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I am trying to export high res jpegs from lightroom, but when I do and try and upload to make a bigger print (11x14) it says resolution is too low. What settings should I use? The files are raw from the start. Do I have to use tiff files to make them high enough quality for that big if a print?
Thanks for any help.
Sarah
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What's your resolution setting? You may need to uncheck image resizing under Export.
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The first thing to do is to tell us what settings you have made in the export section. If you are getting an error due to resolution being too small, changing from JPEG to TIFF will not affect that. They would both have the same resolution.
John
John G. Blair
Occidental, California
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ok, here is what I have set:
format: Jpeg
Quality:100
Color Space: srgb
Resize to fit is not selected
pixels per inch:350
nothing else is selected.
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Your pixels per inch (ppi) is unnecessary high.
For display on a computer monitor 72 ppi, max 100 ppi is right.
For printing on your printer usually 240 ppi, or 300 ppi is right, unless you have a high-quality printer with a native resolution that is higher then select that resolution.
But besides the ppi you have also to select the size in inches - it's just left of the ppi window.
So for your print of 11 x 14 inch select that size or select 11" for "Short Edge".
You have set your quality to 100. That is fine for a print, but unnecessary high for display on a monitor. For that choose a value between 60 and 80.
BTW this value determines the compression of the jpg, the smaller the quality-number the higher the compression and the smaller the file size.
Now, having said all that, the question remains why do you export your image in order to print it?
Is there a reason that you don't just use the print module?
WW
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What printing service are you using? Some downgrade the resolution during the upload process. Costco for example downscales the files if you do not manually deselect that option. The settings you describe, as long as you don't excessively crop, should result in files more than large enough for a 11x14 print. At that size a typical 12MP camera still gives 250ppi which is enough for a good print.
P.S. the ppi setting in the export panel is completely immaterial (it's unused and only written as a metadata tag in the exported jpeg) if you don't scale to a new size in inches in the export panel. Ignore it.
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I am making CD's for customers. Maybe I am cropping too much? I didn't realize that that made a difference. Anyway I used those setting and I myself have tried to upload an 11X14 at a lab and it said the same thing as my customers lab (not sure which one she is using), that the resolution isn't big enough. so furstrating.
Is it that I cropped the image then?
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That's probably it. When you crop, you are throwing away pixels, resulting
in a lower number of pixels in the cropped image. Dividing those pixels over
your intended print size will result in a lower print resolution then when
you never cropped. If you aggressively crop that might result in an image
that is too low resolution at the intended print size indeed. You can try
scaling up the cropped image upon export. That will result in the warning
going away but will not make the print magically sharper. Your customer
might not see it though as most people who are not photographers are quite
insensitive to print sharpness.