problems getting prints of pics...

[Jim Walczak]

Hi All,
I gotta a problem and need some help! I've tried 3 times now to get some of my photos done as prints (at 3 different photo places) and every time I run into problems with the pictures getting cropped! This last time I formatted the pictures as 6x8 and when I tried to have the pics printed at Ritz Camera as 6x8's, their machine cropped the border (framing) out of my pics...and very unevenly I might add! I would have thought that laying the photo out as a 6x8 and having it printed as a 6x8 would have reproduced the picture "as is"(?!?)

Does anyone have any idea how I should lay my photos out before I take them to be printed? Obviously having the borders/framing partially or all cropped out looks unprofessional (and I'm having some of these done for a portfolio). If it matters, I'm using PhotoShop 7 for my editing and the camera is an Olympus C-4000.

As always I'm grateful for your collective wisdom and experience...this one is getting really frustrating!

Bright Blessings,
Jim

[jerrymeola]

I am assuming you are printing borderless, and that is the problem.

In order to have the print not show any white border the printer enlarges the image so that the ink sprays over the edges. Your 6x8 print is enlarge to (guessing) 6 3/8 x 8 3/8, the actual amount will vary for every printer and many times is adjustable in the printer drivers.

You can undersize your print and by trial and error find a setting that works for you but you then will have other problems. (and evey time the lab changes the settings you start over)

If you print exact size you will have to have the paper feed absolutely perfect so that the print hits all sides perfectly. Life is not that accurate. When I do this at home, even taking great care to feed the paper perfectly the paper has a tendency to move slightly as it goes through the printer, I will still get a white border somewhere on the print.

If you go back and look at any 35mm film you may have shoot in the past you will see that the neagtives were always cropped. Few people compared a print to a negative and therefor did not notice the cropping. Now with digital we set the size on a screen and expect it to go directly to paper with no changes.

Artist printing lithographs have the same problem and the same commercial solution. They (and I) print with wide white borders where the border is a mat and part of the print presentation. 6x9 prints on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet is a common size.

You are always going to have problems trying to print a photographic frame on a borderless print. Doing it yourself at home is very frustrating and trying to get a low priced lab to do it for you with minimum wage employees is hit or miss.

Sorry I can not give you better encouragement. It is not something I would even try.