Resulting Ratio Question

Not sure if this topic has been brought up in this forum before......But I have recently begun printing my photos at home using an HP Photosmart C5180 which my mother bought for the house several years ago. It accepts paper up to 8.5x11 inches and I regularly print out at 8x10. I am still a beginner at printing, but my interest is constantly growing as I have had nearly $350 of print sales this month from various family members.

My question is this...when printing out images that are the normal ratio to the camera sensor (3x2 for horizontal and 2x3 for vertical), the result does not fill the paper to my desires correctly. I find that changing the photo to a 4x5 for verticals and 5x4 for horizontals results in better placement and size for framing. But what if you are trying to print a full frame uncropped image? Cropping will completely change the framing of the image and ruin the result, IMO. Is there any way to print these images so they retain the normal composition will still allowing proper framing?

Sure there's a way -- custom matting & framing. You have only 2 choices, really. Crop the image to an aspect ratio that fits your idea of "proper framing", or change the framing to fit your idea of the "proper aspect ratio" of the image.

Personally, I do the latter. Now, I crop most of my images, because I don't believe the aspect ratio of the camera sensor is any more "right" than the aspect ratio of some standard art materials like a frame. But the point is I drive everything from how the image needs to be, based on my creative judgment. So that means I make the matting & framing fit the image, not the other way around.

I'm 100% with Royce here. The correct ratio for the image has to come first. IMO

You can't go from an aspect ratio of 2:3 to 4:5 without cropping; 4:5 is nearer to square than 2:3. You can distort the image in Photoshop or add to the image by cloning, etc. to change the ratio, but I don't think that's what you want.

Josh,

What I do with my images that I sell is crop the image to what the composition needs depending on how I imagined it in the field. Typically that is pretty close to full frame but not always. Then I mat up to a standard size so that my customers can buy a standard sized frame and help keep their costs down. We do wholesale framing and matting for other artists and photographers and more and more of them are going that route. We often cut weird sized openings in (say for instance) an 8x10 mat so that the final piece will fit into an 8x10. It could be a 5x7, 4x5 or even panoramic. If you have a standard ratio that you like to use or know you are going to be selling several of one particular image, buying these custom cut mats in quantity can be pretty affordable. That way it helps keep the integrity of the piece but allows your customer (or you even) to buy a standard sized and keep costs down.

That's a great blended approach, Les. If one is selling the final framed work, and pricing or workflow efficiency isn't a big concern (which is my case), then the full custom-sized matting & framing may make sense. But if one is selling the work unframed or has a need to control the time & cost of the framing side, then at least matting up to a standard frame size gives the customer a choice without forcing the image itself to adapt to the framing material...