crop/print help

[JBlake]

I have some photos I would like to save to CD and print at wally world or some other chain shop. The pics I have now, straight out of camera (some re-touched) are massive files and i need to know the next step. Do I crop them to the size I want now, or let the shop do it? Any thing else I need to do before taking to print.

Thanks fo the help. Joe.

[Asylum Steve]

Joe,

Labs and store photo departments are perfectly capable of resizing and printing your files with good results, but it seems from people's shared experiences here that there are no guarantees. You're sort of at the mercy of how knowledgable the clerk that helps you is...

I find it better to take as many decisions out of the hands of the "hired help" as possible.

With that in mind you're probably better off resizing the pics yourself, and having them make "straight" prints with no adjustments.

If you're using photoshop, make a copy file of the image, the use the resize tool. Put in the dimensions of the prints you'll be getting, and set the output resolution at between 200-300 dpi. You may have to crop a bit to fit the frame exactly in the print dimensions. Save the file as very high level jpeg or a tiff.

Hope that helps. There may be others here who have specific experience doing what you're trying to do...

-Steve

I have some photos I would like to save to CD and print at wally world or some other chain shop. The pics I have now, straight out of camera (some re-touched) are massive files and i need to know the next step. Do I crop them to the size I want now, or let the shop do it? Any thing else I need to do before taking to print.

Thanks fo the help. Joe.

[another view]

I get most of my small prints (up to 8x10) done at a local grocery store that has a Fuji Frontier machine, which I think is what's at WalMart. I only bring in a CD already sized, cropped, etc and have it printed as is and haven't had any problems. Great prints, even compliments about print quality from unknowing pros who have seen my portfolio. Under $2 for an 8x10, even - can't afford the paper/ink for my own printer at that price.

Since even at 8x10 the file size is reasonable at 300dpi, that's what I use. I don't know if 200dpi would have any loss of quality because I haven't done it, and the machine will handle it just fine. Just don't save as TIFF files (ask me how I know... ).

Don't let them or the automated kiosks make any changes to your files, that way you know what you're getting. You will have to use the print sizes they offer and if you want something else you'll have to trim it. I haven't tried this yet, but for an 8x8 square print I think you'd have to create a blank 8x10 document in Photoshop and set the print on top of it, then trim the 2" off one end. If you didn't, it think it would stretch it on one side to 10" and crop the other direction 20% (from 10" square back to the 8" print size).

[JBlake]

thanks for the help, Steve and AV...now I have to ask AV...why no TIFF?

Joe.

[another view]

You just had to ask, didn't you!

TIFF's can to crash the system because the files are so big. The people running the machines don't like that too much. I only (personally) locked up a kiosk, but know someone who actually did crash the whole thing...

Actually, TIFF's are unnecessarily large for printing IMO. If I do a lot of Photoshop work to an image, then I save that as a TIFF - like a master file. This way, any future changes (and the "save" associated with that change) don't degrade the file at all. Then, I "save as" a jpeg at the highest quality setting in Photoshop and print from those files.