dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Wow, thanks Burk, The crop mask template is a great idea. Crud as it may sound, I made a billfold size translucent card with common aspect ratio holes. The purpose being to hold the card up and move around to compose the scene... moving in and out changed the selection. Then I used the camera. I rarely use it... too much trouble... but if as I do always printing 8x10... your viewfinder mask suggestion/link is a great solution.

If printed away from home... say one of the better labs such a Walgreen's on 50% special for 4x6" prints, I solved that dilemma by batch changing canvas size adding an inch to the 4x5" format. Allows a writing space for comments. It is easy to carry around a small book of photos 4x6" to effectively bore friends; 8x10s are too bulky and 3x the weight of the smaller prints. Faststone.org Resize does this 8x10/4x6 adjustment , well.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yeah, we had those viewfinder masks in all our cameras, starting way back in the 1960s, before I was ever in the portrait business. Most often, they were film masks, "line positives" made on Kodalith graphic arts film. We had them for long roll film cameras using 70mm, 46mm, and 35mm unperforated films. We had them for 120/220 cameras in 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, and 6x17 cm sizes. We had them for select models of 35mm SLRs with removable focusing screens.

The masks I made were for Canon EOS 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, 5D, and 7D cameras. Most of them were made on line film, printed from a PDF file on a Compugraphic Imagesetter at 2400 dpi. Right before Lifetouch bought us, I had ordered a small batch of laser-engraved finder screens from viewfindermasks.com. They were the best masks we ever had, because they didn't dim the finder at all.

We had composition lines for head and shoulders portraits, full length portraits, and panoramic group portraits, with 8x10, 5x7, and 8x20 crops shown.

There are many ways to fit images onto specific paper sizes. Canvas extension is one; using a database like FileMaker Pro is another. It can automatically size an image up or down and fit all of it onto a certain size paper, with no cropping. I'm sure there are dozens of apps that can do something similar.

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

I am new to Smumug. So I have not gotten around to check out how people will crop an 8x12 (full frame) down to an 8x10. I will look into it. But I always shoot and envision my final prints as full frame (4x6, 8x12, 12x24, etc.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Personally, I like photos to have whatever aspect ratio that is photo appropriate. I want the entire edited photo. Some printers will print the entire image. Indeed there will be some blank space but so what. A alternative is to place the photo on top of a constant color layer with the right aspect ratio. ( white, black, gray or other color)

bearwitme Loc: VA, USA

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Thanks..Gonna try different options...

bearwitme Loc: VA, USA

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Thanks

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

The following YouTube show how to make mirror image of edges for wrapping:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIIDBRBg_es

Google mirror image for wraps prints... and get more references.

bearwitme Loc: VA, USA

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Thanks for the information. Will have to learn to do this. Learning other features in LR as I go..

aellman Loc: Boston MA

Be sure to leave room around the edges of the image for a frame. Learned that the hard way.

bearwitme Loc: VA, USA

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Thanks for the reminder...

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

In LR's crop tool in the Develop module you can create custom crops if they don't already exist for specific aspect ratios - 2x3, 4x5, 5x7, 11x14. These will cover all multiples - like 2x3 covers 4x6, 6x9, 8x12, 16x24, etc. 4x5 covers 8x10, 16x20 etc. and so on. The creative cropping should take place in the develop module. You can create virtual copies for these if you wish. When you export your files you can make specific output sizes, but it may be easier to just output full size images at the right aspect ratio and not worry about resizing to actual pixel resolutions.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Generally works well. I have coordinated my custom crops and custom print templates, so I know what I'm going to get on paper --- while I'm still in the Develop module. My print layouts are all 1:1, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, 5:7, 11:14, and 16:9 aspect ratios, with custom aspect ratios for cropping. I use the 'X' key shortcut to flip the ratios when cropping, if needed.