don’t match? Blame the changing industry, I suppose. Ansel Adams shot with 4×5 and 8×10 cameras. For him, making prints or enlargements of 8×10, 16×20, and 24×30 all make sense. Each size is proportional to the next so nothing gets cropped.

Along came the 35mm film cameras and suddenly the full frame is 4×6 (a proportion of 3:2). Doubling that you get 8×12 instead of 8×10 – now you’ve lost 2 inches of your image. And good luck finding a ready-made mat and frame in a store designed to fit an 8×12 print. If you frame your pictures very tightly (from edge to edge filled with your subject – think group photo), this quickly becomes a headache.

And now we have digital cameras. When they first arrived on the market, their full frame was 4×5.3, designed to fill your computer screen nicely (that’s a proportion of 4:3) but there was no connection with 35mm sizes that we all know and love. As the technology evolved, most manufacturers realized this problem and they added a setting to take pictures with the same proportion as the 35mm film. As a result, though, your megapixels go down. Don’t fret, these days there are plenty of megapixels to make good enlargements.

Here are some visual examples so you can see what it all means as you get prints and enlargements made of your favorite images.

Here’s my nephew, playing with some new toys this holiday season. I took this with a point-and-shoot digital set at 3:2 so all my prints would be 4×6 without cropping. When I want to get them printed at different sizes, the red areas are the parts I will lose. A good lab should adjust where the red areas are so you don’t lose too much from the subject (see the 5×7 examples).

Original image: 35mm (3:2) proportions

Cropped to 3.5x5. Areas in red will not be printed

Cropped to 5x7. Areas in red will not be printed

Cropped to 5x7, version 2. Now the area that will not print is all at the bottom.

Cropped to 8x10. Areas in red will not be printed.

What if I had shot at the 4:3 digital proportion? Then everything changes. Now you need to know if that was your camera’s setting. (All right, you don’t NEED to know…but it would be better if you did.) You could have your files all printed as 4×6 like you’re used to but then you will lose part of your image. Often this isn’t such a problem – unless you’ve filled the frame with your subject. Now my nephew has lost the top of his head and most of his toy truck. See the examples below.

Original photo with digital proportions: 4x5.3 (4:3)

Digital 4x5.3 printed as 4x6. Areas in red will not be printed

Digital 4x5.3 printed as 5x7. Areas in red will not be printed

Digital 4x5.3 printed as 8x10. Areas in red will not be printed

A custom lab can print these as 4×5.3 and save his head and toy. But if you were planning on framing that masterpiece, forget it – there are no 4×5.3 frames out there unless you go with a digital frame. And even those are sometimes widescreen (16:9) rather than the 4:3 proportion. Egad! What’s a person to do?

You could change the setting in your camera if that model allows it. Look for a pixel setting within a menu and anything that indicates the 3:2 proportion. If it’s a point-and-shoot digital, it’ll likely be the second one listed as the first one will be the largest, 4:3 proportion. If you’ll be putting your prints in an album, I’d recommend getting them printed as 4×5.3 and get the whole image. If the print needs to go in a frame, go with the traditional 4×6, just be aware that if your framing was tight, you may not like the results.

Finally, what to do if you want an enlargement but don’t want the image cropped. Then you’ll have some white edges on two sides. If it’s a 4×5.3 digital image and you’re ordering a 5×7, that white will be on the 7” side. If it’s a 4×6 image, the white will be on the 5” side. Whatever decision you make, be sure to tell the lab. We can’t guess what you’re thinking!

For the math-challenged, here’s what you need to know to keep the full frame of your image as you make enlargements:

If your original size is 4×6, the full frame sizes are: 8×12, 12×18, 16×24, 20×30 and 24×36.

If your original size is 4×5.3, the full frame sizes are: 8×10.6, 12×15.9, 16×21.2, 20×26.5 and 24×31.8.

Good luck finding a frame for any of these goofy sizes. You’re better off cropping to these more common sizes: 8×10, 16×20, 20×24, and 24×30.

Another set of circumstances arise when scanning an old photo. Now the print size could be square! Turning a square image into a 4×6 will require cropping or white edges. Again, think of where the print is heading – album or frame – to decide what to do. If it’s going in an album, I’d suggest keeping the image the same proportion when it’s square so there’s no cropping. But if it’s going into a frame, print it as a common size. Again, you could opt for the white borders on two sides so there’s no cropping. See the examples below.

Original image is almost square

Cropped to a horizontal 4x6 image. Area in red will not print

Cropped to a vertical 4x6. Area in red will not print

Printed on a 5x7 paper. No areas were cropped but there is white on the 2 sides