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LarsSmook
Participant
May 3, 2018
Question

Export image size at least 20x30cm 300dpi, but bigger when possible

  • May 3, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 4501 views

Hey people!

I've got a question, hope somebody knows@ the answer. I work for two big press agencies and they have a different view on what size the uploaded images need to be. One agency want the images as big as possible but not smaller than 20x30cm 300dpi. This means that when I upload a crop it needs to resize to 20x30, but when it's bigger than 20x30 it doesn't downsize the image.

The other agency wants all the images on a resolution of 20x30 300dpi.

I use two export settings:

- the first one resize all the images to 20x30cm

- and the second one doesn't resize at all

With the last one I have the issue. It works fine when I don't make any crops. But when I crop the image for example to 19x28,5cm is doesn't make it larger. Is there a option to have export at least 20x30cm but bigger when possible!?

Cheers,

Lars

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

R
Community Expert
richardplondonCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 4, 2018

As I mentioned in my earlier reply, LR's got a "don't enlarge" resizing option, but no "don't reduce" option.

You can call in a post-process action as part of your export, carried out by another program / utility which HAS such an option.

One example is ImageMagick which can do all kinds of things, as defined by text commands including a "<" symbol meaning "don't shrink".

http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/resize/

The way one would achieve that from LR, is via the front-end of a plugin "LR/Mogrify where there is a box to type ImageMagick commands, to be applied onto the exported images after they have left LR. So you would un-check resizing so far as LR is concerned, still setting 300ppi though. Then tell Mogrify to conditionally resize, but only if smaller than your limit.

https://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrmogrify2.php?sec=quickguide

JP Hess
JP Hess
Inspiring
May 3, 2018

An image that is exported at 20 x 30 cm is that size regardless of what the PPI or DPI setting is. It is always 20 x 30 cm. The PPI setting isn't going to change anything. It's only a reference number indicating intent. You can export an image as large as you prefer, but that doesn't mean the quality will be desirable. If you have the latest Photoshop, perhaps you should look at the new resizing options available there.

Best Way To Enlarge Images In Photoshop CC 2018

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
May 3, 2018

JimHess​

But if you specify 20cmx30cm, PPI (not dpi) does change the size of the exported image. If you had selected that you want the exported image to be sized in pixels, then PPI does not change the size of the exported image.

LarsSmook

The requirements from the big press agencies are nonsense. First, it is PPI, not dpi. Lightroom exports do not have a DPI. No such thing.

Next, if you set the Lightroom export dialog box to give 20cm x 30cm and 300 PPI (not dpi) you will get that for all photos. You might want to do some simple math regarding the size of your images to see if they are larger or smaller than 20cm x 30cm at 300ppi, to figure out which ones need to be up-sized and which ones do not. Then export the ones that need to be upsized, and do another export of the ones that do not need to be upsized.

L
LarsSmookAuthor
Participant
May 3, 2018

Your correct it's PPI, I'm still using the term dpi while I was an print specialist in a former life...

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