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I have a picture frame which is square but I don't understand how to print a cropped (square) photo out, say on A4 paper, so that I can cut away the excess, leaving a perfectly sized photo for my frame.

I would prefer to use Picasa or iPhoto to do this.

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3 Answers 3

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You can do this fairly easily in Picasa. Simply select the Crop option, then "Add Custom Aspect Ratio" at the bottom of the crop options. This will allow you to select a custom size such as 8x8, then export export it as such. Below I have some screenshots to assist.

Picasa 1

Picasa 2

Picasa 3

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This isn't enough. How does having a square image help you print it at, say, 8"x8"? \$\endgroup\$
    – matt burns
    Commented Jun 3, 2013 at 12:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ this would have been very helpful had I not spent 6.99 on ( picasa) a program that I was unable to login and acess \$\endgroup\$
    – user61879
    Commented Mar 24, 2017 at 21:55
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    \$\begingroup\$ @user61879 How did you spend money on free software that was discontinued? Not sure I follow. \$\endgroup\$
    – dpollitt
    Commented Mar 24, 2017 at 22:50
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Your problem (as I understand it) is that you have a square frame (say 6"x6") that you want to print for. Just having a square jpeg as @dpollitt isn't enough, because if you print it at A4 some of the image will not fit.

OddPrints allows you to upload your photo and type in the size of your frame. You can then download a new jpeg ready for printing at a standard size.

For example, if your frame is 2"x2", it will generate an image ready for you to print at a standard 4"x6". The jpeg you download will be your image surrounded by a grey border. In this case, the image will constitute 1/2 the width and 1/3 of the length of the jpeg.

Disclaimer: I faced this problem so many times I wrote this website! I'm hoping this isn't too spammy because it's open source and free to use. Hopefully it will make more sense when you see it:

www.oddprints.com enter image description here

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    \$\begingroup\$ Matt Burns - you're a lifesaver! What a cool little website - solved my problem of weird shaped/sized prints pronto! Thanks Andu \$\endgroup\$
    – user20250
    Commented Jun 2, 2013 at 21:22
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    \$\begingroup\$ OddPrints.com is perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I have had this problem for years and thanks to you I have finally found the solution. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dawn
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 15:11
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    \$\begingroup\$ Instead of using a constant gray border, it might be better to have gray around the picture fade to white around the paper edges. For prints using a photographic process it probably doesn't matter, but inkjets would use a lot less ink to print white. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Ransom
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 17:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ Actually, I figured grey can help prevent auto exposure correction on some printers etc. \$\endgroup\$
    – matt burns
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 20:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ Also, on OddPrints.com you can choose the colour \$\endgroup\$
    – matt burns
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 20:05
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I'm quite sure the person who originally posed this question has already solved his dilemma by now, but I don't see why he couldn't have just printed his picture image out on an 8-1/2" x 11" paper, and then simply mark the white areas at the edge of the printed photo to the desired size, and then trim to that final size. I'm not saying he should print his photo at 8-1/2" x 11" and then trim to a smaller size, just print his photo slightly larger than his frame size, and then manually trim to final size. Was he over-thinking this, or am I under-thinking this?

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