Pixiq

One of the reasons people are disappointed in prints made from their digital camera’s files is not the quality of photograph, but usually because of what’s missing. What’s missing might be Uncle Bernie, who was on the edge of the group photograph taken at last year’s family reunion. It’s not that you don’t like Bernie— when you look at the file on a computer he appears in the image—it’s just that he’s a victim of a difference in aspect ratio between your camera and the print. This is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood characteristics of digital imaging, especially when making prints.

Aspect ratio is the numerical relationship between the height of the image and its width and is usually expressed with two numbers. All 35mm cameras use the same 24x36mm (3:2) format, and those camera collectors out there—you know who you are—who want to argue about half-frame (18×24 mm) film cameras will have to admit that particular format never really caught on with the majority of photographers. By comparison, digital SLRs and point-and-shoot cameras are available in many different aspect ratios and that can cause problems when making prints on standard-sized paper. A 4x6 print has an aspect ratio of 3:2, making it perfect for some cameras (no cropping) while an 8x10 has an aspect ratio of 4:5 making it “ideal” for others.

There’s a bit more to the story than just mismatched aspect ratios. Digital camera sensors are often cropped internally to match up with one of the standard print aspect ratios and that can cause some problems in the “what you see is what you get” department. If you’ve ever made a picture and just know that you captured the entire image but somehow the file seems “cropped,” you know the feeling.

 If you’re Thomas Knoll, who after taking a photo of a bird noticed that the wing tip appeared outside the frame even though he knew he caught the whole magilla,  you do something about it. DNG Recover Edges is droplet software (you drop the file onto the icon, it does the rest) that’s designed to reveal pixels at the edges of RAW files that have converted into the Digital Negative (DNG) format. Adobe DNG Converter, which converts most RAW files into DNG, is a free download from www.adobe.com. The extra 10 pixels that John Knoll recovered from the RAW file were enough to put the entire bird back into the frame. The Luminous Landscape hosts this free software and provides additional information about it. Camera manufacturers mask off pixels at the edges of the frame and these missing pixels are not available when these image files are displayed normally. DNG Recover Edges lets you recover between 4 and 16 pixels around the edge of the image.

PRINT SHAPES VS IMAGE ASPECT RATIO

Let me show you how the aspect ratio of the camera can affect the final print. Sometimes this mismatch only crops the image a little tighter and most amateur snapshots will benefit from being a little tighter anyway so it may not be a problem with most shots. Difficulties do occur when a subject gets too close to an edge in the original camera file.

The point of this aspect ratio discussion is not to say that one format –3:2 or 4:5—is inherently superior to the other. There are advantages and disadvantages to both and usually aspect ratio is not one of the deciding factors in picking a camera.

The most important concept to keep in mind is how the aspect ratio or your captured file will be printed using the print size (and aspect ratio) of your choice. Play it safe and provide extra space at the edges for group photos or if the image file contains something of importance at the edges. Sometimes you just get what you get and you need to be able to make changes before it’s printed.