good sizes for photograph portfolio ?

April 18, 2005 2:49 PM

Photograph and portfolio questions ...

Hi , i've got two college interviews in the next two weeks and i have to show them a portfolio of my work , im wondering what is the best size of photo to use , 10x12 ?
Also i'd like to know how to use photoshop 7 to stretch this cropped item into a full photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/reynolds/9777706/

posted by sgt.serenity to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

I would recommend working from the uncropped photo instead. If you "stretch" that tall, narrow cropped version it's going to distort pretty badly.

If you want to do it anyway, you go to Image > Image Size, turn off Constrain Proportions, and change the width to whatever you like.
posted by bcwinters at 3:44 PM on April 18, 2005

Response by poster: aye , i just cant seem to get my head around how you can increase the impact of an image by cropping but you're left with this strange unprintable long tall sally of a thing.
I could maybe double it up somehow , i have no idea how to explain to the man at the print shop what i want.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:58 PM on April 18, 2005

first go to Image Size and make the whole picture bigger, then crop. (it really depends how hi-res the scan is tho to begin with--how many dpi?)
posted by amberglow at 4:55 PM on April 18, 2005

I'm not sure I understand your confusion about the cropping, but what usually happens with a cropped image is that you tell them the paper size you want them to use for the longest side (so if your image is 3 inches wide by 9 inches high, they will use an 8x10 inch sheet of paper, and there will be 2.5 blank inches on either side of the 3 inch image, plus .5 inch on the top and bottom). That blank paper is either trimmed off or matted over.

I think the individual shots in your portfolio can be cropped and trimmed to whatever dimensions are best for the image. You don't have to worry about odd proportions if you choose a size of matboard that will fit the largest of your prints (e.g. 11x17), and mount each photo to a sheet of that matboard. Now you have a nice even stack that is easy to flip through, and no one touches the actual photograph.
posted by xo at 6:38 PM on April 18, 2005

I think your confusion is coming from thinking that you somehow have to fill the piece of photo paper. Forget that, sarge. Imagine big juicy white borders on your image, that's the ticket.

Then mount 'em as xo says, whap into a portfolio case and you're set.
posted by bonaldi at 7:13 PM on April 18, 2005