Aspect ratio: The thirty-sixth in a series of short instructional articles for beginning photographers, the following is intended to help those who want to go beyond snapshots

PSA Journal, June, 2009 by Carole Kropscot

Aspect ratio is how the height and width of an image are related to each other. This is important when making a print from a camera image. Standard size prints usually do not match the aspect ratio of a camera's viewfinder.

This can ruin a careful composition in the viewfinder. Therefore, the photographer's composition must take into account that important items near the edges of an image may not appear on prints of certain height and width proportions.

The idea of proportion is helpful to know when making enlargements. An image's height and width are multiplied by the same whole or fractional number. If the proportions of an original image are 3:2, then a double size print would be 12 x 8. A standard 8" x 10" print will necessitate cropping of the original image. The only way to show this entire original image on 8" x 10" paper is to make a 6.67" x 10" print. This results in two wide margins of white paper showing above and below a horizontal print. This is called printing "full frame."

Digital cameras have different ratios of height to width. No matter which one is chosen, the photographer will lose some of the image to cropping when making a standard size print.

When an image is used on a web site where it may not need to fit a specific area, there is no problem. Images entered in salons and other photo competitions via e-mail usually do not have aspect requirements. The rules state the maximum for height and width, but the other dimension can be anything less.

It never hurts to leave a little extra room around the edges when composing an image in the viewfinder. This allows for desired cropping later on.

Carole Kropscot, APSA * Leawood, Kansas