
Hi, I’m Brian Dys — a photographer from the inside looking out · a composer entangled in electronic music · a UX designer · a spouse, a parent, & everything in between.
I took a portrait using my DSLR. It produced an image with a 3:2 aspect ratio.
I went to a photo lab to have it printed.
Do I want it cropped? Hell, no.
I spent hours enhancing and editing it. Besides, I already cropped it to perfection in Photoshop.
No cropping? Then here are the only popular photo paper sizes that I could choose from:
The other sizes like 3.5×5 (3R), 5×7 (5R), 8×10 (8R) will crop my masterpiece.
So I had it printed on an 8×12 photo paper.
I went to the picture frames section of my favorite department store.
Only to find out that they are only selling these frame sizes (cue Psycho shower theme):
Now, do I end up snipping the printed photo to fit into an 8R frame?
No. I ended up buying a certificate frame with enough margin to fit my photo.
This age is digital age; this year is 2014 and it’s ending. Everyone has a digital camera in his or her pocket.
Most likely, the digital picture that one camera produces has either these aspect ratios:
Even a full frame film camera is in 3:2.
So why in the world are photo labs and picture frames still speaking in the language of 5Rs and 8Rs?
Photo papers and picture frames must cater to the popular aspect ratios.
Support 1:1 Instagram size if you must!