Cropping

[privatebydesign]

So here is a problem. Attached is a image I took. Now I want to print in a 8 by 10. When I use that aspect ratio I can't get the image I want. I want the water below the tower and some sky above. Unless I keep the aspect ratio of the original I just can't get the composition I desire.

I'll write a detailed method later, but I am between airports at the moment. here is your image to 8x10 as a teaser.

 

[ray5]

Wow! I'll wait for the detailed method. Your brilliance is equally matched by my ignorance ! The more I learn the more appalled I get at how little I know. Thanks a lot!

 

[Logan]

its stretched out, but that might work for you. check the stairs in the bottom left and the tree.

ray, you are over thinking this buddy. you have a rectangle A, and you want it to be a rectangle B. forget the numbers. how do you make one rectangle into a different shaped rectangle?

ADD some material (white space to cut off, cloned sky, black silhouette if possible)
SUBTRACT some material (crop to the correct aspect)
STRETCH it (only works with some subjects)

if you wanted a tall narrow print and you took a wide thin panorama, what would you need to fix it? think about it. the differences between your picture and the available print sizes are smaller, but no different.

PS: metal prints are available in any shape or size you want. even custom shapes. try a different source maybe. regardless, it will look great, black and white night shots look amazing on aluminum.

http://www.adoramapix.com/app/products/metalprints

8x12 is 29.99 i think...

 

[Marsu42]

I'll write a detailed method later, but I am between airports at the moment. here is your image to 8x10 as a teaser.

I'm looking forward to it if your method includes non-linear stretch with PS.

For simple linear stretch you can also do it In Lightroom with a slider somewhat hidden in the manual lens corrections section. Minor corrections aren't visible and I sometimes do it, but the trees below Eiffel tower shots do indeed look like someone stomped them (no one knows how wide the stairs were, though).

 

[ray5]

its stretched out, but that might work for you. check the stairs in the bottom left and the tree.

ray, you are over thinking this buddy. you have a rectangle A, and you want it to be a rectangle B. forget the numbers. how do you make one rectangle into a different shaped rectangle?

ADD some material (white space to cut off, cloned sky, black silhouette if possible)
SUBTRACT some material (crop to the correct aspect)
STRETCH it (only works with some subjects)

if you wanted a tall narrow print and you took a wide thin panorama, what would you need to fix it? think about it. the differences between your picture and the available print sizes are smaller, but no different.

PS: metal prints are available in any shape or size you want. even custom shapes. try a different source maybe. regardless, it will look great, black and white night shots look amazing on aluminum.

http://www.adoramapix.com/app/products/metalprints

8x12 is 29.99 i think...

Logan,
I agree that I am thinking too much into this. I need to be patient and learn. I think I got a bit frustrated that I'd rather spend more time shooting than behind the laptop but I understand that the latter is important as well. Though I would love to know what PVD did to stretch the image without it appearing distorted. What I did eventually is had a 12 by 18 metal done offered by the same lab. This will be my first so lets see how it turns out. They are expensive. Adoramapix is cheaper than the lab I am trying but I was not happy with the trial paper prints that they sent. They are sending a second set without the color corrections, so lets see. Thanks for you kind words.

 

[Marsu42]

The more I learn the more appalled I get at how little I know. Thanks a lot!

Speaking of not knowing things: I just added a poll because I'm interested in how many people usually crop and why: http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=22666.0

 

[ray5]

Yup, have been reading some interesting posts. Feel slightly better now.

 

[Logan]

its stretched out, but that might work for you. check the stairs in the bottom left and the tree.

ray, you are over thinking this buddy. you have a rectangle A, and you want it to be a rectangle B. forget the numbers. how do you make one rectangle into a different shaped rectangle?

ADD some material (white space to cut off, cloned sky, black silhouette if possible)
SUBTRACT some material (crop to the correct aspect)
STRETCH it (only works with some subjects)

if you wanted a tall narrow print and you took a wide thin panorama, what would you need to fix it? think about it. the differences between your picture and the available print sizes are smaller, but no different.

PS: metal prints are available in any shape or size you want. even custom shapes. try a different source maybe. regardless, it will look great, black and white night shots look amazing on aluminum.

http://www.adoramapix.com/app/products/metalprints

8x12 is 29.99 i think...

Logan,
I agree that I am thinking too much into this. I need to be patient and learn. I think I got a bit frustrated that I'd rather spend more time shooting than behind the laptop but I understand that the latter is important as well. Though I would love to know what PVD did to stretch the image without it appearing distorted. What I did eventually is had a 12 by 18 metal done offered by the same lab. This will be my first so lets see how it turns out. They are expensive. Adoramapix is cheaper than the lab I am trying but I was not happy with the trial paper prints that they sent. They are sending a second set without the color corrections, so lets see. Thanks for you kind words.

it IS distorted, look at the bottom left. the tree is fat and the lines in the sidewalk are jaggy.
you are looking for a magic bullet. there isn't one. in limited circumstances you can edit more content into the picture, depending on your skill in PS, but that is the exception, not the rule. leaving the subject filling less of the frame gives you more room to crop. you filled the frame with the tower, and you have no room to crop.

 

[ray5]

its stretched out, but that might work for you. check the stairs in the bottom left and the tree.

ray, you are over thinking this buddy. you have a rectangle A, and you want it to be a rectangle B. forget the numbers. how do you make one rectangle into a different shaped rectangle?

ADD some material (white space to cut off, cloned sky, black silhouette if possible)
SUBTRACT some material (crop to the correct aspect)
STRETCH it (only works with some subjects)

if you wanted a tall narrow print and you took a wide thin panorama, what would you need to fix it? think about it. the differences between your picture and the available print sizes are smaller, but no different.

PS: metal prints are available in any shape or size you want. even custom shapes. try a different source maybe. regardless, it will look great, black and white night shots look amazing on aluminum.

http://www.adoramapix.com/app/products/metalprints

8x12 is 29.99 i think...

Logan,
I agree that I am thinking too much into this. I need to be patient and learn. I think I got a bit frustrated that I'd rather spend more time shooting than behind the laptop but I understand that the latter is important as well. Though I would love to know what PVD did to stretch the image without it appearing distorted. What I did eventually is had a 12 by 18 metal done offered by the same lab. This will be my first so lets see how it turns out. They are expensive. Adoramapix is cheaper than the lab I am trying but I was not happy with the trial paper prints that they sent. They are sending a second set without the color corrections, so lets see. Thanks for you kind words.

it IS distorted, look at the bottom left. the tree is fat and the lines in the sidewalk are jaggy.
you are looking for a magic bullet. there isn't one. in limited circumstances you can edit more content into the picture, depending on your skill in PS, but that is the exception, not the rule. leaving the subject filling less of the frame gives you more room to crop. you filled the frame with the tower, and you have no room to crop.

Sure it is stretched but to me it is within acceptable range. What I meant is with the stretch it was still within acceptable distortion. I think what I am finding out is I have to keep these factors in mind when composing the shot. So far all I did was get the best shot disregarding everything else connected to post processing. I understand that the magic bullet doesn't exist. Thanks

 

[privatebydesign]

Sorry for the delay in answering, but I just got back from my travels.

I thought a screen capture video would better illustrate the technique so here it is.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/12hc32ci12qscvx/content%20aware%20scale.mp4?dl=0

Obviously I am not very good at videos and was using a laptop through my desktop screen and kept using the wrong keyboard, and the audio sucks! But hopefully this is a good illustration of the technique and will continue the discussion.

Of course you can fine tune the technique and do the conversion in stages to better control what gets pulled etc, as I said, every image and output will probably require a different combination of techniques.

 

[ray5]

Sorry for the delay in answering, but I just got back from my travels.

I thought a screen capture video would better illustrate the technique so here it is.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/12hc32ci12qscvx/content%20aware%20scale.mp4?dl=0

Obviously I am not very good at videos and was using a laptop through my desktop screen and kept using the wrong keyboard, and the audio sucks! But hopefully this is a good illustration of the technique and will continue the discussion.

Of course you can fine tune the technique and do the conversion in stages to better control what gets pulled etc, as I said, every image and output will probably require a different combination of techniques.

Fantastic! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. This exemplifies a couple of things.
- My total ignorance about PS
- Logan had correctly pointed out that I was thinking too hard but what PS can do is even beyond my imagination!
Thanks again!

 

[privatebydesign]

Just did another video for people without Content Aware Scale, also this method will work better for many images. Knowing the various ways to do things gives you the flexibility to use the most appropriate technique for any particular image.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wm56wtcjvn543u/Aspect%20ratio%20conversion.mp4?dl=0

Hope this helps.

 

[Marsu42]

I thought a screen capture video would better illustrate the technique so here it is.

Great, thanks a lot for the video, with live commentary and all . It's always good to know what you can do better in PS because as a LR user I'm very unlikely just to stumble upon these.