The Why's of Paper Size---Please explain

[Raymond Bleesz]

I'm rather new to digital printing,  however, I have years with silver gelatin prints & feel very comfortable with those traditional sizes, say, 8x10, 11,14, 16x20, 20x24 sized papers---I could print according to those dimmensions as well as crop, matt, & frame accordingly, utilizing the paper size to its max extent.

However with digital papers excluding the 8 1/2 x11, paper sizes are elongated such as 11x17, 13x19 & up.  I realize the digital printers dictate the paper sizes or vice versa, but why the elongated sized papers which IMO make it very difficult to "....crop, matt & frame accordingly" in a systematic manner with those above mentioned sizes. There is something I am not understanding, hence the question. Thank you for giving insight

[bill t.]

8 x 10, 16 x 20, etc all have a ratio of 4:5 which is a throwback to the days of view cameras that used film with those proportions.  Most ready made frames and pre-cut mattes are built for those sizes, as they have been for decades.

11 x 17, 13 x 19 and so on all have about the 1:1.5 image ratio of modern DSLR's.  We are only recently starting to see ready made frames that take these sizes, but they do exist.

The best available intersection of old and new ratios is possibly matting a 13 x 19 prints into an old fashioned 22 x 28 frame, which gives you the same amount of matte all the way around.  If you like mattes.

[JohnTodd]

I realised that 11x17 and 13x19 made more sense ratio-wise if you factor in margins: 11x17 is a 16:10 ratio with a half-inch border on each edge, and 13x19 is a 2:3 ratio with a half-inch border.

(Then I watched the Camera to Print & Screen series and stopped worrying about filling every square centimeter of paper :-) )

[Tony Jay]

I don't necessarily think that ones images should match the paper with regards to dimension ratios.
Artistic intent does not stop once tone and colour have been tweaked and the image satisfactorily cropped when required.
Excellent results can be achieved with matted and framed images that in no way match the dimension ratios of the surface they were printed on.

Regards

Tony Jay

[Mike Guilbault]

Coming from square medium format even the 5:4 ratio papers didn't work for me, so I've been used to 'not' printing to paper size. I agree with Tony... create your image and then print to the closest paper size and either trim or mat what you don't need.

[SpiritShooter]

"However with digital papers excluding the 8 1/2 x11, paper sizes are elongated such as 11x17, 13x19 & up.  I realize the digital printers dictate the paper sizes or vice versa, but why the elongated sized papers which IMO make it very difficult to "....crop, matt & frame accordingly" in a systematic manner with those above mentioned sizes. There is something I am not understanding, hence the question."

I think many of us look at these paper from a "Photocentric" point of view. However, the paper sizes used today are based on paper standards that have been developed in various countries over time such as ANSI, ISO, JIS and others.

ANSI paper sizes include 8.5"x11", 11"x17", 17"x22" and 34"x44".

There are also Architectural size papers.

Basically, these papers have nothing to do with digital photography but have been accepted and standards for the paper industry in general.

[Peter Le]

I have a 17" printer and a 24" printer.....I buy 17" and 24" rolls and make the size paper I feel the print needs. I don't care for their standard paper sizes......although if mating I will usually cut the mat to a standard frame size.....but not always...

[tom b]

Maybe the metric paper sizes shown below will give some clue:

Metic size     mm     inches

A0       841 x 1189   33.11 x 46.81
A1   594 x 841   23.39 x 33.1
A2   420 x 594   16.54 x 23.29
A3   297 x 420   11.69 x 16.54
A4   210 x 297   8.27 x 11.69
A5   148 x 210   5.83 x 8.27

Cheers,