A4-, love it! My head explodes every time I think about trying to match the camera aspect ratio to the standard matting ratios to the frame ratios to the paper sizes. Didn’t ANY of these people talk to each other? I’v settled on 4:5 as the one that seems to work the best.
If given only one desert island aspect ratio I'd probably pick square... yes, that would be strange but I spent way more than a decade composing square while making sure every frame would also look good 4:3 horizontal and vertical, 4:5 horizontal and vertical and somewhere 3:2 horizontal for double sheet spreads in magazines... I got quite good tat that but somehow I always liked the square original best!!!
Thanks. It’s always helpful to hear you experts experience challenges. For another problem in printing I hope you can discuss especially when framing is that my cameras have a 2x3 ratio and the iPhone is 4x5 and I include images from both. The mat boards need to be cut differently. Any suggestions on how to address this. Also I need to use cm not inches to fit Swedish / European sizes with buying paper in inches here in US.
Aspect ratio dilemmas are common to EVERY photographer. We tend not to mix multiple aspect ratios in an arbitrary manner when displaying images together. When we do we tend to have very specific intent when mixing them and try to make the entirety make some sort of "sense". There's not a GREAT answer that answers a giant open ended question like that with one answer.
Best advice I can give you are a combination of things... 1) Shoot with intent and output in mind... If you LIKE 4:3 aspect ratios then shoot for 4:3 with your 3:2 camera, if it's a newer mirrorless camera (and even some pro older cameras) it will SHOW you 4:3 in the viewfinder while still recording the entire frame in RAW. Personally I almost always shoot verticals (mostly portraits) for 4:3 output on all of my 3:2 cameras even in the film days. If you shoot your iPhone and mostly like 3:2 then shoot for 3:2, almost all photo apps will allow you to show a specific aspect ratio while shooting on your phone. I used to use a square frame medium format for most of my work and I tried my darnedest to make every shot "work" square, cropped vertical from the square, AND work cropped horizontally (challenging and not always possible but it sure made me far better at composing in a way that worked well in all aspect ratios as well as be very cognizant as to what my target output would be while shooting).
I am not sure I understand specifically your question about buying EU sized paper/measurements when in the US. Could you rephrase or be more specific with that part of your question?
Curious, what was the paper that was out of spec? I have the same Canon printer and have never received that error with the Moab and Hahnemuhle papers that I routinely use (sizes are letter, 13 x 19, and 17 x 22)
It happened to be Unryu thin which Moab distributes in the US. I don't want to imply that MOST paper or even a lot of it is that far out of spec that it will be rejected by the printer but it has happened to us across a few brands. Then again we use A LOT of paper, far more than most individual photographers. I thought it would be nice to let people know that this occasionally happens and what to do about it as well as let them know in some critical applications where exact sizes matter a lot they may want to prepare a workflow that will accommodate the result they are looking for.
Thanks for sharing your experience with "out of spec" papers. This reminded me of how challenging it can be for us enthusiasts to simply cut square sheets. Perhaps this is due to the Dahle device I've used not being as precise as other brands (even after setting for square)?
We've had MANY, MANY problems with various paper cutters and matte cutters being off square for every reason you can imagine. We TOTALLY endorse Rotatrim cutters and that's all we will use now when cutting paper. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader on how to square paper for now. Maybe I'll do a DIY on that for both sheet and large roll paper down the road if there's interest.
A tolerance of 1/8 inch is considered the margin of error when converting cut sheets. If you are working on a project the only way to guarantee your cut sheets are the exact size needed is to order a larger size and cut them yourself. For 8x10, A4, letter, and 8x12 a box of 13x19 will cut down nicely into double the number of finished sheets. There will be some waste, but when every millimeter counts . . .
Thank you This is so good to hear. I had not paid sufficient attention, actually not really aware of the different ratios until now that I have apple iPhone 14. I may not be alone.
I’ll work on better articulating the other part of my issue. Thanks these newsletters are great.
A4-, love it! My head explodes every time I think about trying to match the camera aspect ratio to the standard matting ratios to the frame ratios to the paper sizes. Didn’t ANY of these people talk to each other? I’v settled on 4:5 as the one that seems to work the best.
If given only one desert island aspect ratio I'd probably pick square... yes, that would be strange but I spent way more than a decade composing square while making sure every frame would also look good 4:3 horizontal and vertical, 4:5 horizontal and vertical and somewhere 3:2 horizontal for double sheet spreads in magazines... I got quite good tat that but somehow I always liked the square original best!!!
Thanks. It’s always helpful to hear you experts experience challenges. For another problem in printing I hope you can discuss especially when framing is that my cameras have a 2x3 ratio and the iPhone is 4x5 and I include images from both. The mat boards need to be cut differently. Any suggestions on how to address this. Also I need to use cm not inches to fit Swedish / European sizes with buying paper in inches here in US.
Aspect ratio dilemmas are common to EVERY photographer. We tend not to mix multiple aspect ratios in an arbitrary manner when displaying images together. When we do we tend to have very specific intent when mixing them and try to make the entirety make some sort of "sense". There's not a GREAT answer that answers a giant open ended question like that with one answer.
Best advice I can give you are a combination of things... 1) Shoot with intent and output in mind... If you LIKE 4:3 aspect ratios then shoot for 4:3 with your 3:2 camera, if it's a newer mirrorless camera (and even some pro older cameras) it will SHOW you 4:3 in the viewfinder while still recording the entire frame in RAW. Personally I almost always shoot verticals (mostly portraits) for 4:3 output on all of my 3:2 cameras even in the film days. If you shoot your iPhone and mostly like 3:2 then shoot for 3:2, almost all photo apps will allow you to show a specific aspect ratio while shooting on your phone. I used to use a square frame medium format for most of my work and I tried my darnedest to make every shot "work" square, cropped vertical from the square, AND work cropped horizontally (challenging and not always possible but it sure made me far better at composing in a way that worked well in all aspect ratios as well as be very cognizant as to what my target output would be while shooting).
I am not sure I understand specifically your question about buying EU sized paper/measurements when in the US. Could you rephrase or be more specific with that part of your question?
Curious, what was the paper that was out of spec? I have the same Canon printer and have never received that error with the Moab and Hahnemuhle papers that I routinely use (sizes are letter, 13 x 19, and 17 x 22)
It happened to be Unryu thin which Moab distributes in the US. I don't want to imply that MOST paper or even a lot of it is that far out of spec that it will be rejected by the printer but it has happened to us across a few brands. Then again we use A LOT of paper, far more than most individual photographers. I thought it would be nice to let people know that this occasionally happens and what to do about it as well as let them know in some critical applications where exact sizes matter a lot they may want to prepare a workflow that will accommodate the result they are looking for.
Thanks for sharing your experience with "out of spec" papers. This reminded me of how challenging it can be for us enthusiasts to simply cut square sheets. Perhaps this is due to the Dahle device I've used not being as precise as other brands (even after setting for square)?
We've had MANY, MANY problems with various paper cutters and matte cutters being off square for every reason you can imagine. We TOTALLY endorse Rotatrim cutters and that's all we will use now when cutting paper. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader on how to square paper for now. Maybe I'll do a DIY on that for both sheet and large roll paper down the road if there's interest.
A tolerance of 1/8 inch is considered the margin of error when converting cut sheets. If you are working on a project the only way to guarantee your cut sheets are the exact size needed is to order a larger size and cut them yourself. For 8x10, A4, letter, and 8x12 a box of 13x19 will cut down nicely into double the number of finished sheets. There will be some waste, but when every millimeter counts . . .
Thank you This is so good to hear. I had not paid sufficient attention, actually not really aware of the different ratios until now that I have apple iPhone 14. I may not be alone.
I’ll work on better articulating the other part of my issue. Thanks these newsletters are great.