Rarely is a photo taken that is picture perfect, ready to send to the printer. Before that happens, editing is usually done. Editing can be done within the camera or post-creation by using image editing programs.
3 Tips to Help You Crop Images Like a Pro for Better Quality Prints
- Always edit a copy: Never the original RAW file format
Many a software program can help you crop your photos any way you like. Any that you do use, use a copy. Don’t edit your original photo because not all programs are non-destructive. The original file that’s on your DSLR or smartphone has the image captured in the highest quality. That is the one to preserve. Don’t alter that. Save the original, make a copy, and crop the copy.
This way, nothing you do is permanent. You can restore the original and have the full resolution of the original picture. Each edit you make to a photo will alter its quality, composition, and the resolution. Especially if you use a resize function to reduce the file size.
- For cropping images of people, crop above or below joints (not on)
When cropping photos of people, crop above or below joints. The rule the pro’s use is “If it bends, don’t crop it”. What happens when you make the crop directly on a joint is it makes the body appear to be smaller than it is. It’s an unflattering look that can be avoided by cropping below or above any part of the body that moves. - Know how much editing you can realistically do
The quality of the camera used to take the photo may put limitations on the edits that can be done safely, without reducing image quality.
When you crop an image, pixels are removed. The knock-on effect of that is a reduction in the overall resolution. A 16mp or 20mp high resolution camera has far more scope for making multiple edits than say, an 8mp camera on a 5-year-old handset. If you’re finding yourself looking through archive photos on an SD card or thumb drive, have a look at the image properties to see what resolution the photos have.
Top Tip: Strip the EXIF Data of your images
When you upload photos to any software, some of the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data can cause problems. As an example, uploading a photo to print and frame only to find it displays sideways.
If you find your image shows sideways, check your photo’s properties for EXIF information. Digital photos contain EXIF data, which can include an EXIF tag for the photo’s orientation. Landscape or portrait. If that’s corrupted, it can result in photos displaying sideways and having problems rotating the picture. On Windows, you can open the properties menu, click on the details tab, and then choose the option to make a copy with all the properties removed. On smartphones, multiple apps will be able to strip all the data from your images.
With the EXIF data removed, the orientation won’t be fixed. You’ll be able to reposition the image to whichever orientation you want to use for printing.