How do I print the entire image (no bleed)

jfriend

If you have an image that has no extra room for bleed or trim, what are the options for getting a print that includes the entire image? I'm fine with a bit of white border as long as I get the entire image and the border is kept as small as possible. This is trivial to do at home as I just print the whole image on paper that is larger than my desired output size. I tell Photoshop I want a 6.7 x 10 image and put 8.5x11 paper in the printer and I get a full image exactly the size I want. I can't figure out how to do that with EzPrints.

flyingdutchie

jfriend wrote:

If you have an image that has no extra room for bleed or trim, what are the options for getting a print that includes the entire image? I'm fine with a bit of white border as long as I get the entire image and the border is kept as small as possible. This is trivial to do at home as I just print the whole image on paper that is larger than my desired output size. I tell Photoshop I want a 6.7 x 10 image and put 8.5x11 paper in the printer and I get a full image exactly the size I want. I can't figure out how to do that with EzPrints.

This may be one way of doing this:
First figure out what the bleed-margins are (the maximum width of a bleed). I think these numbers are somewhere to be found at smugmug's help-pages...

Then add a border to you picture.
E.g. if you want to print 8x10inches and you know there is a maximum bleed of half an inch, use Photoshop to resize the pic so that it will fit inside 7.5"x9.5" on a 8x10 white canvas. Center the image inside this somewhat larger canvas. The entire canvas (with the image in the middle) is then your image you will upload to smugmug and print through EZPrints.

When you receive this image from Smugmug/EZPrints, cut of any white borders.

Of course, this method has some disadvantages:
Your image will be smaller than 8x10 inches...
... and what should you do if you allow various print-sizes?

renstar

Since smugmug (presumably) already resizes originals to fit the paper, perhaps they could give the option to pad prints by a certain (changeable) size or percentage. This would also be very useful for the framed canvas prints.

This is already sort of done if you specify the 'no-crop' option. Perhaps it could be extended.

-Russ

Andy

Dutchie's idea is a good one.

jfriend

Andy wrote:

Dutchie's idea is a good one.

So, if I want a full print 8x10, I have to order something larger like an 11x14 with a custom added border? Do I have to guess how much they're going to bleed or is that known fairly exactly?

This is one massive disadvantage over printing myself where I totally control the output size, crop , bleed and print border. I'm a bit surprised this isn't an issue for others on some kinds of prints and that the lab doesn't offer more support for this kind of issue.

flyingdutchie

jfriend wrote:

So, if I want a full print 8x10, I have to order something larger like an 11x14 with a custom added border? Do I have to guess how much they're going to bleed or is that known fairly exactly?

This is one massive disadvantage over printing myself where I totally control the output size, crop , bleed and print border. I'm a bit surprised this isn't an issue for others on some kinds of prints and that the lab doesn't offer more support for this kind of issue.

Alas, yes...

I have not seen this done by any (online) print-service, but wouldn't it be nice if 8x10 pics were printed automatically - on request - on 8.5x10.5 paper... (or printed on paper that is larger by twice the maximum bleed on either side, e.g. 8.5x10.5, 11.5x14.5, etc. if max bleed is 0.25").

Andy

jfriend wrote:

I'm a bit surprised this isn't an issue for others on some kinds of prints and that the lab doesn't offer more support for this kind of issue.

Hi John, we do have a whole page dedicated to this, maybe you've just missed it:
http://www.smugmug.com/help/bleed-trim

jfriend

flyingdutchie wrote:

Alas, yes...

I have not seen this done by any (online) print-service, but wouldn't it be nice if 8x10 pics were printed automatically - on request - on 8.5x10.5 paper... (or printed on paper that is larger by twice the maximum bleed on either side, e.g. 8.5x10.5, 11.5x14.5, etc. if max bleed is 0.25").

Yep. I've got some tight shots that I want to put in a frame. That means I've got to lose two bleeds, one for the printer and one for the frame.

I'm trying to figure out how I can at least save the bleed from the printer. It looks like EzPrints just isn't the way to go here. I need some place that I can iterate faster or will give me the raw print before trimming. Add a border to the original, order an oversize print with the goal of getting the actual image to come out the desired size, measure the result, change the border based on the result, run a new test print until I get something close to the exact sized result I need.

Andy

jfriend wrote:

Yep. I've got some tight shots that I want to put in a frame. That means I've got to lose two bleeds, one for the printer and one for the frame.

I'm trying to figure out how I can at least save the bleed from the printer. It looks like EzPrints just isn't the way to go here. I need some place that I can iterate faster or will give me the raw print before trimming. Add a border to the original, order an oversize print with the goal of getting the actual image to come out the desired size, measure the result, change the border based on the result, run a new test print until I get something close to the exact sized result I need.

Have you thought about matting the photo in the frame?

Dna

jfriend wrote:

I'm a bit surprised this isn't an issue for others on some kinds of prints and that the lab doesn't offer more support for this kind of issue.

Yep, it's an issue for some prints.
I realise that this isn't going to be the perfect size that I want because of the bleed trim, but it's close enough that it doesn't matter.

Andrew

jfriend

Andy wrote:

Have you thought about matting the photo in the frame?

It would be matted. Whether mat or just frame, it's still the same issue. Unless you have the luxury of ordering custom sized mats or frames that are sized to the dimensions of a print you've already made or you have lots of extra bleed area in your photo, you need to get a print that's very close to an exact size with minimal bleed lossage and that's very hard to do through EZPrints.

It sure seems like a differentiated offering for a printer and/or photo service if someone could offer what flyingdutchie just mentioned in this thread - a full size print to an exact size on oversize paper for the customer to trim as desired with no bleed loss. It's trivial for me to do at home - it shouldn't be that hard for a printer to offer.

Andy

jfriend wrote:

it shouldn't be that hard for a printer to offer.

You are right. Except for the fact that it's a special offering, and requires a special line at the print lab, higher-trained operators, and more. I'd love to see it, but there's nothing more untrue in this business than "it shouldn't be that hard..." IMO

Thanks for the great feedback.