Have you ever printed a digital image and you just knew something was missing? Like you captured the entire scene, but somehow the shot seems cropped? Well, you’re not alone. And this happened because of the difference in aspect ratio between your camera and the print.The aspect ratio refers to the shape of an image and is described as the numerical proportion between the width and height of the image. The two most common aspect ratios created by digital cameras are 3:2 and 4:3. The first number always represents the width and the second number is the height. So, both numbers express a relationship and not a particular measurement.Aspect ratios vary from one camera producer to another and even between various camera models from the same manufacturer. The 35mm film cameras have the standard 3:2 format, while digital cameras come in different aspect ratios, which is why so many prints return cropped from the lab.For example, most DSLRs have a 3:2 aspect ratio, whereas video monitors usually use a 4:3 aspect ratio.

A monitor with a 1024 by 768 pixels display has a 4:3 aspect ratio, so most entry-level level cameras use a 4:3 aspect ratio for their photos.To determine the aspect ratio, look at the pixel dimensions of the photo. An image with dimensions of 2048 px wide x 1536 px high has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (length divided by width), whereas one with 3504 x 2336 has an aspect ratio of 1.5:1.The problem with printing digital photos is that the image and the paper are not the same aspect ratio. Basically, every 8×10 print made with a 3:2 sensor camera will get cropped. If you print your photos to a paper size with a different aspect ratio, you’ll have your images bordered to match the aspect ratio of the paper or randomly cropped.As a rule, an aspect ratio of 3:2 matches the aspect ratio of a common 4 x 6 print. If you use a camera with a 4:3 ratio (like all Olympus DSLRs) all of your 4 x 6 prints will come back cropped from the lab.The good news is that even though parts of the image will still be cropped if you print at 5 x 7 or 8 x 10, the amount cropped from is much less than if you’re shooting with a 3:2 sensor camera.

If you want to print a 3:2 photo on an 8 x 10 print size paper, the photo gets automatically cropped to fit the standard aspect ratio of the paper:So how can you fix this problem? How do you make sure your prints come out totally resembling the originals? What do you do when you want to make some big 8 x 10 prints? Well, for starters, don’t get too close to your subject.Deep Scratch Car Repair CostIn the example above you can see that the original 3:2 photo is closely cropped around the bird and there is not much space left. Adding Curtains To Vertical BlindsIf you want to print it on a 8×10 paper, the bird’s beak is getting cut.Pets For Sale In Eugene OregonSo, instead of getting so close to your subject, try to leave some breathing space.

This way you make sure that no part of the subject gets clipped off when you take your shots to the printing service. Some cameras let you choose between different aspect ratios of the photo from the camera settings menu.Another option is to crop the photos yourself. Since aspect ratios match standard print sizes, by cropping the photos yourself you make sure than the photos are no longer randomly clipped off by the people at the lab.Many editing programs have a Crop Tool that allows you to select the desired aspect ratio of the tool. For instance, you can set the Crop tool for a 3:2 ratio, which is great for 4 x 6 prints. Or, you can choose a 5:4 aspect ratio if you want to make 8×10 prints.To preserve a high visual quality even after the cropping, make the shots at the highest resolution possible. This way, you can safely cut out areas of the image without affecting their visual quality. Plus, in most cases cropping the images yourself helps improve the overall composition of the image.

The golden rule: always make your edits on a copy of the original, and not on the original photo itself. Some editing programs automatically open a copy or save your edits as a copy. If you edit the original, make a mistake and then accidentally save that version of the image, the changes are permanent and cannot be undone.But if you have saved a copy of the original, you can start the editing process again working on a duplicate copy. Remember that whenever you crop an image, you pull out pixels from the digital file. So if you crop the image and the final version seems pixelated, undo the action and cut less.Here are some of the reasons to crop your photos:When cropping the images yourself, make sure to select a DPI (Dots Per Inch) of at least 300, which, is the printer’s output resolution. A lower DPI may produce poor colors, whereas setting a DPI creates much better prints.If you know you’re going to print most of your photos at 4 x 6 (or don’t print at all) the best thing to do is get a camera with a 3:2 aspect ratio (Canon, Nikon or Pentax).

However, if you prefer making large prints of your shots, opt for a camera with a 4:3 aspect ratio (Olympus or Panasonic). This way, you won’t have any (cropping) surprises when you get back from the lab. And don’t forget to watermark your photos!Don’t let the fact that it’s free fool you. The Windows Live® Movie Maker has an impressive array of features to bring your still photos to breathtaking life. In a matter of minutes you can create a movie out of any collection of vacation, event or theme photos. As you work on your movie project, you will most likely view your results in the Windows Live® Movie Maker "Preview Window". Your movie will look great in this window, but the finished product will not automatically fill the full screen when played on your HD TV. To make a really polished movie, one of your goals should be to "fill the screen." This does not happen automatically when making a movie using photos taken in the typical horizontal or landscape orientation common to the majority of today’s digital cameras.

The problem is that the default size setting for photos on most digital cameras does not match the size of the typical computer or HD TV screen. This is because they are both set to different size standards, known as "aspect ratios." The aspect ratio is the relationship of an image’s width to its height. Here is an example you may be familiar with: At the cinema the screen is exceptionally wide in relationship to its height. The cinema screen is almost 3 times wider than it is tall, or a ratio of approximately 3 to 1. When you watch such a movie created for the theater on a typical HD TV screen at home, your movie is forced to fit into a screen narrower in width than it was designed for. The ratio of your HD TV’s width to its height is only about 2 to 1. You see this difference as a thick black band across the top and bottom of your TV: Many dedicated video cameras automatically capture video in the same format that fills the width and height of the standard HD TV, but most dedicated "still" cameras, most of which also shoot video, do not by default.

By contrast, the standard aspect ratio of your typical digital camera is only approximately 1 ¼ times wider than it is tall, or a proportional ratio of 4:3. The diagram below illustrates this: The default setting for Windows Live® Movie Maker is 4:3, so your standard digital photos taken at their native setting will fill the full Windows Live® Movie Maker Preview Window. You can find this setting on the Project tab in Windows Live® Movie Maker: But if you plan on displaying your movie on an HD TV screen in full screen 16:9 format, then using a photo taken in the 4:3 photo format in your Windows Live® Movie Maker movie will result in large black bands on the left and right sides of the movie frame: There are two ways around this. One is to check your camera’s settings and see if the aspect ratio can be changed from 4:3 to 16:9. The other is to use your computer to crop your photos to an aspect ratio or proportion of 16:9. The Windows Live® Photo Gallery crop feature handles this easily.

Open your photo for editing by double-clicking it or pressing the "Enter" key once you’ve selected it, and then click the "Crop" menu on the Edit ribbon at the top of the screen. On the dropdown list that appears, choose "Proportion>Widescreen (16×9)." Note that in the process you will lose some of the height of your photos when converting them to 16:9 proportions. After applying crop – a portion of the top and bottom of the photo are now gone: You can now place this photo in the Windows Live® Movie Maker and it will fill the screen completely: This problem has now been solved, but there may be more problems in the form of photos taken in the "portrait" style, which results in the photo being taller than it is wide. Using "a landscape," or horizontally oriented photo in your movie will result in a completely filled screen. "A portrait" or vertical photos will not fill the screen, unless you crop it to landscape/horizontal proportions. Portrait style photo placed in Windows Live® Movie Maker 16:9 format: