Camedia Master v. 4.3 - Printing Question

[JerseyGirl]

Hello All: I hope that someone can help with with a very rudimentary question I have regarding printing with the Camedia Master v. 4.3 software.

I have an Olympus C740 Ultra Zoom Camera that takes excellent pictures. I usually make digital slideshows and rarely print pictures. But when I do print, I use either Target or CVS by uploading the picture to their store for pickup.

I just purchased a Brother 5840 CN MFC and tried to print an 8X10 picture on it. I could not figure out how to print the picture in any size other than about 4X6. Where can I go in the Camedia Master software to change the size of the picture? All I could find was "resize" but when I played around with that, nothing happened.

I brought the picture into a Word Document and was able to drag the corners to enlarge it. But with Word, I could not select print properties so that it would "fine print."

Many thanks!!

[bytethis]

Hi Mary.

Unfortunately, your question is not as rudimentary as you'd expect, most often nothing in photography is!

Ok, it's all about the apsect ratio (the relationship of an image's width to height, or its proportions) of an image in relation to your chosen print size. Often if you've shot and cropped the image to your satisfaction, it may not be a correct size for print due to its aspect ratio.

Now I've never used a Brother printer or an Olympus camera (or its software obviously) but the principal is very much the same, no matter what editing software or printer.

Ultimately, the printer must be able to print the size you choose, that's a given, lol...however the main decider of this parameter is the feature set of the software you choose to edit and print from. Having not used your software, I can't be sure of its limitations, but you're looking for an 'Image Resize' or 'resample' or similar feature, but you need to ensure that resampling is not activated as this may cause a loss of picture quality. You also should have access to a 'constrain proportions' or 'keep aspect ratio' option so that after you crop and size, then this should ultimately print at the size you're after.

If the aspect ratio (after you've resized) is not at 'recognized sizes, you may be able to print at the size you're after but possibly have slim blank borders at the side(s) of the image or maybe have some of the image clipped. It often means cropping the image to the correct aspect ratio rather than setting the print size in the first place.

Unfortunately, if your software doesn't allow for these more precise editing steps, it may be time to upgrade your editing software (rather than shoot off to a lab to have print correctly)

Photoshop Elements is brilliant and not particularly expensive.

Some helpful (and simply explained) tips are here http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/dig...eprintsize.htm and here http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/glo...spectratio.htm

Hopefully that's of some help!

[RTaylor]

Hi Jersey Girl aka Mary

most digital camera's create a 4x6 size print but can always be printed larger.

You cant really take a picture from your C740 and print it at 8x10 unless you crop it.
I own a C750 but dont really use it anymore since I own a Nikon D70 but both cameras pretty much created the same size print.

At larger sizes the 4x6 becomes a 7x10.5

You need photo software to print photos, never use Word to print an actual photo

Also, the C740 series camera creates a file that is only 72dpi. You really need to up the dpi to 300 whcih an be done in and photo software package

Check your computer to see if you have anything else besides Camedia.
I uninstalled it from my computer since I dont use it anymore but I dont remember an option letting you change the dpi which is very important.

Not sure which part of NJ that you live, but if its in the Princeton area, either the Best Buy or Staples in Quakerbridge Mall area will carry a photo software package under $79 for your type use.
I have PhotoImpact and also Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006.

Graham's suggestion for Adobe Photoshop Elements is a good one as well because its simplier to use than the full blown Adobe Photoshop.

Let me know what photo software you have and I might be able to give you more details on where to change the dpi before you print.

Also since it sounds like you are new at this, be sure NEVER to save changes to your original jpg file, always save it to a new file and better yet save your changed file to a tiff file.

Hope this isnt too overwhelming :d

I almost thought you were my friend Mary since her internet id's were always Jersegirl but since you list in your profile as 2 children, I knew you werent her since she has only 1

I'll wait to hear back at what photo software you have so I can better help you out

[JerseyGirl]

Dear Graham & Ruth: Thank you so much for the awesome advice! Now that I've found out that my question is pretty technical, I don't feel quite as stupid! I've always been able to find my way around pretty much all software and I've self-taught myself many applications. This Camedia Master thing really had me stumped.

The picture I was trying to print was, in fact, cropped and edited several times. It was my family & I on the beach in Punta Cana. When I uploaded it to my computer, I noticed a man in the background. I cut him out & replaced him with a palm tree! The picture came out really nice. I guess because I cropped it, it printed out very small. Some other pictures I experimented with (that I did not crop) printed on 8.5 X 11 copy paper and they filled the entire paper. That's what I wanted this picture to do.

Anyways, Ruth, when I edit pictures, I ALWAYS do save them under a different file name.

Regarding my other photo software, here is a list of what I've got on my computer:

Dell Picture Studio -- includes Paint Shop Photo Album 4, Paint Shop Pro 8, Dell Picture Studio & Dell Shutterfly.com

MS Front Page
MS Picture It! Photo 7.0

Roxio Photo Suite (came with my daughter's digital camera)

Ulead.com CD&DVD Picture Show 4 (this is the software I use to make digital slideshows.)

Any help you can provide as to which software I should use to adjust the DPI would be helpful.

I live about 30 minutes south of Princeton but as this time of the year, I don't want to spend any $$ on anything that is not necessary. Although, I could always ask Santa for a new software package!

Many thanks again!! I am looking forward to hearing from you again!

Mary

[bytethis]

No need to feel stupid Mary!

There's tons about photography that's technical and complex, in a sense it'd have to be to match and capture for a moment what the eye sees.

Certainly cropping an image more than once will often start to see the image quality be affected, that's due to the DPI (or dots per inch) being 'taken away' from the image, so that's why it's best to pop them to around 300 as Ruth's suggested, and this leads to the software you've highlighted. The other images you cropped that printed successfully you may find you cropped more to a recognised aspect ratio (that matches the destination size of the paper)

The reason companies such as Adobe (Photoshop & Photoshop Elements) ACDSEE, PaintShop Pro etc all charge what may seem like substantial $ is because thay provide a 'total' experience with editing images more 'fully' such as adjusting DPI, aspect ratio and image size as mentioned. Reason Photoshop costs so much more is that it is the 'industry standard' right across the range of graphics designers, illustrators, press, professional photographers etc and allows extremely fine adjustments of all the aspects that make up an image (and its intended result) I suggested Photoshop Elements because it's a 'lite' version of the full blown Photoshop at about 1/10th the cost.

I notice you have Paintshop Pro 8 in your list of software...this isn't the latest version, (which I think is version 10), however it should be perfect for the adjustments you may need to make - if it's the full version.

Personally I've stuck to Photoshop 7, 8 and 9 (CS2) so I'm not the best person to advise on PSP but I bet some of our Byte compatriots here use it and can assist. What I can suggest with adjusting/editing/cutting/pasting objects is do this to a copy of your original image before any cropping so that all other aspects can be maintained (you might be doing this in any case) The other software you've listed is generally 'lite' versions with limited editing functionallity, such as picture viewing/slide show presentation or burning software to cd/dvd, more to give you a taste and I guess allow you to dip your toe into editing. The Microsoft applications Front Page (Desktop publishing and web design) and Word (as Ruth's mentioned) will not correctly or accurately edit images - certainly with the finesse you need to print or view as they adjust the image without resizing it. Certainly your finished images can be popped into any of those applications, but generally after they've been edited and won't be resized.

I'm sure Ruth will be able to add more

[JerseyGirl]

Hello again! It's been a few weeks since I last wrote. I used the time to download a few trial versions of some photo software. One was Q-Image and it worked fine for the resizing issue. The other was Dell Paint Shop Pro v. 8. I've been playing around with that one much more. It's more user friendly -- a necessity for someone with little experience like me.

It's just amazing what the software can do. The One-Step Quick Fix makes all the difference in the details of the photos. They also have a clone tool which is simple to use. It's an easy way to crop people who accidentally got in the background of a photo.

I've got a 60 day trial with the software. After that, it's about $60 to purchase.

I recommend the software to anyone, who like me, is a beginner and just wants to be able to print decent photos for scrapbooking and enlarging digital prints to print out 8X10's for framing & gift giving.

Many thanks to you both for sending me off in the right direction.

PS I viewed your galleries and am just amazed at your talents. Is this a career for you both or just a hobby? Just wondering.

Thanks again,
Mary

[RTaylor]

Hi Mary, sorry I didnt get back to you, been busy with some business projects.

I bought QImage which is a good program for printing and color managment but for what you want, the other program you tried will probably do fine
Paint Shop Pro v. 8 was just bought by Dell recently. My husband uses PSP 8 too and he loves it
Glad to hear you are starting to figure out all the techy stuff to digital photography


I just caught your last comment, was that for both Graham and myself?
I do this on the side, I work during the day in Plainsboro NJ so when I get home, most of my waking hours are spent printing, organizing and selling my photos. OOOOH did you just hear that thunder? :-O
I think the storm is about to hit PA/NJ any minute now

[JerseyGirl]

Hi Ruth:

Yes, my comment regarding the fabulous talent was for both you & Graham. I was amazed when I spent some time today poking around in the galleries. Your work is incredible. As I said, I pretty much just take snapshops of the kids at sporting events and on vacations, etc. But I rarely take any photos of nature. But seeing these galleries is really inspiring!

Again, thank you for the information. It really helped me overcome a frustrating obstacle.

Yes, the thunder boomers are coming this way, too. My hubby just suggested I turn off my computer. After this post, off it will go!

Have a great weekend.

Mary

[bytethis]

Hey again Mary

Apologies for a slow response.

Glad to see you downloaded some trial software and found something you like!

Unfortunately, for the uninitiated, there's SO many parameters, options and features with professional editing software (and such a steep learning curve), it's a total minefield to try and work out, and folks often end up frustrated, so good on you for hanging in there.

Looks like you've found exactly what you're looking for. Once you get more experienced, you may even enjoy experimenting beyond the fixes that the software suggests to see all the power that digital photography (and your creativity) has.

Well done and enjoy.

Oh and you're quite welcome

In regards my work? My day job is a Videoconference consultant/tech with a telecoms company. What started as a hobby 20 something years ago, evolved into what I do today, which essentially is most of my spare time is dedicated to researching and shooting landscapes, cityscapes, in fact scapes of all kinds, abstracts etc, editing for web and print for sale. Thanks for the compliments.

It'll be my day job in the very near future