iPhone Photos

wishtobedebtfree

Can anyone help me, when I take photos with my iPhone 8 and now SEV, when I go to print them on something like Photobox, it says they all need cropping as they are all slightly too large to be either 7 x 5 or 6 x 4. 

Can anyone tell me how to take a photo that I can then print without having to crop, am I taking them in the wrong size, is it something to do with settings? 

Neil_Jones

You don't take photos on camera phones to fit a specific picture size, you just take a picture and typically size it down to whatever paper size you need.  Normally with most apps you can either pick a specific part to fit the photo size or you shrink the lot down.to that size - there is no in-between.  Either it fits (via cropping, selection or whatever) or it doesn't.

If your photos are "slightly too large" for A6 you're doing something wrong.

GeordieGeorge

It’s not the wrong size, it’s the wrong ratio. 6x4 is 50% longer than it is wide, 7x5 is 40% longer than it is wide, so they are different shapes.

Unless you are printing in the exact shape that your phone took the picture, you’ll need to trim a bit off the too and bottom, or the sides, but of course, if your camera shoots 6x4 then you’ll have to crop when printing 7x5, and vice-versa.

What’s the issue with cropping, by the way? It’s usual for photographers to shoot a bit wider than they need, and then to crop it afterwards to get the composition right. It’s much easier to cut the bits you don’t want when at home in front of a computer than to frame a picture perfectly in the moment.

[Deleted User]

The sensor in all iPhone models is a 4:3 ratio, same as old standard TV (pre widescreen which is 16:9) most phones and low end cameras are usually 4:3 ratio.

Most high end cameras are 3:2 ratio which matches the original 35mm film aspect and also the 6x4 photo paper but not any of the other mainstream paper sizes so cropping is still needed.

If you really don't want to lose any of the photo, get some 8x6 photo paper then the iPhone native aspect ratio will match perfectly without any need for cropping.

The reality is though that nobody takes the perfectly framed picture and there is always some room for cropping on all sides of the photo, it is better to take a slightly wider shot than you need and crop later for best effect anyway.


Aspect ratios and common print sizes: