There is no way I know of that you can get a full frame 4×6 photograph that will display ALL of the picture that you downloaded from your camera. That aspect ratio is not the same, and it will be necessary for you to crop the picture in order to get what you want. Personally, I like to use the crop tool and enter the dimensions that I want. Then, as I crop the picture Elements will make sure that my final photograph is the correct size. But it will be necessary for you to crop some of the picture. Otherwise, I’m afraid your picture would be terribly distorted.
ijlct,
As you mentioned, there is a difference in the aspect ratio. It’s the old you can’t put a square peg in a round hole (without doing some modifications at least). You can have the whole picture if you are willing to have it not go to all of the edges, like the band you were describing. Or you can have your image extend to all the edges but you will need to crop one half inch off.
If you go to image>resize>image size and type in 6 for the width, the height will automatically fill itself in with 4.5 (with resample unchecked I am keeping all of the original pixels and the resolution will display now as 432ppi). You now have a 6×4.5. You will need to crop 1/2 inch off of one dimension to get an exact 4×6.
Nancy
Thank you both for your responses.Nancy,I thought you had solved the problem but when I printed the picture(using a Canon i960)I ended up with only a small border but the picture contained only about 1/3 of the original photo.It was like the photo had been enlarged and the lower left 1/3 of the photo made up the entire image.
I know my printer(brand new)is ok as it prints great with the Canon Easy Print program.I just can’t believe that a progran as great as PSE2 won’t make complete or correct prints.What am I doing wrong? Any ideas? Thank You.
Thank you both for your responses.Nancy,I thought you had solved the problem but when I went to print the picture(Canon i960)it had a small border but the image printed was only about 1/3 of the entire picture.It was like the image had been enlarged and then only the bottom left was printed to fill in the 4 X 6 paper.I know my printer(brand new) is ok as it prints perfectly with the Canon Easy Print program.I just can’t believe that a program as great as PSE2 can’t make a correct or complete print.What am I doing wrong? any ideas? Thanks.
If you use the Print Preview option you will see a checkbox labeled "Scale to fit". Even though you take the time to choose the appropriate paper and everything if you don’t check this box Elements will print on your paper at 100 percent ratio. Make sure that you have checked Scale to fit.
I did exactly what you said Jim,however,when you check "Scale to fit" the scaled to print size is grayed out and shows 74%.The H=8in and the W=10.667in.The print ends up only showing part of the picture as I mentioned before.It appears that what I end up with as far as a print is concerned is a 4 X 6 area of an 8 X 10.667 picture.I’m still missing something.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks
The only other thing I can think of is that possibly you have forgotten to tell the printer and Elements that you are printing on 4×6 paper. I’m afraid I’m at work right now, and the printer I have here is not designed for printing photographs. When I get home this evening, in a couple of hours, I will go through the process step-by-step and see if I can figure out what I can do to help you.
Thanks Jim,I’ll look forward to hearing from you.BTW I have elements set @ A4 and printer set at 4 X 6.
ijltc,
Two questions:
* Does your printer print "full bleed"? (image extends to very edges of paper) * Are you feeding your printer a piece of paper exactly 4×6"?
edit–I don’t know what you mean when you say you have Elements set to A4???
Nancy
Nancy;The printer is set to do "borderless" prints.In PSE2 under file,page setup you select the size of paper you want to print on.I set it on A4 as there is no 4 X 6 setting.Hope I answered your questions.Thanks
A4 paper is almost the same size as regular U S letter size – about 1/2 to 3/4 inch variation in size and width, although I can’t remember quite how that goes. It would be reasonable that you couldn’t get a 4 X 6 from that choice. I think you should do more nosing around in Page Setup, because I’m quite sure 4 X 6 is in there if your printer is equipped to print that size. The page set up in Elements pretty much mirrors whatever your printer can handle. I just checked both a Word doc and an Elements doc, and the page set up is identical, whether I access from Page Setup in Word or Page Setup in Elements, or Page Setup in Elements through Print Preview. The Lexmark software installed on this PowerBook has a long list of sizes, with 4 X 6 photo being waaaay at the bottom, and it also has an area for custom sizes. If a $40 Lexmark has the capability, I think you might just be overlooking something in yours. 🙂 When I run the same routine on my desktop computer with HP software, I get that software showing up the in pretty much the same way in either a Word doc or an Elements images.
ijltc,
"Printer set at 4×6"…I think that is part of your problem, unless your printer prints ‘full bleed’ (entirely from edge to edge).
ijltc,
Let me try this again…
* Have your Layers Palette open on your workarea. If it is not, drag it down from the above Tabs. * If a layer is showing in the palette called "Background", double click it and accept the offered "Layer 0" name
* Image>Resize>Image Size In the box which opens; **make sure "Resample" IS NOT CHECKED** change only ONE value, change the 14.4 to 6 for the width. The height will fill itself in at 4.5". The resolution will bump to 432ppi.
* Get the rectangular marquee from the Tool Box. Above workarea, where it says Normal, use the dropdown to select Fixed. Type in "6 in" for the width and "4 in" for the height. Click anywhere inside your image, the selection box appears. With cursor inside box, you can reposition the box, in this case, vertically.
* Image>Crop
* You might want to save a copy of your 4×6 image at this point. * File>New Create the canvas (which is actually the paper you are going to print on). Set it to a resolution of 432, and type in the dimensions of your paper (which I know is very close to 8.5×11") I believe one of the available units is "cm".
* Now you have the blank page covering up your image on the workarea, fine. Just hit the Control key and the minus sign (Ctrl/-) once or twice to shrink down the display size of the page.
* Click on the image on your desktop to make it active. Flatten your image if you have more than one layer (after you have transfered it to the blank page, go to the History Palette and udone the Flatten step if desired)
* In the Layers Palette, drag that flattened layer (or the layer, if image only consisted of one layer) and drop it onto a visible piece of the big blank canvas.
* Reposition your image on the canvas by selecting the Move tool in the Tool Box, and drag the image around to desired location (be sure to leave at least 1/4 " of canvas showing on all edges, the printable area of the paper is not the entire thing)
Does this work for you?
Nancy
OK,
I was typing as ijltc answered and Beth posted.
I was confused because you were actually setting up the PRINTER parameters in page setup, not PSE setup.
Why not cut that large paper into smaller pieces for printing smallish images? I often make 5x7s and use half sheets to feed my printer.
Or else, when you have several images to print out, follow the steps which I outline earlier and position several on a page and print them out at the same time. Just be sure they all have the same resolution (including the canvas)
Nancy
The A4 setting seems to be the one that is causing the trouble. But I don’t understand what you mean when you say that you have Elements set to A4. You should just have your photograph open at whatever size it is. Then, at least on my system (HP printer), I designate the paper size and type in the printer setup. Please clarify.
Nancy has provided you with a better set of instructions that I ever could have. My suggestion is for you to follow them through and evaluate your results, then report back. I will be monitoring the forum for another three or four hours.
Jim
I shouldn’t have snucked in there on you, Nancy. I didn’t notice he was trying to set up from the wrong spot. Sorry. 🙁
Beth,
You always have good ideas and write very clearly…no need to apologize!
Thanks to Beth pointing out that A4 is the wrong size,the problem may be solved.In PSE2 when you click File then Page Setup you have the following choices:A4,A5,A6,B5,four envelope settings,executive,Jap PC,legal,letter,US index card 4×6,and US index card 4×8.Nothing about a simple old 4×6 paper.I just tried using the US index card 4×6 and got a very acceptable picture with only a fraction of the picture missing,this is without checking Scale to Media.If I check Scale to Media and print I get the entire picture printed with an approx 1/2in border on each side.Either way I’m 1000% better off then I was.Thanks again to all of you for your help-you were great!
ijltc – since that suggestion got noticeable improvement, I have another one! Try this sequence: Print Preview>Page Setup. I’m now on a different computer, and when I compare what I get with the Lexmark software to what I get with the HP, I see a small difference. The Lexmark only offers the option of 4 X 6 photo if I access it from the Elements Print Preview>Page Setup route. If I use File>Page Setup, it doesn’t show. I don’t know why this should matter, but experiment and see if you can get closer to a perfect hit on your 4 X 6 photo paper by going through Print Preview. You might not, but it’s worth a try. Also, if you can find any pattern to the part of the picture that isn’t printing, see if you can adjust the placement of the paper in the paper tray.
Beth;Interesting suggestion.I get a slightly different set of paper size choices when I choose Page Setup through the Elements Print Preview>Page Setup route.In that way I get an exact 4×6 101.6×152.44mm choice(which I’m guessing gives me the Canon Printer choices).However the end result in terms of a print is exactly the same.I guess when you do File>Page setup you get either your OS (Windows) or PSE size choices,but Elements Print Preview>Page Setup uses the actual Printer Choices.Thankfully the end result is the same,hence eleminating one more possible step.Thanks again.
ijltc,
Remember to always keep your eye on setting an image for either portrait or landscape.
I’m glad we progressed another step! You will want to get in the habit of using Print Preview when you’re printing from Elements. As you use the software more and decide you want to "branch out" beyond 4 X 6 prints, you’ll need to be able to access some of the other features that you can get to only through Print Preview. It’s the best workflow for reasons beyond saving a step.
We need to keep working on this to see why you still aren’t getting a perfect 4 X 6 borderless, though. Refresh my memory – how far off are you when you print to 4 X 6 photo paper through the Print Preview menu?
Beth;Thanks for the follow up response.Right now I am getting 4×6 prints that have an approx 3/16in border on the right and top and a 1/8in border on the left and bottom.Being a perfectionist this would usually bother me but based on the super crappy prints I was getting,prior to you and Nancy helping me, the above borders are not a real problem.To get complete border-less prints I guess all I need to do is slightly enlarge the print in Print Preview.What do you suggest?Thanks again
I went back and reviewed the posts to this thread (before I butted in) and see where there is the chance some confusion could have crept in around the resizing process. Is there a chance that the image you’re trying to print is not an exact 4 X 6?
Humor me for a few moments here, and maybe we can at least nail down what’s causing those tiny borders.
In your original post, you said you were getting images from your camera that are "14.4 X 10.8in.with 2592 X 1944 pixels @ a resolution of 180" (I copied.)
I think the next thing Nancy suggested was to have that image open on your desktop, and then go to Image>Resize>Image Size. I’m going to run through the steps again, in case something got "dropped" during the resizing process.
I’m also going to change one little instruction, because I just got an image of what might be happening, but I can’t explain it well yet. I think you might see it when you get there if my theory is right.
With one of those large images open, go to the Image resizing box (path above.) Make sure there is NO checkmark in the box labeled Resample. Now – assuming you want your finished picture 6 inches wide by 4 inches high – type 6.5 on the line for width. The height will automatically change to 4.875, I believe, at a resolution of 398.769ppi. Don’t panic! Next go to the resolution box and remove the ‘.769’ Your image dimensions will change slightly, but don’t worry about that. Just make sure you get that resolution at an even number. Click OK to return to the main screen.
Now, select the Rectangular Marquee tool. In the Option Bar, change the Style to Fixed Size, and type in a width of 6 and a height of 4. After this is done, click on your picture. You’ll get those famous ants marching around. Click and hold somewhere in the middle of them and move the outline around until you have them still visible on all four sides. Once they’re surrounding an area you want to keep, go to Image>Crop. You’ll then wind up with a perfect 4 X 6 image.
With that still open, go to Print Preview and finish setting up the print like you did on the ones that came close, but not quite 4 X 6. And be brave and print it!
I THINK there’s a chance that when you were doing the 4 X 6 selection after resizing that a tiny part might have accidentally gotten cut off. You were working with absolutely no tolerance on the one dimension (6 inch side) and only a half inch on the other. If those ants slide off into no-mans-land, you might have been cutting off a little bit of your image without realizing it.
Report back, please. I’d just LOVE to have you get that perfect sized print! 🙂 But if you don’t I’ll just go crawl back in my hole and try to be content with getting this far.
Beth;Well…..I followed your inx and ended up with the same 3/16in and 1/8in borders exactly as before.However in looking at the two prints side by side I noticed a difference.The print I just did, via your inx, cut off approx 3/8in from the top of the picture but added approx 3/8in to the right side of the picture.The change on the left side was a very slight reduction,maybe 1/16in if that.Any thoughts,or additional ideas? Thanks
ijltc,
I have been following this discussion with on-going interest because I am unable to print a 4×6 with perfectly uniform borders as well. I suspect that this is an unobtainable degree of perfection with the "home use" technology which we employ, vs. that used by the professionals. I now use a paper cutter to trim the edges.
Ken
Arrgggh!
A thought? An additional idea? Hmmm. You could print on 8 1/2 X 11 paper and cut them down! 🙂 No, huh? OK.
I’m working at a little disadvantage, because I don’t have the right stuff at home to try and duplicate what’s happening. My printer will do 4 X 6, but it won’t print without margins. And I don’t have any 4 X 6 paper, anyway. So…
After you’ve cropped and you have your newly created 4 X 6 image on your desktop, have you gone back to Image>Resize>Image Size and verified the width and height boxes indicate it’s a perfect 4 X 6 image? It probably is, so my next idea is for you to start a new topic named "Printing Perfect 4 X 6 pictures on XXX Printer" or something like that. Maybe we can snag somebody who uses the same brand/model printer you do and get some help from them. You can now get the right size image headed to the printer, so resizing isn’t the problem any more. We need to attract new blood! Obviously I’m not any help on this part.
Oh, I’m assuming the size of the image is not the problem any more, but if you find when checking that it isn’t showing as a perfect 4 X 6, post back.
I use an Epson printer, and for 6 X 4’s, I use one of their photo papers that has a perforated border. It prints slightly over, but when you remove the edge, perfect borderless 6 X 4’s.
From what I have seen, it is the printer driver that will place the image in the correct place on the correctly selected paper, if it is sized correctly, depending if the printer supports borderless printing. Some don’t.
Paul
I’ve never used it but the driver for my Canon printer has a setting in the borderless settings that lets you adjust the amount of overhang. Possibly there would be something like this for your printer, somewhere?
Beth,
My printer will not print borderless. The borders that are present are not uniform, or to put it another way, the picture is not centered perfectly. Recently there was a post on how to "fool" the printer by not printing to full size. Here’s the drill:
Set print size at 6×4 by cropping and in Resize>Image Size. In the print preview window, scale print size at 96%. Then go to the Position window and set the "Left" indicator at 0.30cm. The result is a full picture, very slightly cropped, but one gets very close to an even white border all around the picture. May still have to touch it up with the cutter just a tad on occasion.
Ken
Thanks, Ken, but what I was trying to do was figure out how the original poster can get his full 4 X 6 from his printer. I’m one of those people who just prints, takes whatever comes out, then starts cutting. That makes me a really poor person to start troubleshooting for full bleed pics! 🙂
Beth;After fooling around with numbers in the Image>Resize>Image Size I think I came up with a combination of figures that is a close to an actual 4×6 as we are going to get.I ended up setting the W to 5.735 and the H to 4.The resolution to get this combination is 452.This gives a complete 4in high image and a W that is only approx 1/4 in from complete.The borders are still 1/8 and 3/16,which I can live with as trying to trim off 1/16 probably creates a situation with a higher risk of error than success.As far as border-less prints are concerned I tried messing with the printer settings and got 3 sides perfect but one side has a 3/32in border.I think this is a moot point now as using the Canon Easy Print program I can get perfect border-less prints.I was just hoping I could do it in PSE2.In the time being maybe someone else with a Canon printer and PSE2 has an idea how to get that 1/4in(mentioned above)to appear in the print.Thanks again
OK, so this is definitely a problem with the way the Canon printer software is interacting with Elements through the Print Preview window. I don’t have this particular problem with my HP printer, but there are other problems with placement on the paper with it, too, when I’m printing from Elements that don’t appear when I’m printing from other software. Strange.
Take my suggestion (please!) and repost, asking specifically about printing 4 X 6s with the Canon printer. There are a number of people on the forum using Canons, although I don’t know specifically which models. Not only would I like to see you get this resolved (if it can be), but I’m now curious about what’s going on and what, if anything, will fix it. Think of this as a public service to other forum members! 🙂
