Why don't my photos ever fit when trying to print?

[LisaR]

I don't know zilch about photography so bear that in mind. It doesn't seem to matter who takes the pictures or what type of equipment is used, when it comes time to print them, I always receive a message saying they need to be cropped. Why? Once cropped, I don't like the picture anymore! Any advice?

 

[wenrob]

It's not telling you that you have to crop them but showing you they'll be cropped. Depending on the ratio of your pic parts are going to be cropped, they're enlarged a bit for printing purposes and so the edges will get cropped. Why? I have no idea but I'm sure someone does. So the best way to go about it is not to crop your photo before uploading it and then move the little crop box that shows up to crop the best way to show off the pic. Hope this helps.

eta: the best way to help this in camera is to give yourself a little more space when composing the photo so you have more wiggle room for printing.

 

[photo_chick]

Some of our standard printing sizes come from non-35mm film formats and some come from other non-film image formats. DSLR's are based on the 2:3 aspect ratio of 35mm. Point and shoots are different and some (not all) are 4:3, more like a non-widescreen computer monitor or TV. This leaves us with a lot of different aspect ratios to deal with.

Like wenrob said, leave yourself some wiggle room if you like to make prints that are not the same aspect ratio as your sensor. And if you have an image you don't want to crop, copy and paste that image into a document with a white or black background (whichever you want. You'll end up with a print that fits a standard size frame that way without having to chop off anything.

 

[LisaR]

Thanks!