Aspect Ratio Explanation

The 35mm negative has an aspect ratio (ratio between the length of the width to the length of the height) of 1.5:1. Print sizes with the same aspect ratio (such as 5x7.5, 8x12,10x15 and 12x18) can be printed full frame if required.

8x10 inches and 16x20 inches are standard sizes but there can be a dilemma when printing these because the aspect ratio of 1.25:1 is different from the negative.

	Usually there is no problem because the image can be enhanced by the resulting cropping. The white rectangle is the shape of the 8x10 paper.
The resulting print is improved by 'homing in' on the subject.
	The question is what to do when the image fills the negative. If you crop like this you get...
...this. The boat looks uncomfortable in the frame, the end of the boom has been chopped off, and there is too much water below.
One alternative is to print the whole image on the paper, but the picture is smaller and a strip of paper must be trimmed off. To my mind this is preferable to a badly composed photograph. You may prefer to order an 8x12 print instead of 8x10 as this will avoid the problem and give you a larger print instead of a smaller one.

Home