Is there software that will automatically pad JPGs of odd dimensions so I can print to 4x6 format without losing image area?

Wally wrote:
I have a couple hundred JPG files of different aspect ratios. Hardly
any two are alike in dimension. Mostly they are approx 4:5, but that
is rough. They were just cropped over the years for best display on
the screen.

Now I want to make prints of them, and the prints need to be 4x6 inch
because that is the standard and cheapest, and will fit into the most
common albums.

...

So I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I can run a few
hundred pics through a software that only pads the pic with blank
areas to achieve an aspect ratio of 2:3.

That is a relatively simple task using ImageMagick
tools... if of course you are familiar with them and
with writing batch files.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

On 11/27/2012 2:03 PM, Savageduck wrote:
On 2012-11-27 13:49:57 -0800, nick c said:

On 11/26/2012 11:27 PM, Wally wrote:
I have a couple hundred JPG files of different aspect ratios. Hardly
any two are alike in dimension. Mostly they are approx 4:5, but that
is rough. They were just cropped over the years for best display on
the screen.

Now I want to make prints of them, and the prints need to be 4x6 inch
because that is the standard and cheapest, and will fit into the most
common albums.

The places that print JPGs allow me to crop the pics to fit 4x6, but
in most cases that will crop picture area that I don't want to lose.
Instead I would like the whole file printed, leaving white margins (or
some other color) on either side. But those places won't allow me to
do that.

I can go into software and edit the pic to do this, leaving nice gray
margins on either side. But it's not practical to do a couple hundred
like this.

Irfanview supports batch jobs, and allows setting the canvas size to a
desired size in pixels. But that won't work for me, because the
original files don't have consistent dimensions.

Paint Shop Pro seems to be similar - I can set the required dimensions
in pixels or in length units, but that won't work if the origs have
many different sizes.

So I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I can run a few
hundred pics through a software that only pads the pic with blank
areas to achieve an aspect ratio of 2:3.

Wally


I often use a program called Perfect Resize when I need to enlarge a
small cropped (or otherwise reworked) picture. The pictures can be
made to be 4x6 in size (or any size within reason that you may
choose). I can't say the output is always perfect but more times than
not, it'll do.

Nick

Perfect Resize (PR formerly Genuine Fractals) does a good job of
extrapolating to larger and oversized files, but it still has the
problem or dimensional distortion as the OP has already informed us
there is no consistency regarding file dimensions and aspect ratios.
Only those images at 2:3 will do well with PR to get to 4''x 6'' without
distortion of image loss due to crop.


Point well made. I just ran one of my shots through Perfect Resize
making it into a 300 pixel...4x6 photo.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rdk8f21mhq...7%20copy-2.jpg

On 2012-11-27 15:18:19 -0800, nick c said:

On 11/27/2012 2:03 PM, Savageduck wrote:
On 2012-11-27 13:49:57 -0800, nick c said:

On 11/26/2012 11:27 PM, Wally wrote:
I have a couple hundred JPG files of different aspect ratios. Hardly
any two are alike in dimension. Mostly they are approx 4:5, but that
is rough. They were just cropped over the years for best display on
the screen.

Now I want to make prints of them, and the prints need to be 4x6 inch
because that is the standard and cheapest, and will fit into the most
common albums.

The places that print JPGs allow me to crop the pics to fit 4x6, but
in most cases that will crop picture area that I don't want to lose.
Instead I would like the whole file printed, leaving white margins (or
some other color) on either side. But those places won't allow me to
do that.

I can go into software and edit the pic to do this, leaving nice gray
margins on either side. But it's not practical to do a couple hundred
like this.

Irfanview supports batch jobs, and allows setting the canvas size to a
desired size in pixels. But that won't work for me, because the
original files don't have consistent dimensions.

Paint Shop Pro seems to be similar - I can set the required dimensions
in pixels or in length units, but that won't work if the origs have
many different sizes.

So I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I can run a few
hundred pics through a software that only pads the pic with blank
areas to achieve an aspect ratio of 2:3.

Wally


I often use a program called Perfect Resize when I need to enlarge a
small cropped (or otherwise reworked) picture. The pictures can be
made to be 4x6 in size (or any size within reason that you may
choose). I can't say the output is always perfect but more times than
not, it'll do.

Nick

Perfect Resize (PR formerly Genuine Fractals) does a good job of
extrapolating to larger and oversized files, but it still has the
problem or dimensional distortion as the OP has already informed us
there is no consistency regarding file dimensions and aspect ratios.
Only those images at 2:3 will do well with PR to get to 4''x 6'' without
distortion of image loss due to crop.


Point well made. I just ran one of my shots through Perfect Resize
making it into a 300 pixel...4x6 photo.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rdk8f21mhq...7%20copy-2.jpg

I am guessing Long Beach.

My questions are;
What was the size as shot?

Did you crop to a 2:3 aspect ratio before using Perfect Resize to bring
to 4'' x 6''?

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 11/27/2012 4:10 PM, Savageduck wrote:
On 2012-11-27 15:18:19 -0800, nick c said:

On 11/27/2012 2:03 PM, Savageduck wrote:
On 2012-11-27 13:49:57 -0800, nick c said:

On 11/26/2012 11:27 PM, Wally wrote:
I have a couple hundred JPG files of different aspect ratios. Hardly
any two are alike in dimension. Mostly they are approx 4:5, but that
is rough. They were just cropped over the years for best display on
the screen.

Now I want to make prints of them, and the prints need to be 4x6 inch
because that is the standard and cheapest, and will fit into the most
common albums.

The places that print JPGs allow me to crop the pics to fit 4x6, but
in most cases that will crop picture area that I don't want to lose.
Instead I would like the whole file printed, leaving white margins (or
some other color) on either side. But those places won't allow me to
do that.

I can go into software and edit the pic to do this, leaving nice gray
margins on either side. But it's not practical to do a couple hundred
like this.

Irfanview supports batch jobs, and allows setting the canvas size to a
desired size in pixels. But that won't work for me, because the
original files don't have consistent dimensions.

Paint Shop Pro seems to be similar - I can set the required dimensions
in pixels or in length units, but that won't work if the origs have
many different sizes.

So I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I can run a few
hundred pics through a software that only pads the pic with blank
areas to achieve an aspect ratio of 2:3.

Wally


I often use a program called Perfect Resize when I need to enlarge a
small cropped (or otherwise reworked) picture. The pictures can be
made to be 4x6 in size (or any size within reason that you may
choose). I can't say the output is always perfect but more times than
not, it'll do.

Nick

Perfect Resize (PR formerly Genuine Fractals) does a good job of
extrapolating to larger and oversized files, but it still has the
problem or dimensional distortion as the OP has already informed us
there is no consistency regarding file dimensions and aspect ratios.
Only those images at 2:3 will do well with PR to get to 4''x 6'' without
distortion of image loss due to crop.


Point well made. I just ran one of my shots through Perfect Resize
making it into a 300 pixel...4x6 photo.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rdk8f21mhq...7%20copy-2.jpg

I am guessing Long Beach.

Right on.


My questions are;
What was the size as shot?

I chose a shot at random from one of my folders, taken a few years ago
while still using slide film, then scanned it. The original scan was
about 59.56Wx39.56H. I later scanned it to became 7.5x5 (which was about
what I wanted, at the time).

Using the 7.5x5 scanned shot, I reduced/boosted it further to 300 Canon
and 4x6 using Perfect Resize. I had once reduced the PPI count to 75 so
it could be e-mailed to someone who didn't want big pictures mailed to her.


Did you crop to a 2:3 aspect ratio before using Perfect Resize to bring
to 4'' x 6''?


See above. Not at any time was the picture cropped (other than resized)
nor did a display show readily seen distortions. Actually, now that I
think about it, I guess I could have run the original scan through
Photoshop and corrected any distortions that may have been in the
original scanned picture. But ... I didn't.

I realized I had forgotten something. The program I
linked will do what you want.
See he

http://www.jsware.net/jsware/pprep.php5

JS PhotoPrep
Drop a folder onto the window, select quality level,
select to save as BMP or JPG, check "Perform Crop",
select dimension (or custom dimension), check
"Mount for no-loss crop", and finally, select the
background color. Then click "Process".

As noted, this is a trial version, but it's fully functional
with no time limit. If you don't mind the nag screen
you can use it for free. (With all the free, tidbit photo
editors around I get very few sales, anyway.

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:53:34 -0700, Wally wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:35:55 +1300, Eric Stevens
wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:27:40 -0700, Wally wrote:

I have a couple hundred JPG files of different aspect ratios. Hardly
any two are alike in dimension. Mostly they are approx 4:5, but that
is rough. They were just cropped over the years for best display on
the screen.

Now I want to make prints of them, and the prints need to be 4x6 inch
because that is the standard and cheapest, and will fit into the most
common albums.

The places that print JPGs allow me to crop the pics to fit 4x6, but
in most cases that will crop picture area that I don't want to lose.
Instead I would like the whole file printed, leaving white margins (or
some other color) on either side. But those places won't allow me to
do that.

I can go into software and edit the pic to do this, leaving nice gray
margins on either side. But it's not practical to do a couple hundred
like this.

Irfanview supports batch jobs, and allows setting the canvas size to a
desired size in pixels. But that won't work for me, because the
original files don't have consistent dimensions.

Paint Shop Pro seems to be similar - I can set the required dimensions
in pixels or in length units, but that won't work if the origs have
many different sizes.

Paint Shop Pro will do what you want and let you print to either a
printer or a file.

How?

You specify the paper size and set the print options to "Fit to Page".
If you don't want to print to paper immediately you can set 'Print to
File' but you must have the appropriate print driver for the printer
you intend to use.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:53:34 -0700, Wally wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:35:55 +1300, Eric Stevens
wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:27:40 -0700, Wally wrote:

I have a couple hundred JPG files of different aspect ratios. Hardly
any two are alike in dimension. Mostly they are approx 4:5, but that
is rough. They were just cropped over the years for best display on
the screen.

Now I want to make prints of them, and the prints need to be 4x6 inch
because that is the standard and cheapest, and will fit into the most
common albums.

The places that print JPGs allow me to crop the pics to fit 4x6, but
in most cases that will crop picture area that I don't want to lose.
Instead I would like the whole file printed, leaving white margins (or
some other color) on either side. But those places won't allow me to
do that.

I can go into software and edit the pic to do this, leaving nice gray
margins on either side. But it's not practical to do a couple hundred
like this.

Irfanview supports batch jobs, and allows setting the canvas size to a
desired size in pixels. But that won't work for me, because the
original files don't have consistent dimensions.

Paint Shop Pro seems to be similar - I can set the required dimensions
in pixels or in length units, but that won't work if the origs have
many different sizes.

Paint Shop Pro will do what you want and let you print to either a
printer or a file.

How?

Here is a scan of a 6" x 4" test print I happened to have lying
around. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31088803/Image1.jpg I presume that
this is the sort of thing you want. The length of the panoramic image
has been fitted to the paper and the top and bottom has been padded
with white space.

If the image was taller than it was wide then the top and bottom of
the image would be fitted to the paper and it would be the sides that
were padded.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On 28/11/2012 9:48 AM, Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
Wally wrote:
I have a couple hundred JPG files of different aspect ratios. Hardly
any two are alike in dimension. Mostly they are approx 4:5, but that
is rough. They were just cropped over the years for best display on
the screen.

Now I want to make prints of them, and the prints need to be 4x6 inch
because that is the standard and cheapest, and will fit into the most
common albums.

...

So I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I can run a few
hundred pics through a software that only pads the pic with blank
areas to achieve an aspect ratio of 2:3.

That is a relatively simple task using ImageMagick
tools... if of course you are familiar with them and
with writing batch files.



I did do this through a Photoshop action when when I was making heaps of
flash presentations.

The image was placed on a black background, and made to fit. Had one
action for Vertical and another Horizontal images. Batched whole folders.

On Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:24:40 +1300, Eric Stevens
wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:53:34 -0700, Wally wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:35:55 +1300, Eric Stevens
wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:27:40 -0700, Wally wrote:

I have a couple hundred JPG files of different aspect ratios. Hardly
any two are alike in dimension. Mostly they are approx 4:5, but that
is rough. They were just cropped over the years for best display on
the screen.

Now I want to make prints of them, and the prints need to be 4x6 inch
because that is the standard and cheapest, and will fit into the most
common albums.

The places that print JPGs allow me to crop the pics to fit 4x6, but
in most cases that will crop picture area that I don't want to lose.
Instead I would like the whole file printed, leaving white margins (or
some other color) on either side. But those places won't allow me to
do that.

I can go into software and edit the pic to do this, leaving nice gray
margins on either side. But it's not practical to do a couple hundred
like this.

Irfanview supports batch jobs, and allows setting the canvas size to a
desired size in pixels. But that won't work for me, because the
original files don't have consistent dimensions.

Paint Shop Pro seems to be similar - I can set the required dimensions
in pixels or in length units, but that won't work if the origs have
many different sizes.

Paint Shop Pro will do what you want and let you print to either a
printer or a file.

How?

Here is a scan of a 6" x 4" test print I happened to have lying
around. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31088803/Image1.jpg I presume that
this is the sort of thing you want. The length of the panoramic image
has been fitted to the paper and the top and bottom has been padded
with white space.

If the image was taller than it was wide then the top and bottom of
the image would be fitted to the paper and it would be the sides that
were padded.

OK, it looks good. Will have to give it a try. But I gotta admit that
JS PhotoPrep sounds exactly right and real simple too.

W.

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:33:26 -0500, "Mayayana"
wrote:

I realized I had forgotten something. The program I
linked will do what you want.
See he

http://www.jsware.net/jsware/pprep.php5

JS PhotoPrep
Drop a folder onto the window, select quality level,
select to save as BMP or JPG, check "Perform Crop",
select dimension (or custom dimension), check
"Mount for no-loss crop", and finally, select the
background color. Then click "Process".

As noted, this is a trial version, but it's fully functional
with no time limit. If you don't mind the nag screen
you can use it for free. (With all the free, tidbit photo
editors around I get very few sales, anyway.

Neat. Sounds exactly like what I need.

Are you the author?

W.