Spikes Loc: Brookings, Or

I am new to the printing part of photography. I am looking for a mail order photo company. I will be printing 4x5, 10x12, and 11x14 formats. I would like to know how to size these sizes so they don't crop my photos.

herb99m Loc: Georgia, USA

Try Costco. I have been happy with their results, both in my local store and mail order. Their web site gives you the option to set the crop for the different print sizes. You can also turn off their auto color correct. In addition, you can set your profile to their printer. See Dry Creek Photo.

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

One of the main things to look for in the online ordering process is a check box for "NO CROP" which will make your file get printed completely, even if that means leaving some white borders. Some of the online sites have this hidden under the EDIT options.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

It really depends on what you're looking for.
All the ones listed below have online ordering available/required.
You upload and do a preview of what the print will look like. If you upload them in the aspect ratio you want them printed in, then no cropping should occur. All the ones I've used also have a warning if the resolution is too low for the size of print you want.

You could start with Costco, Sam's Club, or even Walgreen's.

Next step up would be Shutterfly or MPIX.

Then you can go into the pro labs like White House Custom Color, Bay Photo, ACI, Millers.......

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Because of the different width-to-height ratios, you will have to either crop, or add white strips along the sides.
I like to do this before I send in the photo for printing, so that I have complete control over what gets cropped where.

If you cut out a piece of paper at 10 x 12 inches, and lay that on a piece of paper of 11 x 14 inches, you will see that on the short side there is 1 inch difference and on the long side 2 inches difference. If you stretch out the 10 x 12 but keep it in proportion, you will still have a strip of about 3/4 inches wide along the short side, that will need to be cropped off.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

Sorry, I should have defined 'aspect ratio'.

That's the ratio between the height and width.

Most digital cameras shoot in a 2x3 ratio.
That makes 4"x6" prints real easy.
4x5 also gets you 8x10's.

Any software for editing digital images will have a way to crop to whatever aspect ratio you want. Then you can export the cropped image and upload it to the printing lab's website.