The print desk · Composition

Fill the print, or keep the whole image?

A landscape photo and a portrait print have different proportions. Keeping the artwork’s proportions means choosing between cropping some of the image and leaving space around it. Stretching the image to fill both dimensions would distort it.

Crop: fill the entire print

To cover the 10-inch height, the image scales to 300 pixels per inch. The 8-inch width then contains 2400 pixels. A centered crop retains 2400 × 3000 px and removes 800 pixels from each side.

That discards 40% of the original image area. The remaining image fills the print at 300 PPI. Check whether the removed edges contain faces, lettering or other important details. Meeting a resolution target does not make a crop suitable.

Fit: keep the entire image

Fitting all 4000 pixels across the 8-inch width gives 500 PPI. The image occupies 8 × 6 inches. Centering it on the 8 × 10 print leaves 2 inches of unused space above and below.

No source image area is cropped. However, the blank space may not suit your design or your printer’s requirements. The fitted image’s PPI describes the image area, not a full-page enlargement.

Safe margins are not bleed

A safe margin is an inset guide that helps you keep important content away from an edge. Bleed extends artwork beyond the intended trimmed edge. An inset line does not create bleed or validate a production template.

Use the provider’s specific product template. Printful describes product-specific dimensions and safe zones; Printify directs users to each print area’s requirements.

PrintCheck previews centered placement. It does not edit or export a production-ready image. Reposition or resize the original artwork in your design software, and check the actual provider preview before ordering. Learn how print size changes effective PPI.