creating 4x6 photos

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Level 1

32 points

creating 4x6 photos

I recently had to print 2400 pictures spanning several years. There was a wedding, 50th wedding anniversary, birthday parties, foreign trip, etc. - all kinds of “many photo” events.

When I got the photos back from Costco, many of the heads were clipped. That was the beginning of my education about how disjointed digital cameras and print shops are. None of my digital cameras (iphone 6 and Olympus) will let you set the aspect ratio to 4x6 internally. Both have an odd X by Y pixel ratio that doesn’t match anything.

Apple’s iphoto and Photo programs don’t have any way of processing the aspect ration on more than one photo at a time, using half a dozen keystrokes each time.

I take that back. “IF" you are willing to pay Apple ~$.18/print, the print app has a nice way of setting the 4x6 aspect on the whole lot, then you can go pull the heads down on each photo without taking 6 clicks and 15 seconds per photo. However, if you would rather pay Costco or equiv $.11/print, then there is no way to use the Apple Print app to save the aspect ratio for regular prints.

This is one area where Apple could make life easier for a lot of people.

Now the question: Is there any way to set the aspect ratio on a batch of pictures in Photos?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Sep 11, 2016 2:05 PM

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Answer 1

Cosman Author

Level 1

32 points

Sep 12, 2016 9:58 AM in response to LarryHN

Larry,

I must disagree with you about the printer being responsible for software cropping. In a sense, they are just a “dumb pipe”, providing a printing service, not a photo editing service. They may have the software at their stations to crop and move a picture around, but who is going to stand in line for 2400 photos (or even 109, my last batch) typing on a 10 yr old CRT?

The proper time to edit a photo is when it is being processed the first time out of the camera - i.e. in the computer in iPhoto/Photos. As I mentioned, cropping and centering a single photo in Photos is quite possible, but not convenient, expecially for a large number of photos. It takes six keystrokes/button presses to go from an enlarged image back to the same image cropped and centered. Add two more clicks to enlarge the photo in the first place.

Apple has already provided a partial bulk cropping solution (the user has to do the final positioning) in the software for its paid prints at almost 2x the price/print, but this function is not avaliable for regular processing. I think this is an error in judgement on their part. Apple’s mantra has always been to make life easier/simpler for its customers. In this case, they are obviously trying to stick it to us for money - not a good sign.

In addition, since Apple can do face recognition atomatically, they could do a face centering function just as easily. That is 95% of my cropping/centering effort. As I recall, they have a one keystroke crop function in the old iPhoto, and Pages and Keynote.

Here is what I would like:

1. Allow presetting the photo print size (4x6 is my standard).

2. Show the cropping window on all photos under review (the Apple print does this).

3. Offer a “center the faces” one button command, otherwise drag/arrows to center

4. Export straight to CD/DVD/thumb drive with auto dividing number of pics on multiple CDs and DVDs.

This would really put Apple photo handling in the big leagues.

Maybe there is a way to get Keyboard Maestro to do a one stroke crop command.

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Answer 2

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Sep 12, 2016 10:37 AM in response to Cosman

What you want is not a feature of Photos - It is a feature of Apple Print products printing Photos

you can always tell Apple what you want for future updates - http://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

LN

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Sep 11, 2016 6:38 PM in response to Cosman

You can set the maximum dimension but not the ratio for a batch of photos when you export them - but you are going to have the same issue with any bulk cropping in that there is no intelligence as to what to crop off when setting the aspect ratio - Your beef is not with Apple but with CostCo since they are the ones who do not supply the necessary tools - as you note Apple does supply better tools and they charge more for the better tools - you are requesting that Apple fix CostCos lack of tools - that is not how the world works - when you use cheap suppliers you give up capabilities - it is your choice but not your choice to have Apple fix CostCo's lack of tools

LN

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