OK, what am i doing wrong? I want my images to be printed @ 11x8.5, but when i print, there are white spaces on top and bottom- sometimes on the sides as well- the photo isn't printing out @ 11x8.5? I've tried 'fit to window', 'custom size @ 11x8.5' (Which always get automatically resized to something like 10x7.33 or so). I've tried printin g photos that are sized specifally for 11x8.5 in photoshop (and which print the full photo without cropping anything off and which fully fills the 11x8.5 photo paper with no white spaces), but still I get white areas, with some of photo cropped off.

using photosmart 8200 hp printer. Resolution of photo- the one that ui can print full page with windows print, with no margins or printer cropping off image, is 4472x3456 @ 406 resolution. I have the print set up in qimage to borderless, and fit to page, but it's always resizing the photo on me.

Welcome to the forums, Naz.  You're in good hands with Fred.

Yes, borderless is to be done in the driver box. That doesn't change. If you click Borderless in the Qimage Custom size box, it will create the command to FIT TO PAGE.
That's all you were missing.
If you click Borderless in the Qimage box *before* you set borderless in the driver, Qimage will remind you to set the borderless check mark in the driver, and even open the driver to that location for you.
..... and sets the FIT TO PAGE.

I think where you are getting lost is thinking that you already created an 8.5 x 11 inch image. The image has an aspect ratio, and a resolution, but no print size.
Just let Qimage determine the PPI *after* it sets up the print size.

You want a borderless, 8,5 x 11 inch print?  Fine! Set borderless. That changes the printable area of the paper to 8.5 x 11 from the normal 10.766 x 8.266.
Then select FIT TO PAGE, (Turn crop scissors on because the aspect ratio of the image (width divided by height in pixels) may not be identical to 11.0 /8.5.

Add your image.... Viola!  8.5 x 11 borderless.


I hope I was clear... if not, fire away!

Fred

thanks folks- I was definately getting a bit frustrated until discovering that I had to set it to borderless in qimage- I hadn't even seen the option- not sure hwy- it was like a mental block or something- I just assumed, like i said, that the borderless was supposed to be set in print options- I tested a few more photos straight from camera- no cropping, and Qimage set the parameters for the boderless 11x8.5 just fine. I haven't checked the ppi on them yet, but I suspect it's close to what's needed- I also severely cropped a photo, let qimage resize it to 11x8.5, and printed it out- it looks great without any real perceivable loss of detail  or image quality- got it hanging on my wall

I'm not sure which version I'm gonna buy- not sure if I need all the bells and whistles, but hten again, the full version isn't that much more in price- I'll probably buy the studio version.

I've compared a couple of photos to ones pruinted with windows, and they were portraits where the skin tones were very light- VERY subtle color (I could see the subtle color variations on my screen, but when I printed them out in windows print, the sublety was lost- the lguiht colors just kinda meshed together and all looked almost white- I then printed them out in qimage, and the sublety was quite apparent in the photos- unlike hte windows version- I also really like how qimage sharpens the photos even with hte default settings- not too much, and definately better than HP's default sharpening- It's so nice to see prints come out looking very close to what I see onscreen- For a long time, I thought my prin ter was the culprit for the less than stellar prints- but I see nowe it was the lack of proper ICC profile which Qimage has corrected now

Well, thanks agasin, and sorry for the confusion- I was kinda overwheklemed with trying to learn a new program, and missed what should hasve been an obvious solution as Glwendower had told me in photocamel already to check 'borderless'- but I mistook wehere to check the option- sorry for that Glendower. Qimage does take a biut to get used to- but it's not too bad- I'm finding that the other options are pretty strightforward and not too dificult to get the hang of

Well, thanks again folks-

thatnks for the help folks,

I have one quesiton- My prints are coming out just a bit darker than what shows up in Qimage- I'm not quite sure what to set the image lightening to in Qimage htough to match what I'm seeing onscreen? I will state htough that I ran out of HP photo paper, and am using a less than stellar 'Jet print photo' paper, and am not sure if that is the reason the prints are coming out darker? although looking at one of my earlier Qimasge prints, on HP 4x6 gloss, it looked a bit darker too, but not as bad as the jet print photo paper. I realize I have to do aqn ICC profile, but I do 't have the funds right now to get calibration software, but the colors are printin g very close to what I see on the screen, but just a tad too dark compared to what shows  onscreen in Qimage before printing

I'll probably end up getting the ultimate version- I know if I go for the less expensive version, there will crop up instances where I'd wished I'd gone for the higher version- that's usually the case- as it was when I bought photoshop elements- I broke down and eventually got CS 5.

One hting I wanted to mention/ask- You mentioend targetted sharpening- in the past, what I usually do is just sharpen the whole photo, then open both unsharpened photo and sharpened one, lay the unsharpened one over the sharpened one, and erase areas that I don't want sharpened (or apply a mask, and brush out the areas I don't want sharpened. then flatten gthe image and resave it. ) I don't get too fussy about gettign real close to subject as along edges of subject, I'll usualy reduce opacity of brush and paint a thin outline that blends into them ore sharpeened areas of subject- that gives a pretty good transition from sharpened areas into non sharpened areas of background

Also, as a thank you for the help here- I thought I'd mention a free photoshop action called 'Golden Crop- it gives several cropping methods- golden mean, golden  triangle, rule of thirds etc- very handy program to have as many times the golden ratio works better for photos than the rule of thirds does- I don't have hte link- but a google search  fior 'golden crop' will find it

I have a question regarding "resizing & cropping" in QIU.

I have always cropped my images in LR then printed them (after specific QIU adj) using QIU. I don't believe that I am losing print quality by doing that. Is my thinking correct?

Resizing is different as I understand it. I always us QIU for that.

I read somewhere in a post that I should only do cropping in QI before printing. Need the experts advice please. Thanks.

thanks Fred- I hadn't even thought of doing that- guess i'll have to do that for now so my prints come out more accurate to what i see onscreen.