Help - how to format prints in iPhoto?

[xrayyou]

I've just recently tried printing photos from iPhoto. I have a Powerbook G4, Canon Powershot G3, and and Canon i950 printer.

When printing 4x6 borderless photos I get white bars down the sides of the photo. It's as if the the picture information does not take up the entire available paper. The photo paper is obviously 4x6 but it seems that the actual photos are in a 4:3 ratio. Kind of like watching regular broadcast TV programs on a widescreen TV.

What am I doing wrong or not doing? Help!

 

[yamadataro]

It sounds like your problem is printer specific.

I assume you've checked your manual? Some printers do not support printing to the ending edge, bacause the printer can not physically hold the edge when it approaches the end.

I have an Epson, and all I need to do is to set the print paper prefs to make it print all the way ( it gives me a warning that the print quality won't be as good).

Good luck.

 

[ftaok]

Sounds like you need to crop your photos to 4x6 ratio before you print them.

When you "Edit" a photo, there's a box in the lower left corner for selecting your crop area. Just to the right of that is the settings for the constraint ratio. Just select 4x6, drag the cursor on your photo that corresponds to what you want the picture to be, and then hit the crop button.

That should do it.

 

[freddy11]

ftaok is correct, your digital camera takes images in 4:3. I did the same thing a few times before i figured out you need to restrain to 4 x 6.

 

[yamadataro]

Oh, the actual photo is 4:3??? I didn't notice that. Excuse me.

Then you need to change the cropping with iPhoto, like these guys above said. If you don't do that, iPhoto just try to fit the whole image to the paper, resulting in the white spaces you've descrived.

 

[xrayyou]

Thanks for everyone's responses. I thought about cropping the photo into 4x6 as well. This will result in some loss of photo information at either the top or bottom or both. Can the format of the digital camera itself be changed to avoid having to crop?

 

[yamadataro]

Some digital cameras allow you to change the pixel dimensions, but they just cut the top/bottom of the photo.

So your best bet is to imagine the outcome of the cropping in iPhoto when you shoot with your camera's native resolution.

That's my advice.

 

[ftaok]

Originally posted by xrayyou
Thanks for everyone's responses. I thought about cropping the photo into 4x6 as well. This will result in some loss of photo information at either the top or bottom or both. Can the format of the digital camera itself be changed to avoid having to crop?

Since you're using iPhoto, it doesn't matter that you're losing info on your photo since the original material is preserved. Unless, of course, you have stuff on the edges that you want to preserve.

 

[wordmunger]

Originally posted by xrayyou
Thanks for everyone's responses. I thought about cropping the photo into 4x6 as well. This will result in some loss of photo information at either the top or bottom or both. Can the format of the digital camera itself be changed to avoid having to crop?

What I'd suggest for you is doing the reverse: crop your paper. There is nothing magical about the 4x6 dimension (unless you're trying to buy standard frames--but in that case, you'll end up losing a quarter inch or your picture all the way around).

 

[xrayyou]

I read through the manual for my digital camera. There's no way to change the photo format. Think I'll take the above advice and either mentally crop or paper crop. Thanks again.

 

[freddy11]

Don't be afraid to try constraining your pics. Try it on a few, there are times where cutting out a little extra background will help your image. You said you have a G3, you'll still get high quality prints at 4X6 after cropping.

 

[globetrotter0]

HELP - 4x6 Prints with iPhoto on 4x6 paper

Has anyone been able to successfully print 4x6 photos on 4x6 photo paper through iPhoto. I thought there might be a setting for this, but after hours of peering through the menus again and again, empty handed.

Tried this with HP990cxi and Canon Pixma iP4000R to no avail.

 

[puckhead193]

Did u try going to file - print setup and under settings go to custom paper size, and enter the information.

 

[globetrotter0]

I think I might have gotten it. The paper menu changes for everything if you install it several times while connecting it differently.

iP4000R setting it up for wireless you have less options than if you set it up via USB and Rendezvous. However, the kicker is that the options which are "unlocked" stay unlocked regardless of how you're printing.