Cropping to 10x8" image

[Ericr2zz]

I have a 2.2 mb image (2496 x 1664 pixels) image taken from a Canon Digital XT SLR camera. There are 20 dancers lined up in the image and the focal length was 24mm when the image was taken (think wide image with people lined up in several rows).

I want to crop this picture to 10" wide x 8 inches tall. However, when I try to crop to 10x8", I can't get everyone in this image without cropping beyond the height of the image.

What's the best solution to this problem?

Thanks!

[frank abramonte]

Create a new document 8" x 10" 300 dpi.
Select your entire photo with the rectangular marquee tool.
You can drag it onto the new 8" x 10" 300 dpi document, or copy it and then paste into the new document.
Scale it to fit.
Adjust to include or eliminate whatever you think is necessary.
Post back if you have additional questions.

[Tom K]

Hi Eric;
One possible solution - your image has a ratio of 3 to 2. Assuming
you want to keep the same ratio and get all the team in the
image, I would suggest setting you crop for 10 by 6.7.
HTH... Tom :)

[TonyW]

Another solution that I like to use is to crop to include the whole group and then in the white space that you finish up with design a nice title for the image, names of the dancers for example.

Tony

[Ericr2zz]

Frank, et. al.

Thanks for the advise. Because of the 3 to 2 aspect ratio of the original photo, dragging the photo into an 10x8 new document and scaling to fit doesn't work because the scaling if off. People look weird. So I guess I need to keep the same ratio as the original picture.

If you know you want an 8x10 photo, is there a way (in the future) to adjust the shot/camera to take this into account?

Looks like the only solution is to add the white space, as TonyW suggested.

Thank you!

[Stratman]

Most large group shots need to be printed larger than 4x6 (which is the only standard size that is an exact match to the 3:2 sensor aspect ratio). You need to make sure that you do not zoom up for a tight composition at the time of shooting. Instead, leave some room to crop to 5x7, and leave even more room if you are going to want to crop to 8x10.

[Karin Sue]

When you drag onto the 8x10 blank canvas you need to keep the shift key down as you resize with the move tool to maintain your aspect ratio. Or make sure the chain box is checked in the options bar. (Actually in v6 I think you need to not use the shift key) This is really pretty much the same as adding canvas to make an 8x10 but your image is already on its own layer over the background so you can adjust its position on the canvas with the move tool.

You can copy or paste from the image to fill in the blank space either at the top or bottom.

And the white space doesn't have to be a single plain white stripe.
You can fill it with color, put part at the top, add narrow strips at the side and bevel to look like a frame, add text with date, names, event, logos, clipart, etc.

Of course you could always just cut off the extra white after it is printed.

If you would like to post it at pixentral I am sure a bunch of forum users here would play with it a bit to show you some possibilities.