Printing

Question

Would someone please help me? I know that in the directions it tells me how to make pictures from the ones that I have in a way that will come out clear when I send them to somewhere like WallGreens to print or I print them myself.

Well I still can't figure it out. I get confused with ppi, image resolution, dpi, 300 jpeg make good pictures (can I make a picture that I have downloaded INTO that? Everytime I try to print something it says that it won't work because the quality of the original photo, picture ect. is poor.

I'm willing to pay what ever it takes if I can figure this out with out the hours ;and hours I have spent on the internet already with no luck.

I would be so greatful for help..Lynn

Laura Shoe · Accepted Answer

Hi Lynne, this is unfortunately a huge topic.

Here's what I'd suggest for an easy approach to printing with an online service, keeping in mind the quality error that you are getting and assuming you're sending to a consumer lab (not a pro lab). There's no need to crop first if your online service allows you to choose the size and crop online - most do.

Export specs:

- color space: sRGB

- file type: JPEG

- Quality: 92

- uncheck Resize to Fit. As wobertc suggests, this will export a full size file and then your printing service will either enlarge it or reduce it in size as needed. If you still get messages from your printing service that the quality is poor and can't be printed (meaning your file is too small) then there's nothing you can do except print smaller - you either made a very small crop of a larger photo and don't have many pixels to work with, or you are printing really large. Here's an article I wrote to help users figure out how large they can print, given how many pixels their photos have.

- With Resize to Fit unchecked (or when specifying a size in pixels), Resolution (PPI) has no effect at all - any number will do. (Here's an article on when resolution matters and when it doesn't.)

Regarding printing on your own using the Print module, for resolution use the native resolution of your printer - my Epson 3880 prints at 360, for example, so I use that. To get good quality prints though, there's so much else to cover that just can't be here, such as profiles and color management.

While I didn't reply to this post to promote myself, for what it's worth, all of these topics are covered in depth in my Lightroom: Producing Great Output video series. It doesn't provide quick answers though - it provides in-depth training. I also offer private online sessions.

Rob_Cullen · Answer

To print yourself- I presume you mean your own printer connected to your computer- there is nothing to do with exporting (and ppi). You should crop the photo in the Develop module to suit the ratio of the paper you will use, then open the Print module and set up the printer options, etc. (a hint for beginners: do not select or use any of the default installed templates!)

To send your images 'out' you will need to export to JPG.

Again- In Develop module- Crop to the ratio of the print paper you are wanting (eg. 6x4 5x7 8x10 etc)

Re-sizing at export is not necessary! as the printing service should re-size to fit the paper. Just export 'full-size'.

However if you are sending the photo via email or internet service then you may want to reduce file-size to reduce on-line times. Then you will need to consider re-sizing to a "Pixel" dimension that gives you the required ppi for the paper size. (eg. an 8x10 print at 300ppi needs to be 2400x3000 PIXELS.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded