Cropped images resulting in low image quality

dlogan

I went to print out some photos at Costco with a CD I downloaded some images to. Some of the images were cropped. For some reason I couldn't print the cropped photos because the image quality was too low. I'm very new to this camera (that I love), but not sure which setting to use that will give me the ability to resize and print my photos at the highest quality? Whew, that was a long winded question!

dino

I have only printed out photos that have been saved with the highest quality (JPEG) option. Could your software be resizing them to a lower file size? I have never placed my photos onto a CD. I usually just take the SDHC card that allows the software on the machine in the print shop to resize them.

Moose

Howdy @dlogan - Most likely the program you're using to crop the images and/or the program you're using to save the images to a CD is resizing them to a lower quality. Even with the default image quality settings on the D3100, you should be able to crop a good portion of the image and still be able to print up to 8x10.

When cropping or saving your images, be sure the program is not reducing the file size for "web". You want to retain the highest quality throughout the process.

If you don't normally make any post-processing adjustments to your images, you can easily crop them in camera using the 'Trim' tool inside the Retouch Menu (see page 154 of the manual for more info). This will create a cropped copy of the original image and will retain the quality you need for prints.

You can then take your memory card to a print shop and use it to select the images for printing. Happy shooting! :)