From digital images to prints, what to expect?

In this day and age, having digital images is very important for most people to have when taking their pictures.

I know it was for me especially when I got married and when I get family photos done from professional photographers. And I still am.

However, what to do with your digital images once you get them on a USB? Print them of course however how does it all work?

Printing photos to a specific size is not always what you think. There is this thing call aspect ratio and here is how it affects your images.

What is aspect ratio? It is simply the measurement of a photograph, width:height. It also helps with the composition of your image.

There are 2 common ratios; one for full frame DSR  and one for crop sensor camera. But in this post, I will focus on the full frame DSLR’s as this is the gear I use to take photos.

The aspect ratio to full frame digital DSLR is 3:2. This means that the width is 1.5 times longer than the height.

3:2 is the ratio of landscape prints

and 2:3 is the ratio for portrait prints.

This aspect ratio will produce prints at 6×4, 7×5.5, 9×6, 12×8, 15×10, 18×12, 30×20, 45×30.

These sizes will fit the image as you see as digital images to print.

Prints like 7×5 has a different ratio; 7:5 which means the width is 1.4 times as long as the height. So that size print will have a different perspective and will have a crop.

While other classic size such as 10×8 has a different ratio again; 5:4. So when you print this size,  you will most of the time be cropping two inches off your photo as  the DSLR’s ratio is 3:2.

See below how print size will affect the digital image.

When printing your photos, some labs have an ordering system that has a preview for you to position your image for the crop you desire.

Here is a chart that will help with your prints.