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WallStShari
Inspiring
November 29, 2013
Question

sending hi res (300 dpi) jpegs from Lightroom 4

  • November 29, 2013
  • 2 replies
  • 15486 views

I am taking a course on making Christmas decorations.  Have been asked to send my images @ 3" x 3", 300 dpi, medium jpeg.  We have spent 2 days back and forth with this and I have not been able to complete the Export panel correctly.  Can anyone help.  Thanks.

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    2 replies

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    elie-d
    Participating Frequently
    November 29, 2013

    By the way, resolution really refers to the number of pixels in an image, nothing else and it is a misnomer in LR to call ppi (dpi) resolution,  and 900x900 pixels is not a high resolution. It is, actually, quite low resolution, only 90,000 pixels when nowadays even consumer level cameras produce images with 18 million pixels. But if the the recipient is claiming your image does not have the required number of pixels, you can check the jpg before sending it off by (if you have Windows) right-clicking on the file, selecting Properties at the bottom of the context menu that opens, selecting the Details tab and scrolling down to Dimensions. If the file really is 900x900, the problem is by her, not you.

    areohbee
    areohbee
    Legend
    November 29, 2013

    at 300 dots per inch, 3 inches would be 900 dots, so you need to export your images with a maximum width of 900 pixels - ditto for height (aspect ratio is defined by crop, and can't be changed by exporting) - a pixel is a dot.

    Rob

    W
    WallStShariAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 29, 2013

    Thank you.  I am completely confused.  I set jpeg, srgb, quality 90, image size long edge 1000 resolution 300.  She said it only came to her at 240 pixels square.  I am not even sure what this means.  I had cropped my image to 3 x 3 first.  Should I not have done this? 

    areohbee
    areohbee
    Legend
    November 29, 2013

    WallStShari wrote:

    I had cropped my image to 3 x 3 first.

    Unless you want square pictures, crop to whatever dimensions are most pleasing, e.g. 4000x3000 (i.e. as big as possible preserving the portion of image you want), cropped dimension bears no relationship to print resolution (which is what the dpi value is referring to, or should be).

    If you truly want square pictures, then crop to 4000x4000 or 3000x3000 or 2000x2000 etc. in other words: crop determines aspect ratio (overall retangular shape: square, wide, tall, ...).

    Now that you've got them cropped correctly (or maybe they didn't need to be cropped at all - do you really want exactly square pictures?), you need to export them how she wants them, which, assuming she's using the correct terminology (or should I say terminology consistent with Lightroom's export dialog box), then export them at 900 pixels per side, max, and set (print) resolution to 300 pixels per inch.

    That should do it.

    If that doesn't do it, then you need to get more specific instructions from her.

    Example settings:

    Note: (print) Resolution merely sets a metadata item in the file, it (otherwise) has no effect whatsoever on exported image.

    WallStShari wrote:

    She said it only came to her at 240 pixels square.

    An image exported with the above settings will come to her at 900 pixels on a side (square if cropped square, or rectangular with 900 pixels on long edge, if not cropped square). Just make sure you've not cropped it down to fewer pixels than 900 on a side, or you'll be losing quality, since it'll have to be enlarged to meet requirements. Greater than 900 pixels per side is OK, since Lr can shrink files without such quality loss.

    Regarding Jpeg quality: 90 is very high, 80 is high, 60-70 is medium, 50 or below is (relatively) "low" - roughly and subject to opinion.

    Rob

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