Proper aspect ratio for Senior Pics

dustin32

Hello all,

Yesterday I had my first shot at people photography. Shot grad pics for the Class of '09 at the high school I went to (Class of '08 myself). It was done for free along with a friend, and the grads will want a CD with the best pics (if they want prints, they will do it themselves).

Are any aspect ratios off limits for something like this? A couple shots work real nice with 1x1 or 4x5, as opposed to a more standard (I think?) 4x6 or 5x7. When shooting weddings and grad pics, which aspect ratios do you folks avoid?

Thanks in advance,
Dustin

FedererPhoto

dustin32 wrote:

Hello all,

Yesterday I had my first shot at people photography. Shot grad pics for the Class of '09 at the high school I went to (Class of '08 myself). It was done for free along with a friend, and the grads will want a CD with the best pics (if they want prints, they will do it themselves).

Are any aspect ratios off limits for something like this? A couple shots work real nice with 1x1 or 4x5, as opposed to a more standard (I think?) 4x6 or 5x7. When shooting weddings and grad pics, which aspect ratios do you folks avoid?

Thanks in advance,
Dustin

I stick to 2:3, 1:1, and 2:1 crops with my delivered wedding images. Though if they want a print, I go back to the original uncropped image and see what I can do for whatever size print ratio they want.

dustin32

FedererPhoto wrote:

I stick to 2:3, 1:1, and 2:1 crops with my delivered wedding images. Though if they want a print, I go back to the original uncropped image and see what I can do for whatever size print ratio they want.

Thanks Federer, I'll go with that.

Toshido

My guess if they want disks and print themselves they can crop as well. Does not take a genius to crop an image.

I would save myself the hassle and give them uncropped images. Not like you are being paid for it, so cut the work to a minimum.

Art Scott

Toshido wrote:

My guess if they want disks and print themselves they can crop as well. Does not take a genius to crop an image.

I would save myself the hassle and give them uncropped images. Not like you are being paid for it, so cut the work to a minimum.

In this scenario I agree completely...........if I am delivering portraits or wedding pics then I stay with a standard 4x5 and give a list of what enlargements are the best......8x10, 16x20 and so on with a small expanation that other sizes (crops) will cut off portions of the photo and might be detrimental to a great wall hanger.

dustin32

Toshido wrote:

My guess if they want disks and print themselves they can crop as well. Does not take a genius to crop an image.

I would save myself the hassle and give them uncropped images. Not like you are being paid for it, so cut the work to a minimum.

Good point, I'm sure they can figure it out. Though I'm more than willing to put up with the hassle of cropping, the better the pics look, the better the chance we have of being asked to do it next year

dustin32

Art Scott wrote:

In this scenario I agree completely...........if I am delivering portraits or wedding pics then I stay with a standard 4x5 and give a list of what enlargements are the best......8x10, 16x20 and so on with a small expanation that other sizes (crops) will cut off portions of the photo and might be detrimental to a great wall hanger.

Thanks for the response Art. Just curious, I had never thought of 4x5 as a standard. Is that the case? When I print a photo on Smugmug, 4x6 is the smallest one on the "Standard Sizes" listing. I suppose it could be a matter of opinion though...

Art Scott

dustin32 wrote:

Thanks for the response Art. Just curious, I had never thought of 4x5 as a standard. Is that the case? When I print a photo on Smugmug, 4x6 is the smallest one on the "Standard Sizes" listing. I suppose it could be a matter of opinion though...

Sorry I come from the film era and I hated the "standard" for 35mm which was 3.5x5 since i also shot 2 1/4 film (medium format) my standard was the 4x5 proof and crop....that meant my clients had the ability to order 4x5, 8x10,16x20, or 32x40 prints.....I cut out 5x7, 11 x14, 20 x30, 24 x 36.........unless really pressured for a 24x36 poster and I would oblige.........that was only because I had a sample of a 24x36 print done off Fuji 50 print film and Fuji 50 slide film.......used print film as no one wanted to pay the extra for the slide film processing and printing.....which was toooo bad as it was most definitley the best.
Which did not seem to hurt my sells at all and bill folds I had a set (8) printed at proof time so the clients could see what would be lost in that crop factor......

Toshido

Also we are talking aspect ratios here, not actual physical size.

i.e. 2x3 = 4x6 = 8x12 = 16x24

4x5 = 8x10 = 16x20 = 32x40


So you see a 4x5 IS an 8x10, as far as aspect ratios are concerned.


I myself have started cropping everything 8x10 (4x5). I just like the way they look more. Also figure a little easier giong 8x10 to 4x6. Of course in reality I would just re-crop from the original anyways.... I love lightroom

Art Scott

Toshido wrote:

So you see a 4x5 IS an 8x10, as far as aspect ratios are concerned.

yes I know.....i missed used it as an aspect ratio and print size at the same time........that was why I gave my normal print offering and then came back to
explain why to the OP.:D:D

dustin32

Thanks both of you for the detailed explanations