Okay, I feel like a complete idiot for asking.  But I wont learn unless I ask.  I need these in the most simplest terms possible please.

I dont know how exactly to do this when asked to for printing purposes.  First of all when I upload a picture and  send it for printing and so forth they are often croped or reduced, not getting the picture quality (space around object) that I wanted.  Nor is the dpi up to were it needs to be.

I am shooting with a 10 mp Nikon D80 (just got it) and I shoot in jpeg, the finest quality shots.  Am I making any sense here?

When someone (printer) asks for specific scales of a pic before I upload it, I am not sure how to do this.  Is there a place where I can read, (for dummies) that will explain step for step how to do this.  Also for the specific dpi has to be this, I dont know how to do it or change it.

I have CS2 and Corel Painter 9, and Elements.  So I feel I have the software, but still learning a lot about it.  I know how to use the tools and retouch and all that fun stuff, but I dont know how to do all that resizing stuff with pixels, and etc.  Is there a book for dummies on this :) !

Please go easy on me, there are certain things I have not learned to do, and obviously this is one of them.  Thanks for your input and time!

 

You shouldn't have to change the dpi to print a high-quality picture, but some places do ask for it. I have 20x24s from a 72dpi file that look gorgeous, no pixelation or artifacts. It's the printer's driver (software) that fills in the missing data for you.

In any case, you asked two things I think. One is framing/cropping as you mentioned space around the object. That's a century old problem. Your Nikon probably has a 4x6 format (I'm guessing) and that doesn't exactly fit 8x10. What I do is to shoot slightly wider than I want to and make sure there's enough room for an 8x10 when possible. If this is a specific print or a very important one, you can create a new image file in CS2 to the exact size you need and drag or copy the camera image to the new image canvas. If you define the new image canvas at the dpi you need, CS2 will convert it for you. This is what I do to create the 300dpi wedding album pages I use.

So here's the answer to both questions: make a new "canvas" of the right size and dpi you need, then drag the camera image to that new canvas. CS2 will do the resizing/dpi conversion. If the image doesn't fit, just transform it and position it within the new canvas to make it appear as you want it to.

Many people will tell you not to worry about ppi/dpi.  That's fine advice until a client specifies images at 300ppi which isn't all that uncommon.  Most print publications will specify that they want images print ready at 300.  You can do this many ways - I do it using the crop tool in CS2.  When the crop tool is selected, there is a box that will allow you to specify the ppi of the output. (see illustration below)

 

The other question you ask (cropping) is about "aspect ratio" and it is discussed regularly and in detail on this forum.  Just search "aspect ratio" and you'll find more than you could want to read about it.     Bottom line is that a 4x6 and an 8x10 are not the same shape.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DPI

 

CLICK HERE TO LEARN A LOT MORE ABOUT DPI 

You guys are awesome!  Thanks so much for the info.  I will read and experiment and probably experiment some more.

 

Janice,

 The March 2007 issue of Shutterbug has an article in there in regards to DPI/ppi....you might want to check it out.

 JS

Thanks!  I just renewed my subscription today. I missed a couple of months, I guess I will run and get one.  Figures it is always in the one you miss!