Why is iPhoto cropping my images?

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Level 1

46 points

Why is iPhoto cropping my images?

Some time back I exported some images to flash drive to take to Walgreens for printing. When I picked up the prints i saw that most of them had been severely cropped. I discovered that the images on the flash drive were also cropped. This has happened a number of times. Today, I double clicked an image in iPhoto to enlarge it The image popped up and then zoomed in on a portion of the photo. Even more strange, is that the face recognition feature popped up for verification where the faces had been before the zoom. It does this for some of the images in an event but not to all of them. What could be going on???

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jun 7, 2013 4:40 PM

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Answer 1

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

46 points

Jun 8, 2013 12:07 PM in response to Bob1177

I just made a discovery. In a group of 5 photos that I had edited in PSE one of them did the strange shrinking act when I double clicked on it to enlarge it but not when I navigated away from it and then back to it using the left and right arrows. Strangely, the info panel reports that resolution as 824 x 1040 both when it appears cropped and when it appears normal. However if I click on "Edit" to edit the image in PSE it gives a resolution of 1968 x 2484 and the image appears normal.

I tried exporting a different photo that was getting cropped into a new trial library. In the original library the size was given as 1208 x 906. In the trial library the same image was given as 4000 x 3000. In the trial library there was no cropping when I double clicked on it.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,190 points

Jun 7, 2013 4:51 PM in response to Bob1177

iPhoto is not cropping your photos. Walgreen is.

If you didin't crop the photos to the print size before uploading to Walgreens the machine will expand the smaller dimension to fill the paper stock and, thus, cut off some of the photo on each side of the other, longer dimension.

Photos from a digital camera have a 4:3 size ratio. If you try to print that on a 4x6 stock with a 2:3 size ratio it won't fit.

OT

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Answer 3

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

46 points

Jun 7, 2013 5:27 PM in response to Bob1177

Sorry, but iPhoto did do the cropping. I said the image on the flash drive was cropped. I hadn't noticed it before I had the prints made. This only happens to some images. I just discovered that if I double click on an image to enlarge it and then use the left and right arrows to change images it does not misteriously zoom way in. Very puzzling.

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Answer 4

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Jun 7, 2013 5:43 PM in response to Bob1177

Have images been edited in an external editor

LN

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Answer 5

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

46 points

Jun 7, 2013 6:54 PM in response to Bob1177

I can't say for sure. They may have been at some time, but they were certainly not cropped to the new view. Most puzzling is that it doesn't happen every time. More recently it did crop a couple of times when using the left & right arrows.

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Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,828 points

Jun 7, 2013 10:58 PM in response to Bob1177

What version of iPhoto?

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Answer 7

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

46 points

Jun 8, 2013 7:49 AM in response to Bob1177

It is iPhoto '11 9.4.3 on an '07 MP running 10.7.5.

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Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,828 points

Jun 8, 2013 8:23 AM in response to Bob1177

As a Test:

Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'

Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?

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Answer 9

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

46 points

Jun 9, 2013 4:52 PM in response to Bob1177

Another discovery! In a large event of photos taken with my Canon Rebel on a recent trip I discovered 2 photos taken with my wife's camera two weeks later. I am very puzzled as to how they got into the trip event. They certainly were not imported at the same time and I am certain I did not move them to that event. One has a reported size as 580 x 870 and the other as 1208 x 805.

It would be most accurate to say that each time a picture briefly appears full size and almost immediately snaps to a very cropped portion of the image. It a ppears that it always zooms in on the lower right portion of the image.

I just noticed another image that the info panel reports a size of 803 x 1070 but appears full size each time I view it. When I move it to PSE for editing PSE gives the size as 3000 x 4000

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