Photo Onscreen vs Photo Printed Out

[Amy]

I know somebody asked this question a while back, but I looked through 5 pages and couldn't find it. So I'll ask again.

Here's a photo I took tonight of our Christmas lights:

You can see the deer on the left and can read the "Merry Christmas" lights on the right. However, when I printed it out, the deer was cut off and half of "Merry Christmas" got cut off. What gives?

I used to use a Canon A70, 3mp. How my shots looked in the viewfinder and on the screen, that's exactly how they printed; nothing got cut off. Now I'm using a Canon S3 IS, 6mp. Is that the "problem"? My pictures now have more pixels??

I'm using a Canon Pixma IP6000D printer; is it possible the printer can only handle so many pixels so the extras get cut off? Is there anything I can do about this on the computer so the entire image will print? Or do I just have to adjust while I'm taking the picture and remember to leave space on the edges of my pictures for what gets cut off?

 

[jann1033]

i have a hp printer but mine asks if you want it "to crop to fit" the page..if yours does could that be checked? it's under the printer properites on mine but it will cut some of it off if it's too large on mine...

or could the picture be set for a larger print?( ie 11x14 and you are using 8x10 paper or what ever)

sorry if these are too basic but i just realized my prints came out rotten cause i had the resolution at 72 instead of 300 so maybe someone can learn from my stupidity

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It's not the total number of pixels that is the problem, it is the number across compared to the number up and down. Your picture is wider than I would have expected. Most cameras take pictures that are half again wider than they are tall. So if the picture was 400 pixels tall, it would be 600 pixels wide. When you print to a 4x6, you get the entire picture.

Those proportions don't work for every print size. If you print a shot that is 5 inches tall, it should be 7.5" wide, but no one makes 5x7.5 paper. Instead, you have to cut off 1/4" on each side to make it fit onto 5x7 paper. If you make it 8" tall, it should be 12" wide. Again, you usually don't see 8x12 paper, it's usually 8x10, so you have to cut off 1" on each side to make it fit.

It's the same problem when they try to put a movie onto a TV. The movie is often wider than the TV screen so they either chop off the sides or they shrink it to fit the screen and leave black bars on the top and bottom.

Your picture is 800x450 pixels. That's an unusual aspect ratio for a picture. It actually matches a HDTV screen (with a ratio of 16:9). I think the S3 has a wide screen mode and I suspect that is what you are using. That's great for looking at them on a HDTV, but not so good for printing. If you continue to shoot in widescreen mode, you've got three options for printing:

1) Cut off part of the sides
2) Fit the whole thing onto a page and cut off the top and bottom (which will be left white)
3) By specialty papers in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

 

[Amy]

Oh geez, I distinctly remember setting my recording pixels to Large (2816 x 2112 pixels) and the compression to Superfine when I got the camera. But I just checked and you're right - the pixels were changes to Widescreen (2816 x 1584). I guess I was changing some other settings and changed this by mistake. DUH! I guess that's why I never noticed this before.

Guess I'll have to try some more shots now that I have the settings correct.

Sorry for wasting your time on a stupid operator error, but thank you for telling me what I did wrong!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I am always amazed by how much so many people know here. What a wealth of knowledge.

 

[0bli0]

if you don't want to cut after you've printed, the other thing you can do is create a black 6x4 ratio image in your favourite editor. then paste the image - centred top to bottom - directly into the image. for example, the image above, create a black 800x533 image, then paste the above image 41 pixels from the top.

 

[spoon2003]

Sorry for wasting your time on a stupid operator error, but thank you for telling me what I did wrong!

Amy,
I learned something from your "stupid opeartor error" question, so THANK You for posting.

Sue