Crop an image to 3:2

The photographer's ratio

3:2 comes from 35mm film and carried over to most interchangeable-lens cameras, so it is the native shape of a huge share of serious photos. It is wider than 4:3 but less extreme than 16:9, which is why it reads as a classic, balanced photograph.

If your camera shoots 3:2, cropping to it is nearly lossless: you are reframing within the ratio the sensor already used. Phone photos shot at 4:3 will lose a strip top and bottom to reach 3:2.

Why 3:2 matters for printing

The most common photo print, 4x6 inches, is a 3:2 ratio. Send a 4:3 or square image to a 4x6 print and the lab crops it to fit, often clipping something you wanted. Cropping to 3:2 yourself first means you control exactly what makes the print.

The same holds for 6x4, 12x8 and other prints in the 3:2 family. Crop here, then resize to enough pixels for the print size: a 4x6 at 300 DPI needs 1800x1200, which a 3:2 crop fills exactly.

Frame it, then size for print or screen

Crop to 3:2 to lock the photographic shape, then resize for where it is going. For print, match the pixel count to the physical size at 300 DPI; for screen, any size that keeps the 3:2 ratio works.

Everything happens in your browser, so the photo is never uploaded. Frame to 3:2, download, and print or post.