Full Guide to Working with Different Photo Sizes

While working on images, you inevitably have to adjust their width and height to make them look good in various places both in digital and physical space. To make sure your photos look great everywhere, you should understand what picture frame sizes are available and how to choose the best among them. Simply because there are no photo sizes that work well everywhere.

So, it's important to consider the appropriate print sizes for your photos to ensure they look their best. If you’re a perfectionist, this guide is for you. It talks about standard photo sizes for printing, social media pages, and the standard frame sizes for posting there, and the painless conversion of pixels to inches. And of course, you’ll see some useful techniques for adjusting picture sizes in Photoshop and Luminar Neo.

Standard Photo Sizes – Where Do You Can Run into Them?

Mostly, the question of adjusting picture sizes arises when you decide to print your precious photo memories.

No matter which print shop you enter, you’ll realize that most of their standard print sizes differ from the sizes of the images you keep on your computer. Or on the other hand, a print shop may show you so many options for photo print sizes that you feel confused. In both cases, it can be hard to decide which size will work best to preserve image quality and satisfy your taste.

But don’t let these numerous options for printing disappoint you – all of these photo sizes exist to provide the best experience and satisfy any demand.

How to Choose an Aspect Ratio to Fit Common Picture Sizes

When choosing a standard frame for your artwork or photo, it's important to consider its orientation and make sure the frame matches the horizontal or vertical layout of your image.

Our basic advice is: feel free to be creative when selecting photo print sizes! For instance, there are various ways to create a photo wall. As one of the possible choices, you can make a grid with images at standard picture frame sizes. Or you can combine small, medium, and large photos for a creative collage of your best memories. Some people hang just a single poster of a large standard photo size with their favorite photograph.

There are just as many choices when it comes to picture frame sizes! Feel free to go beyond a single standard print size - there’s such a huge space to reveal your creativity. There are no good or bad standard picture sizes – only those that work and don’t work for you.

How to Change Different Picture Sizes Quickly in Photoshop

So you need to resize a photo and you want to do it quickly and easily. In most guides (like this research guide from the University of Michigan Library and this guide from Photoshop Café), resizing a picture in Photoshop is considered the best solution.

It’s really not that complicated:

1. Open Photoshop and select an Image in the Open menu
2. Select Image -> Image Size

3. Enter the new dimensions in pixels and adjust the document type and resolution
4. Choose the resampling type: Bicubic (for gradients) or Bicubic Smoother (for enlargements)

5. Accept the changes

For those who don’t have Photoshop but still need quick help resizing images, make sure to check out Luminar Neo. It has the same features, but simpler!

What are the standard image sizes for print?

There are a few standard photo sizes compatible with all home printers. Here are some crucial details about them:

4 x 6 inches.

This size is very popular for everyday photo printing. It copies the aspect ratio of most digital cameras’ viewfinders, making it a perfect choice for printing your photos without any additional cropping.

5 x 7 inches.

A medium-sized option, this format is larger than 4x6 and provides more space for the image. However, it might require careful cropping depending on the original aspect ratio of your photograph.

8 x 10 inches.

This size is excellent for posters and larger prints of photographs. It's also a common size for framing and displaying photos around the house.

8.5 x 11 inches.

This is a standard paper size in the United States, making it a convenient choice for printing at home. It's slightly larger than 8x10 and is ideal for printing documents with images.

12 x 18 inches.

Perfect for larger prints, this size is popular for printing high-quality images, especially if you want to frame and hang them in your home.

18 x 24 inches.

This is a standard size for posters and larger prints. It's ideal for images that have a lot of detail or for photographs that you want to make a big impact with.

24 x 36 inches.

This is one of the largest standard sizes for printing and is commonly used for posters, large-scale advertisements, and photographic prints for exhibitions.

In addition to these standard sizes…

There are also larger options for printing, such as 14x22, 16x20, and 20x30 inches. These are great for making a statement with a single large image or creating a collage of photos.

Panoramic views are another popular choice, especially for landscapes or group photos. Common panorama options include 5x15, 8x24, and 12x36 inches.

Square picture sizes have also gained popularity, particularly for social media prints and modern photo displays. Standard square print sizes include 5x5, 10x10, and 12x12 inches.

There is another important point. When you decide to print a photo or simply post a good shot to a social networking site, you need to edit it. Use the AI tools in Luminar Neo to get a better result. For example, you can denoise an image in a matter of seconds.