# Printing Cropped Photos



## Leonard704 (Jun 10, 2013)

I have 26 JPG photos that are cropped in various styles.  Some are landscape, some are portrait, some are thin portrait, and some are virtually square.  How can I process them in the print module so that they will all print in a 4x6 or 5x7 format at Cosco.  I tried exporting them as JPG files and processing them at Cosco but they get cropped in various ways.  Some of the landscape photos print correctly while others are cropped at one end.  The square photos are cropped at the top and bottom and some narrow portrait formats are cropped at the top and bottom.  Is there a way to size each image individually to print in a 5x7 format at a location like Cosco?  If not is there a way to size them so they all print without being cropped by the Cosco type printer at some dimension smaller than 8x10?  Thank you.


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## erro (Jun 10, 2013)

If you want to print 4x6 then the photo will obviously need to have a 4x6 ratio.

I would create virtual copies of all the desired photos, and then crop them to suitable ratios. That way you still have the originals with their "strange" ratios.

Or, ask Cosco to print the "strange" ratio photos, but using the "fit" option, meaning Cosco should not crop anything themselves. This will give white adges that you can physically cut away yourself.

The basic question is: do you realize the difference between physical size (4x6, 5x7 etc) and ratios?


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## Tony Jay (Jun 10, 2013)

Welcome Leonard.
Robert has certainly got straight to the nub of the question.

Tony Jay


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## Leonard704 (Jun 10, 2013)

Thanks Robert. I am not sure I fully understand the difference between physical size and ratios.  Can you explain or point me to an article that explains?  I have never printed any of my lightroom 4 images so this is a learning process for me.


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## Replytoken (Jun 10, 2013)

Leonard704 said:


> I have 26 JPG photos that are cropped in various styles.  Some are landscape, some are portrait, some are thin portrait, and some are virtually square.  How can I process them in the print module so that they will all print in a 4x6 or 5x7 format at Cosco.  I tried exporting them as JPG files and processing them at Cosco but they get cropped in various ways.  Some of the landscape photos print correctly while others are cropped at one end.  The square photos are cropped at the top and bottom and some narrow portrait formats are cropped at the top and bottom.  Is there a way to size each image individually to print in a 5x7 format at a location like Cosco?  If not is there a way to size them so they all print without being cropped by the Cosco type printer at some dimension smaller than 8x10?  Thank you.



What you are doing is akin to fitting a round peg in a square hole.  To make this happen, you have one of two choices.  Are you looking to print all of each image on a 4x6 or 5x7 print, or are you wanting to crop each image so it fills a 4x6 or 5x7 print?  If the former, then you need to see if Costco allows you to print the "full frame" with white boarders (on the sides or top and bottom of the print).  The latter choice would be a "full bleed" and would require cropping of the files to match the paper ratio.  This is what Robert was referring to in his post when he was talking about the print vs. paper ratios.

Good luck,

--Ken


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## Leonard704 (Jun 11, 2013)

Replytoken said:


> What you are doing is akin to fitting a round peg in a square hole.  To make this happen, you have one of two choices.  Are you looking to print all of each image on a 4x6 or 5x7 print, or are you wanting to crop each image so it fills a 4x6 or 5x7 print?  If the former, then you need to see if Costco allows you to print the "full frame" with white boarders (on the sides or top and bottom of the print).  The latter choice would be a "full bleed" and would require cropping of the files to match the paper ratio.  This is what Robert was referring to in his post when he was talking about the print vs. paper ratios.
> 
> Good luck,
> 
> --Ken



Thanks Guys,  I think I finally got it right.  I needed to lock the aspect in the Develop module before cropping the images.  I am relatively new to Lightroom 4 and I have never printed anything digital.  This is my debut in digital printing and it is still a bit of a mystery to me.  I have a few things I would like to print and this exercise has been a good learning experience.  Thanks again.


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## Tony Jay (Jun 11, 2013)

Leonard704 said:


> ...I needed to lock the aspect in the Develop module before cropping the images...


You don't necessarily need to lock the aspect, although you may wish to, as long as you understand what the consequences are.
I print many images that do not correspond to the ratios of the papers I am printing on and there is no aesthetic precedent that says the ratios of the paper and the image must match.

Tony Jay


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## Leonard704 (Jun 12, 2013)

Hi Tony, thanks for the input.  I can see your point if the important part of the image fits within the confines of the paper you are using.  If not, and you are doing the printing you can adjust the position of the image in the crop frame and reprint.  In the case of Cosco and the 4x6 prints I was wanted, whatever did not fit the 4x6 paper was chopped off.  According to the lady running the printer at Cosco there was no way to adjust the image position at Cosco.  I had to correct the problem in LR4 and resubmit.  The resubmitted files printed as I intended.


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