advice please, aspect ratios and printing sizes?, also grainy random grainy images

[heavanslilangel]

Hi guys.
Ok, where do i start?,lol.
Some advice would be well recieved and much appreciated.
The other day i uploaded some photos with jessops to be printed 8x6. A couple of days later i got the email to say they were ready, so i excitedly went down and picked them up. Only when i got home and looked, heads had been chopped out, half of peoples bodyswere missing from the photo etc etc.
So i phoned jessops clearly not happy and wanting to know whats gone on with my photos.
This is what he told me and how much i kind of understood. ive also researched it on the net and im sort of getting it but not totally.
Apparently because of the ratio i had shot the pictures in. (which if i remember correct was 4.3 because i always thought it was better to use the largest image size option on my camera so that blowing up to a large print in the future wouldnt be a problem) it was not possible to fit the photo onto 8x6 photo paper. After looking on the net i now understand that 4.3 is good for computer screens and tv screens but not printing right?
Anyway so this guy on the phone then tells me that i should go into my camera settings and somewhere in the menu should be an option to change the aspect ratio, and to change it to 2.1 and leave it on that. That way i will never have a problem with printing my pictures ( e,g sizes etc) in the future.
Well heres the problem, ive looked in settings and the only options i have are as follows:
L 4.3 4608X3456 (16M)
L 3.2 4608X3072 (14M)
L 16.9 4608X2592 (12M)
M 4.3 3264X2448 (8M)
M 3.2 3264X2176 (7M)
M 16.9 3264X1840 (6M)
S 4.3 2304X1728 (4M)
S 3.2 2304X1536 (3M)
S 16.9 1920X1080 (2M)

So i changed the ratio to L 3.2 (14m) , figuring it was the nearest to 2.1. Went out took some photos and in windows photo gellery live tryed to crop the pictures to 8x10, 8.5x11, 5x7,4x6,4x3 and 3.5x5. and all these options are cropping right into parts of the image i want to keep, especially when the images are real close up shots.
i generally want to print my images at either 8x6 and 8x10. what am i doing wrong? :-(


ok the second question i would like to ask is why i can take a number of shots in the same location, same weather conditions, same settings etc but some of the images come out really grainy looking. I am posting two examples with exif data, so you guys can see what i mean. Both photos were taken no more that 5/10 minites apart in the same location


information on the first pict 1/550, f5.6, iso 200, 106 mm focal length, flash used. second picture ( eating icecream) 1/340, f5.6, iso 200, 57mm focal length, no flash.

The camera is a fuji hs20 exr. Is it somthing im doing or the camera? I have this problem quite often. Also i have used a slight unsharpen mask on both of these images

Thankyou in advance for all your help and advice.

 

[heavanslilangel]

also both shots were taken in aperture priority mode.

 

[480sparky]

........
L 4.3 4608X3456 (16M)
L 3.2 4608X3072 (14M)
L 16.9 4608X2592 (12M)
M 4.3 3264X2448 (8M)
M 3.2 3264X2176 (7M)
M 16.9 3264X1840 (6M)
S 4.3 2304X1728 (4M)
S 3.2 2304X1536 (3M)
S 16.9 1920X1080 (2M)

So i changed the ratio to L 3.2 (14m) , figuring it was the nearest to 2.1. Went out took some photos and in windows photo gellery live tryed to crop the pictures to 8x10, 8.5x11, 5x7,4x6,4x3 and 3.5x5. and all these options are cropping right into parts of the image i want to keep, especially when the images are real close up shots.
i generally want to print my images at either 8x6 and 8x10. what am i doing wrong? :-(....

You're not understanding that the two numbers are a ratio. It's not A number, it's TWO numbers.

It's not 4.3, it's 4:3 (as in four to three). This means for every 3 units of measure (inches, pixels, mm) along the short end of the image, there will be 4 units of measure along the long end.

So take your first set of numbers.....4:3 and 4608X3456. They have the same aspect ratios. Meaning, if you divide the two numbers, you get the same results. 4 / 3 = 1.333333. 4608 / 3456 = (ta da!) 1.333333. The other two 4:3 images sizes, 3264X2448 and 2304X1728, produce the same result. 3264 / 2448 = 1.33333. 2304 / 1728 = 1.3333333.

The difference between the three image sizes is the total numbers of pixels the image contains. In order to reduce processing time in the camera, and use less memory on the card (resulting in more images capable of being taken), the number of pixels are reduced. Lowering the number of pixels reduces the detail and results in a 'grainy' photo.

My method is to 'shoot wide', meaning I don't use the frame of the viewfinder to compose my image. I always back up or zoom out a bit in order to have 'extra space' all around the subject so I can crop the final image to match the aspect ratio of my print.

 

[Studio7Four]

A good explanation by Sparky. To continue with his ratio explanation, you say that you are most likely to print at 6x8 or 8x10. Those print sizes have ratios of 8/6 = 1.3333 and 10/8 = 1.25. So if you set your camera to its largest capture setting, which has a 4:3 ratio (which equals 1.3333), you'll be able to print exactly what you frame in camera on a 6x8 print. To print an 8x10 of the same capture you'll have to crop; in this case you'll have to crop some off the long side.

As Sparky mentioned, it is a good idea to leave extra space around what you intend to capture if you think you may be cropping. Even if you end up just cropping in tighter at the same aspect ratio, that's much easier to do than adding pixels to one side to avoid having to crop something off the other side that you want to keep.

One last point is to crop the images yourself before sending them out for printing. I generally crop every image to the final print size before sending it in - if I want to print at two different sizes (say, 11x14 for my portfolio and 8x10 for the model's portfolio), I crop and supply two different files. The other option is to use a service which has a crop selection step as part of the order process. I generally use adoramapix.com, and if my file isn't at the same ratio as the print I'm ordering I get a boundary box which I can move around to select the print area (I see you're in the UK, not sure if it's worth their prices to ship to you or if there are services with similar functionality over there). That way I'm in control of where the crop happens, so I can choose to crop off the lower torso and not the head, for example, rather than having someone decide for me (or default to just the middle portion of the image).

 

[480sparky]

...........One last point is to crop the images yourself before sending them out for printing........ .

Superb advise!

If you send the lab an image with a 1:1.4 ratio, and ask to print an 8x10 (1:1.25), the lab will need to crop ~11% off the end(s) of the shot. They may take it off the left, they make take it off the right, they may take it off both ends equally,.......... and they may not give a damn either.

If you didn't get the subject centered in the frame, and say it's off to the right a bit, and the lab just arbitrarily takes that 11% off the right side of the image, you may end up with not only a grossly off-center print, but a part of the subject is lopped off as well.

 

[KmH]

This may help -

Most DSLR's deliver a 3:2 aspect ratio image at default settings. Below shows how the 3 most popular print aspect ratios relate to what is seen in the viewfinder -

 

[heavanslilangel]

Hey guys,
Thankyou so much for the replys,Im sorry for the delay in replying. have been busy busy busy for the last couple of days.
Im going to hopefully try and get my head around all of it today.
To be honest ive got a mental block when it comes to numbers, but im going to go over and over it until it finally sinks in. :-/
Does anyone one have an opinion on what i should ideally leave my camera on, ....................4.3 or 3.2. ?
What do most people have there camera set at?