How to cut contact sheet with rotatrim all the same size?

[dgberg]

I  am printing through Lightroom with some of the printing templates(Multiple photos on a single page.) I also have the 36" Rotatrim that does a great job cutting. Yes you hold the paper to the line and cut, but the problem is getting all the borders the same. More importantly when you stack them together if they are not all perfect it can look like they were cut in the 3rd. grade craft class. Do I go back to printing on individual sheets? Someone must have a trick how to cut multiple images from roll paper? For at home use it was ok to not have them be perfect. Selling studio work is another story.
Thanks in advance.

Ps. These are not matted,which would solve the problem. They might be either 4 X 6 or 5 X 7 where the client has ordered a dozen or more.

[mikeseb]

Is your problem that you can't get
the cuts right when cutting multiple sheets; or the same quirk I've whined about: when cutting images to a
final size from a sheet of multiples, the borders are uneven due to the spacing of the images
on the sheet?

The only cure I can conceive
of for the latter issue is to adjust image spacing so that when you cut between images and then trim to final size, everything lines up. It'd be handy if LR did this thinking for us, no?

Maybe 3.0....

[neile]

Brooks Jensen's latest workshop video on building folios has a 7-8 minute long segment specifically on how to cut roll paper down to individual sheet sizes. Very clever process and works beautifully. Here's the link http://www.lenswork.com/workshops/folios.html. Alas you'll have to buy the whole thing to see it.

The key to consistent cuts though is a production stop or something on your rotatrim. If you are just trying to eyeball to the line you will always get slightly different size. My rotatrim has a sliding thing across the top that I can lock dow to guarantee the same size every time. In Brook's video he has a slightly different type of trimmer that has a metal base and he just uses a couple of big magnets as stops.

Neil

[KeithR]

Just received the DVD yesterday and watched that segment. I don't know about roll paper, but he did demonstrate how he cut a 17 x 22 sheet with 4 images into 4 equally cut pages. Preplanning has a lot to do with what gets cut first, second, etc. Also having cut marks aids greatly. In the Brooks Jensen DVD he incorporated a neat little trick using a simple hole punch on the cut lines. The result is perfect alignment for the cuts. As I said, I just got the DVD and have just started watching, but from what I've seen so far, this is one superb instructional DVD

[dgberg]

The image from Lightroom is printed properly on the paper. The issue is cutting them all the exact sane size with the exact same border. As soon as you stack a dozen together it shows very quickly that they are not all the same. I have the Epson 7900 and 3800 and use the 3800 for all paper printing ,7900 (canvas). I think it is not worth the effort to try and get these perfect. If I stick to 4x6,5x7,8x10 and larger I will print them all from seperate sheets. No hassle.

[neile]

I don't know about roll paper, but he did demonstrate how he cut a 17 x 22 sheet with 4 images into 4 equally cut pages.

The same trick works with sheets of roll paper. I will occasionally print two 8.5x11" prints on a slice of 17x11" off my roll. I use my rotatrim with the production stop set to 8.5" to get a perfect, repeatable, slice. I don't have to use Brooks's trick with the hole punch since I'm just cutting the sheet exactly in half.

By the way, if you like the folio idea, I sell 8.5x11" pre-made covers  http://www.danecreekfolios.com/

Neil

[Tim Gray]

First an endorsement for Neil's portfolio covers - very nice...

Second, if you don't mind going into photoshop to run a batch action (and taking a couple of minutes to actually build the action) you can create a registration crop border that will let you judge better where to trim.

The basic is to (I'm freeflowing this so it may not be perfect, but you'll get the idea)...

select all
save selection
image, canvass increase by 10% (some arbitrarily large number)
load selection
modify grow by x pixels
set foreground color to light gray (something you can see barely enough to guide the trim)
stroke inside for 1 pixel
image crop, save etc....

You will end up with a faint gray crop line around the image.

You'll get round corners, and if that's a problem, just repeat a grow by 1 pixel however many times you want to get the final border size (you only have to program the action once

I haven't been able to figure out how to get the Free Transform to automatically add x pixels to the dimensions, which will also give you square corners - I suspect you'd need to program a script.

Now that I think about it, google Mikes Framer Script - I suspect you could easily configure that for what I've described.

[Alan Goldhammer]

The same trick works with sheets of roll paper. I will occasionally print two 8.5x11" prints on a slice of 17x11" off my roll. I use my rotatrim with the production stop set to 8.5" to get a perfect, repeatable, slice. I don't have to use Brooks's trick with the hole punch since I'm just cutting the sheet exactly in half.

By the way, if you like the folio idea, I sell 8.5x11" pre-made covers  http://www.danecreekfolios.com/

Neil

Neil,

Thanks for your website.  I was looking at using larger size archival boxes for a portfolio but they are too big.  Your cover looks just what I will be needing!!

Alan