Standard Print Sizes | Bergen County Photographer

Have you ever noticed when you take a photograph and then print it, the full image does not appear on the paper most of the time? The reason is because ratio of the width and height of a standard print size sometimes does not match the ratio of your camera viewfinder.

Most photo print sizes are 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, etc. Most digital cameras viewfinders display images with a 3:2 ratio, meaning the width of the viewfinder is 1.5 times as wide as the height. This ratio is inherited from the film days. The 35 mm film single frame has a ration of 3:2 width to height and it was the most popular film among consumers. That is how we ended up with 4x6 and 20x30 sizes and other aspect ratios were developed to fit closely to 4x6 such as 5x7, 8x10, etc.

This is why when taking a picture, you need to be careful with your composition and leave a bit of extra room on the sides of your photograph in order to be able to crop if you decide to print your picture on an 8x10 paper, for example.