Photo opinion/help needed

[Moparmike]

Gots a question for ya...or anyone else who fiddles in Photoshop.

I've decided that I want to print this to hang in my computer room but can't decide on how I want to crop it or frame it out.

Printing will be done at the local Walmart... :isadizzy:
The only wide-format options they've got is 4x6 or 20x30. I was shooting JPEGs that day (DOH!) so the original isn't sharp enough to look good at 20x30 but I'm thinking at 11x14 it'll still print up pretty clear.

I want to do a "poster with title" style border on it before printing but am having one helluva time figuring out how to do the frame so I won't wind up cropping part of it off when they print it.

I suppose I could do it the old fashioned way and mat it by hand as I frame it, but I'm hell bent on trying to do a frame in photoshop. I still got my head stuck in PSP and can't get anything decent looking to come out of PS.

Any tips or ideas?

[BurningBeard]

What I would do is make a larger drawing of the mat with the copy on it and then superimpose the photo on the mat and save the whole works as a new file.

Beard

[TARPSBird]

Mike,
8x10 and 11x14 are about the same proportion, 4:5. This crop (see below) looks about right to me for 11x14.

[Moparmike]

Mike,
8x10 and 11x14 are about the same proportion, 4:5. This crop (see below) looks about right to me for 11x14.

Yeah, the size is pretty darn close. I need 2:3 for a native print though.
My photos come out of the camera as 2:3 ratio (APS/C sensor in a Pentax) and 4x6 or 20x30 are the only true 2:3 ratio sizes that I can get printed locally. So, I need to do my cropping before I send em out to print, especially if I put a border on em, otherwise the lab does an automatic crop and I loose one side of my border.

Maybe I've been overthinking this too...I tend to go into "feature shock" whenever I fire up Photoshop. :isadizzy:


Wish I would've shot it in RAW...I think it'd look real nice at 20x30!

Thanks! All suggestions are welcome.

[Moparmike]

This is a cheap-n-dirty quickie from PSP that shows about what I'm looking to do. I want to add a little drop shadow on the mat framing yet.

More or less just wanting a learning exercise for me using Photoshop...still prefer PSP, but since work provided me with a copy of PS I'm determined to learn how to run it!

[TARPSBird]

Mike, that looks pretty good.
2:3 ratio is the same proportion as a 35mm negative image (24mm x 36mm). That's why a 4x6 pics you get at Walgreen's when you have film processed is the same image as the neg it was made from. Here's the view I posted above at 2:3 proportion - same horizontal coverage, less sky and grass. More rectangular than the standard 8x10/11x14 format which is why I don't like 2:3 for enlargements. If Wal-Mart doesn't have the expertise to do a traditional 11x14 crop take it to a neighborhood print/copy shop. And even if your original image has the resolution to go 20x30 I wouldn't recommend it, that's a bodacious big pic.

[Moparmike]

Thanks TARPS! You've got a good eye on laying that out those last two. Proportions look better than what I've been getting.

It's been many years since I've messed around with printing my own from film and my crops from 35mm weren't the best either...if there is such a thing as "tone-deaf" eyes, I must have em. :costumes:

Trouble is, I've got no local printing options except WalMart or one local photographer who has gone digital and his prices are through the roof. My old local camera shop is an hour and a half away and I only get to that town once or twice a year anymore. Now I usually send most of my small stuff of to Walgreens.com for printing. There are some disadvantages to being out in the middle of nowhere! :d

This B&W is one that I've had printed in 20x30. Matted the old-fashioned way it after printing . Yep it's big, but it's sharp enough to look good hanging in the living room.

[Cazzie]

Wal-Mart or Ritz/Wolf Camera are fine for small enlargements on the order of 8 X 10. Larger stuff I send to a specialist in Winston-Salem, NC, Talton Studios. Costly but if you're selling or exhibiting in a photo art show, a must.

I do not know how Wal-Mart accepts the digital shot, but Ritz prefer they be on a photo memory card or USB2.0 flash/jump card. Save your final in a CYMK format for best printing by a professional. For Talton, I usually write back to a SD memory card and take it down, because I like to discuss little nuances with my pro. he saves it to a HD and I do some shopping or visiting (I have friends and relatives in W-S) then go back and get my enlargement.

Your quickie looks splendid Mike. I remember when Sentimental Journey made a stop in Danville many years ago. I have some 35-mm shots of her then.

Caz

[Henry]

Mike with your camera
and if you didnt crop much
even a Jpg will go to 20x30
no problem.
if you take it to wall mart, wallgreens etc
keep it in rgb or they cannot print it
You would be surprised at what a good printer or photo lab
can do (thats why we get paid the big bucks)
there are other sizes that may work
a 12x18 is in the same ratio as 2x3
and thats a nice size print
I knock out 20x30's all day long
just remember the bigger the picture the further away you view it
you hold a 4x6 in front of your nose but a larger print
you stand back
shame you live so far away
H

[srgalahad]

Mike, check your PM's.

[Dangerousdave26]

Probably not the size you are looking for but done is photoshop and easily modified from here.

This is only four layers

Notice on the second one how the wording seems suspended in space.

[Willy]

Mike, nice b&w of that Art Deco (41-47) Chevy. My favorite body style on Chevies. Going by the chrome grille, I'd say that it's either a 41 or a 46-47.

[Moparmike]

srg & Dave, replied to your PMs. Thanks!

Here's what I finally came up with last night. Looks good on-screen, now to wait for the print! LOL

Willy, that's a '46 sitting on an abandoned farm right down the road from me. The original owner bought it shortly after the war and it was retired to rust in the trees years ago. It was a favorite subject of mine when I was shooting film and I was duplicating an old B&W film shot I did of it many years back. Same trusty ole 50mm lens, different camera. Some yahoo stole the left half of the hood a few years back and the barn in the background has collapsed a bit more...otherwise the shots are near identical.