On Aspect Ratios and Printing a Collection of Images

When printing a collection of images that are intended to be viewed together, it is desirable to have uniformity in the size of the pages. There are three options: 1. Enforce a uniform aspect ratio/orientation for all images in the collection; 2. Attempt to print all of the images on the same size of page while maintaining the individual aspect ratios; and 3. Print each image according to its own requirements and deal with having different-size pages in the collection.

For my recent “Ten Fine Art Photographs in Ten Days” project, I used option #3. My collection included images having several different aspect ratios, e.g., 4×5, 2×3, 5×7, 4×3, and 16×10, in both landscape and portrait orientations. I printed each photo to fit on half of a letter-sized sheet of paper with the borders around the image optimally sized using my Golden Ratio Print Border Calculator. The individual prints are of a nice size-a 4×5 is roughly the size of a Polaroid photo-and each one looks fantastic with perfectly proportioned borders. However, the stack of ten prints is a complete mess. Scratch option #3.

Instead, I would like to have a neat stack of prints, preferably housed in a box or folio, with each image in the stack presented optimally on the page. Obviously, option #1 would achieve this goal, and in the simplest case, the use of a square format for all images in the collection would ensure uniformity of aspect and would also eliminate the complication of image orientation. Equally obvious is the unsuitability of the square format for most images, and generalizing this observation, the image should dictate the aspect ratio according to the subject and composition of the photo. Scratch option #1.

We are then left with option #2, which is actually where I began a few months ago trying to determine the proper border dimensions for my images. Unfortunately, it is not possible mathematically or physically to accomodate all or even a limited range of aspect ratios and orientations using one size of paper unless we are willing to sacrifice, at least partially, one or more rules of aesthetic printmaking.

What are these rules? Simply stated, the printed image must have a suitable border; the dimensions of such should be equal on the top and sides of the image and either equal or slightly longer on the bottom. To accommodate variations in aspect and particularly in orientation, it may be necessary for the side borders to be wider than the top, but in no case should be bottom border width be less than the top border width.

Landscape Orientation

I’m starting this discussion assuming that landscape is the predominant orientation for images in the collection. The same principles apply to a collection of portrait images, but the math and terminology get confusing since width and height or aspect ratio need to be redefined.

To print a photo according to these rules, the photo aspect ratio (width:height) must be greater than the paper aspect ratio, plus a little extra. For example, a 3:2 landscape photo (aspect ratio=1.5) can be perfectly printed on a letter page (aspect ratio = 1.29), but a 5:4 landscape (1.25) needs a shorter page (optimally 9.6” rather than 11”). This is because with a smaller aspect ratio (width:height), the image is proportionally taller than the page. With equal borders on the top and sides, the taller image will encroach into the bottom border making it smaller than the top and side borders. To allow room for an equal or wider bottom border, the page needs to be taller than the image.

Mockups of Various Aspect Ratio Images on a 8.5”x7.25” Page

As shown in the mockup images above, by limiting the page aspect ratio to about 1.2 or less, we can bend the aesthetic rules and fit either a 5:4 landscape or a 3:2 landscape on the same size page and both will look pretty good, although the 5:4 image will have roughly equal borders all around while the 3:2 image will have a bottom border that is somewhat wider than preferred. A set of landscape images in the range of aspect ratios listed above cannot be printed on a standard 8.5”x11” letter-sized (aspect ratio = 1.29) page in accordance with these rules; however, a slightly smaller page, such as 8.5”x10.25” (1.21) or 7.25”x8.5” (1.13) can be used.

An alternative approach, shown below, would be to forego having equal width of the top and side borders and instead print all of the images at the same height on the page using the widest aspect image to determine the image height. For example, starting with a 3:2 image, size the image to print optimally on the page with the desired top, side, and bottom border widths for that image. The image height, and therefore the top and bottom border widths, are maintained for all other aspect images while the image width will get progressively smaller (and side borders wider) as the aspect ratio decreases.

In this case, we are trading uniformity of image width and top/side borders for uniformity of image height. The image can be either fixed on the page to maintain the top and bottom border widths (as I have done below) or centered vertically on the page.

Mockups of Various Aspect Ratio Images on a Letter-Size Page

Portrait Orientation

Unfortunately, more sacrifices are needed for the portrait images because the image aspect ratio needs to smaller than that of the page rather than larger. In other words, portrait images get taller as the image aspect ratio increases so the page is not tall enough to maintain equal borders all around, let alone a wider bottom border.

If most of the images in the collection are in the landscape orientation, the best option is probably to optimize the page size for landscape and print the portrait images with wider side borders, again maintaining the image height and allowing the width to vary. Or, the portrait images could be printed on a landscape page, but they will be very small-I prefer to have larger printed images and just rotate the paper for viewing.

My Portfolio

It has occurred to me that I have been over-thinking this to the point of absurdity; in fact, I realized that my search for perfection in printing-the perfect printer settings, the perfect profile, the perfect paper, the perfect processing, now the perfect image size-has all been an unconscious attempt to put off actually printing a portfolio of photos.

So I started printing…