Final Cut Pro 5

[Tom Wolsky]

Make the picture in Elements at 720×540. Then squeeze it down to 720×480. (Start with 720×547 and go down to 720×486 if you’re working in an uncompressed format.)

[Anna Panetta]

If I scan the picture in those dimensions, I only get part of the photo.

[Anna Panetta]

If i enter the dimension prior to scanning, I only get part of the picture.

[Tom Wolsky]

Scan the picture as you normally would and then size it to 720×540. That’s the standard 4:3 shape. If the image isn’t that shape it will either have to be cropped or it will show black around it to fit the shape of the screen. You can’t have it both ways.

[Walter Biscardi]

[anna Panetta] “If I scan the picture in those dimensions, I only get part of the photo.”

I’m confused as to how this can happen. Entering a dimension for a photo should not cause it to be cropped. When I scan images, I do a preview first, then draw a marquee around the areas I want scanned, then select the dpi or sizing information after that.

If you want the full image, then you need to scan the full image, but know that if it’s a vertical image, you’ll never be able to place the entire photo onto the screen without borders on either side. Video is a horizontal medium and you must work in the 4:3 ratio of SD or 16:9 ratio of HD. With photos there’s a lot of give and take as to whether you want to see the entire image, which may reveal black borders around it, or you want to zoom in to a particular area of the photo so it fills the screen.

I generally place animated backdrops behind any photo montages so you don’t see black around the images, you’ll see moving imagery.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Tim Baker]

I generally follow the rule…”Scan up…then scale down”. I will generally scan a photo at 150 to 200 percent of original…then size it with a crop setting in Photoshop.

This gives you a lot of flexibility and increased resolution. As you size a large scan or photo down…it actually “pushes” the pixels together and will sharpen the image.

Plus if you have a vertical image and only need a certain portion of the image…it will in a lot of cases give you enough horizontal width to fit to screen size that you need.

BELOW IS A GOOD SIZING CHART STRAIGHT FROM A PHOTOSHOP TRAINNER:
(you may need to work with it a bit, but it is a good guide to follow)

Using Square or Non-Square Pixels For Graphics