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Cropping Explained | Understanding Cropping When Ordering Prints

Continuum Photography — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:31:04 +0000

I have been meaning to write a post about cropping for awhile now. Ordering photos can sometimes be a little confusing for people when it comes to picking the right size, and knowing how things might crop. The following information will apply to most standard prints orders that were produced with digital SLRs or 35mm film cameras. There may be some slight variations with digital SLRs depending on sensor size, but for the most part whether they are full frame or cropped sensors they will print at pretty much the same aspect ratio (3:2), with the exceptions of a couple of brands like Olympus and Panasonic which are 4:3. Continuum shoots with Nikon, so we are in the 3:2 camp. I hate talking about math, so I’d rather just show you some examples of what various sized prints will look like cropped. We’re going to take a look at the most common American print sizes from 4×6 to 16×24. If you’re ordering larger than a 16×24 and are wondering how things crop beyond that, feel free to email me (and high five for being in the big print club).

Okay this is our original image resized for the web, but aspect ratio unchanged. Notice the attractive people I spent my New Years Eve with. In our examples we’ll be cropping on the right, which sucks for Melissa. For the sizes where there is virtually no cropping whatsoever I will put an * asterisk in front of the size.

* 4×6 Almost identical to the original. You lose a couple of pixel lines but it’s essentially unchanged.

5×7 Definitely some cropping, we lose half of Melissa here. 5x7s aren’t terrible cropping offenders, but you have to be careful in choosing a photo that works for it.

* 6×9 We’re all good here. NYE still in full effect.

8×10 Ack! 8x10s are the worst offenders. We lose all of Melissa and Rachel says goodbye to her left ear and a bunch of hair. Unfortunately off the shelf frames favor this completely bogus size.

* 8×12 Okay that’s much better, back to the photo the way it was meant to be seen. Now most people sadly consider this size to be an enlargement. Photographers look at them like they are wallets, but that’s a different blog post. Anyhow I’ve heard people argue that you can’t find 8×12 frames anywhere. But seriously just Google “8×12 frame,” you will get results!

11×14 Slightly better than an 8×10, at least Rachel didn’t lose her hearing altogether. But we still lost Melissa entirely. No bueno. Outlaw 11x14s!

* 12×18 No cropping here!

16×20 Back to the same 8×10 type cropping grossness.

* 16×24 The crew is back and looking good.

So in review when you are planning on your print orders, consider the size of your frames. If you haven’t purchased the frames yet, buy frames with knowledge. If you can, avoid sizes that crop, especially with photos like our example that are completely filled with attractive people.

- Josh

2011 | Ending On A Different Note

Continuum Photography — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:11:13 +0000

I will fully admit I’m not as organized as some of my other colleagues who have put together year end reviews of all of their photographs. Considering how many great photographic moments we had this year it would probably take me and my indecision hours to narrow it down. Instead I thought I’d post some photos from our moving trip down from Portland to San Diego. In a way this was a symbolic new beginning sort of day for Melissa and I, even if it technically came a few days before the end of the year.

Melissa and I are no stranger to driving from Portland to San Diego. We usually took interstate 5 on most of our trips. Our intent was to always take the much fabled Highway One route down the coast. Somehow the time investment never seemed to work out with our scheduling. This particular trip didn’t start off any different. We were eager to get down to San Diego, unpack, and get the ball rolling on our new life. I’m not sure when or what made us change our mind, but we deviated from our normal route and ended up heading west and staying the night in Marina, CA. When we woke up the next day we knew we had made the right decision.

December 3rd in a lot of ways was our New Year. Melissa and I both grew up with the ocean as a part of our lives, and having lived away from it for a number of years has impacted us a bit. To say the drive south on the one from Marina is scenic is an understatement. For us it was a lot of perfection, and it really cemented our decision to move down to California. Now we both know that one day of absolutely perfect weather, and gorgeous coastal views may not exactly qualify as prophecy, but I can’t think of a more perfect day than last December 3rd, or a stronger message to our futures. And while it’s definitely not going to be easy to move our business and start over in a new city, we’ve never been more hopeful.

So to all of our friends, family, clients past and future- Happy New Year! 2012 is going to be great.

- Josh

La Mesa Village Christmas Celebration

Continuum Photography — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:37:16 +0000

La Mesa’s Village Christmas celebration seemed like an appropriate Christmas Eve post. Melissa and I have moved around the holidays three years in a row now, making it a bit rough on actually relaxing and enjoying the season. It does however feel good to be in San Diego. We’ve officially settled in La Mesa, mere blocks from the first house I ever lived in. It’s a bit of a surreal trip down memory lane. And while La Mesa isn’t exactly the center of what’s hip and happening in San Diego, it does have a quaint little downtown area called “the Village,” that is very walkable from our current location. We’re at that stage in a move where everything is unpacked, put away, but photos still need to be hung and decorating still needs to be completed. Not “retail ready” quite yet, but I’ll take some pictures when we’re to that point.

In the meantime here are a few photos from the annual La Mesa Village celebration of Christmas. To be honest it’s a lot like Oktoberfest, minus beer garden, add Santa. There is no snow or even cold weather in San Diego (despite what others describe as the coldest winter EVER), but they definitely get points for trying to make it as Christmasy as possible. We definitely miss our Portland friends, but it’s been nice being so close to my mom and my close friends from high school. And we’re hoping that we continue to make more connections with the folks in the San Diego wedding industry.

Anyhow, happy holidays from Continuum Photography!

- Josh

Acoustic Alliance | by Listen Local SD at Brick by Brick

Continuum Photography — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:45:03 +0000

A few days ago I got invited to attend the Acoustic Alliance show at Brick by Brick by Pete Thurston, my friend and former client who is a singer/songwriter. The Acoustic Alliance is a unique format put on by Listen Local SD where artists share the stage, and take turns performing songs. It had been awhile since I’d photographed any live acts, and I remembered quickly how much I enjoy it. It was a little odd being in a hard rock club and navigating around chairs, but acoustic acts don’t generally jump around and freak out onstage like some of the bands I followed when we lived in Chicago. Of course since I was there primarily to photograph and support Pete I took more photos of him, but if you were one of the artists who attended you can check out the link to all of the shots I processed from the night here.

- Josh

Of course I needed to take a shot of Pete’s wife Cassandra contemplating which BBQ dish she was going to order.

Savannah Philyaw, shocked the audience when she revealed she’s only 16.

Rich McGee did not shock the audience when he revealed he was not 16.

I think someone said Jordan Reimer was sick, but you would have never known it listening to her perform.

Jesse Nova

Trish Hosein

My man Pete Thurston.

Brandon Joshua

Tannyr Denby

Roni Lee

Jesse Malley and Jeff Irwin of the Tilt Band

Patrick Mitchell

The Castners

Space Room Lounge | Saying Goodbye to Friends

Continuum Photography — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:57:28 +0000

We’re officially in San Diego, but not in our new house or unpacked for a few more days. I’ve got engagements and weddings to work on blogging, but in the meantime I thought I’d throw up some photos from our last hangout session with some friends in Portland before we headed south.

Perhaps somewhat ironic that the spot we chose to meet with a folks for a farewell gathering was called the Space Room Lounge, aptly named for it’s near pitch black state. You wouldn’t think as a photographer I would have picked a place illuminated predominately by blacklights. It is pretty cool, definitely more character than the average dive, even if white balancing the photos from the festivities was tough. Previous to arriving in space we had met up with Kevin, Katie, Ashley, Bili (brain support for MPW), and Jessica B earlier for dinner that night. Unfortunately that part of my crew missed out on the awesomeness that was the Space Room Lounge. Perhaps when we come back next year we can reunion at this joint. Mark and Boone made it out to both parts of the outing, and we were later joined by Lauren, the Lisa and Anthony crew, Monica , Jake, Jacob, Jessica H, and Kirstie. I’m glad I can get some sort of internet link to everyone. We definitely had a good time, but it was sad to say our goodbyes to everyone for a few months. Unless they come and visit. Boone did make mention of taking the coffee shop meeting on the road.

- Josh

This shot was taken by Lauren, who seemed a little intimidated with my point and shoot.

Stunt drinkers Lauren & Jacob.

One of my goals in 2012 is to learn a new joke. Currently I only know one. The first shot of Boone is when he was listening to the joke, trying to make sense of why it was taking me so long… Then the second shot is the punchline. And no, I can’t write out the joke here.

Kirstie giving them “oh my God why do I hang out with photographers” face. Jessica with the giggles.

Jessica took that shot of Melissa, and Jacob took the one of me looking weird with Jessica, and the Mitchells with the two redheads.