Problem with Print Sizing

[kevinlowe]

I ordered some prints from DS Colour Labs and received them today. When resizing the images in photoshop I made sure the longest edge was 14" as I was going to order the 14"x11" size and trim them down along the shorter edge.

When I was uploading the files the thumbnails did look as if some of my image had been chopped, so I checked and double checked the longest edge, and I had definitely resized to 14". But I have received my prints today and unfortunately they look exactly like the thumbnails and I can't use them.

Anyone got any idea what I may have done wrong? I don't think it is DS Colour Labs fault - the thumbnails showed the images as I have received them and I shouldn't have been so eager to order them. But I would like to put it right for next time so I can actually enter the competition

[Paul Jones]

When resizing the images in photoshop I made sure the longest edge was 14" as I was going to order the 14"x11" size and trim them down along the shorter edge.

I'm not sure I understand this. What size/dimensions did you want the finished prints to be, and couldn't you just crop them to that size in Photoshop before uploading them so that you wouldn't need to trim them when you got them back from the lab?

[kevinlowe]

Hi Paul,

I wanted them to be 14" along the longest edge. The shorter edge varied - there were 4 prints. As I had to pick a pre-determined print size 14"x11" was closest, but if i'd resized all the images to 14 x 11 I would have ended up with stretched images along the shorter size wouldn't I?

I get the feeling there's something very simple that I'm missing here.

[Paul Jones]

I don't know what your skill level is with Photoshop, but one option might have been to increase the 'canvas size' of the image to 14 x 11. (image > canvas size)

[oakeycoke]

Hi,

Couple of things here, firstly dscl website says that the print size you ordered and A3 size will need to be trimmed afterwards. I'm not sure what that means exactly maybe they print on larger paper and you need to trim it afterwards. If you ring them and speak to Andy he should be able to help you and if you talk nicely they may do them a bit cheaper.

The files you upload need to be at 300dpi for printing, check yours are at that resolution, they also need to be in their print profile for their fuji printers, but srgb usually turn out ok.

In photoshop you can resize to 14"x11" at 300dpi, but they are pretty big files about 7.5Mb as best .jpeg.

Just read your reply to Paul, if your shorter side was less than 11" then I have a feeling their software may well have cropped into the image to get a 14x11, in other words they have made your shorter side 11" expanding it, and thus had to remove some of your 14" side to get a 11x14 print if that makes sense. Are your photos cropped on the longer side. I may be wrong but suspect that their uploading software is expecting a 14x11 or 11x14" file, if its different then its deciding to alter the image to make it a 14x11 by cropping or enlarging in some way.

Note http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/digital_p ... inting.cfm which states that if you require print sizes outside of the normal ones listed then they can set it up for £5 extra, cant see that being viable in your case especially if all the short sides of the 4 prints are different.

Phil

[oakeycoke]

Hi again,

Paul beat me to reply, with a good suggestion, by making the canvas size14x11, which will no doubt show a larger white border either side of the long edge then it should print out that way and you can cut the white background that you dont want away when you mount it.

Phil

[kevinlowe]

Hi Phil,

Looking at the prints, I think that's exactly what's happening. I think I got my wires a bit crossed with the bit about trimming the image afterwards - I assumed that I'd be able to trim down to what I needed. But what I've got is a 14x11 image on a 14x12 sheet. There's none of the image lost on the shorter side.

Paul, my photoshop skill level is pretty low, to be honest until just now I hadn't even noticed that I could resize canvas, I was just resizing the image. But reading about it, I think this is what I need to do. Then I'll have a 14x11 image with a coloured background 'trim', correct?

Thanks for all your help. It was really exciting getting large prints in the post today - I'm sure it will be more so when they look like I want them to!

[pammie]

Hi Kevin, see me on Thursday... I did exactly the same thing and I rang them and spoke to them and now I know what to do next time. Basically when you have finished editing your image, you need to chage the canvas size to the exact size of the paper, ie. 18 x 12 inches in my case. Then my picture jumped in the frame and left a strip down either side that was wastage.

Cheers Pammie

[oakeycoke]

Kevin,

Start with a new canvas in Photoshop 14x11", it can be any background colour, think the default is white, ie 'file', 'new', and then use the choices to make it that size, you may need to change the units from cms and also the dpi. Then open one of your images seperately , says its 14x9" for example go to 'select' then 'all' then 'edit' then 'copy'. Minimise that image and/or return to your original canvas and go to 'edit', 'paste'.

You should then have your image in the new canvas and will see more border on the top and bottom, ie letter box style.

Depending on which version of photoshop you have something similar to this should work. You can also have both the canvas and your image open at once in smaller photoshop working windows and use the 'move' tool to drag the (selected) image onto the canvas (bear in mind the canvas is just a plain image with no detail in it) the image you transfer becomes a new layer on top of your canvas background layer. Cant remember the exact key to hold, but 'shift' or 'alt' keeps your image in the centre of the canvas when using the move tool and if not you can use the arrow keys to nudge it one pixel at a time.

Phil.

[PhilipHowe]

Instead of moving, you could always select all, copy and then paste into the larger canvas, I think this centres it as well.

DSCL also have a setting when you upload, I think it's pro mode, which means they will do nothing to your image, and it will print exactly as is. The other mode is where they stretch it to fit (I think).

[Paul Jones]

Paul, my photoshop skill level is pretty low, to be honest until just now I hadn't even noticed that I could resize canvas, I was just resizing the image.

Seems I was right about the canvas size....
I've used this method before where people have asked me for 10x8.
Stick with ADAPS and we'll soon improve your post-processing skills...