Help with Social Media and Print Export Settings

[rayjaycab]

There's a photographer who made a reel "Upload sharp photos on instagram".
I have a quick question: are these settings specifically for a 4x5 aspect ratio, or do they apply to any photo orientation, like horizontal or vertical? Also, when I export using these settings, I get a very large file size, around 5 to 8 MB. I really thought that the bigger the file size the more it gets compressed badly on social media. I usually export at 72 DPI instead of 240, as what this photographer suggested. Does this also work well for Facebook uploads? Thank you!

[kglad]

what app?

[rayjaycab]

Lightroom Classic

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from using the community">

[Rob_Cullen]

Have a look at- https://help.instagram.com/1631821640426723

"we keep that photo at its original resolution as long as the photo's aspect ratio is between 1.91:1 and 4:5 (a height between 566 and 1350 pixels with a width of 1080 pixels). "

"Resolution" for digital images refers to PIXEL dimensions. Setting a PPI (Pixels per inch) has no meaning for images used in digital situations.

So in your Lightroom-Classic export dialog make the Image Sizing settings as-

W: 1080  and H: 1350

Your exported image will now FIT within the pixel dimensions  of 1080 wide by 1350 high.

The number in the [Resolution] box is irrelevant. That could be 72, or 300, or 1, or 1000. It makes no difference to the Pixel resolution of the exported photo.

[JohanElzenga]

Exporting at 72 PPI will not give you a smaller file than 240 PPI (unless you set the image dimensions in inches rather than pixels). This is a common misunderstanding. PPI is just an instruction for the printer, telling it how many pixels it should print on one inch of paper. You have set the dimensions in pixels, so in both cases you get the same 2160 pixels width and thus the same file size. Setting the Quality at 100 is what makes this file so big and it is pretty useless to do that. You will not see a quality difference if you set it lower, for example 80 or 90. Test it if you like.

Lightroom Classic does not crop on export, only resize. The result of this setting will depend on the aspect ratio of the image.

[rayjaycab]

Thank you so much!

[Ricky336]

...I usually export at 72 DPI instead of 240, as what this photographer suggested.

By @rayjaycab

DPI is Dots Per Inch / PPI is Pixels Per Inch which is connected to printing. Therefore it is only relevant when printing, and not sharing on screens.

[rayjaycab]

Thank you so much!

[rayjaycab]

Thank you all for your response. Could you please share your export settings for both social media and printing? I often struggle with exporting for both because after editing in Lightroom, I typically use Photoshop for further enhancements. This means I have to edit the social media and print versions separately in Photoshop. Is there a setting that works for both printing and social media, so I can edit them together in Photoshop? My concern is that using social media-quality settings for printing may result in poor print quality, and if I use print settings for social media, the images may be too compressed and lose quality. My clients usually request two versions (one for social media and one for print), so editing them separately in Photoshop is quite time-consuming.

I also sometimes edit from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop using Cmd+E. However, the DNG file it creates is massive, sometimes reaching 1GB for just one photo, which makes it impractical for me to use regularly.

[JohanElzenga]

No, there isn't a 'one fits all' export setting. I'm not sure what you are doing with 'Edit in Photoshop' from Lightroom, but that does not create a DNG file. Depending on the settings in Preferences - External editors, it creates a PSD or a TIFF. The file size depends very much on the number of layers you add and then keep when you save that file. If you are not going to do further edits in Photoshop, then you can flatten the file before you save it. You could also convert the image from ProPhotoRGB (if that is what you use) to AdobeRGB and then change the bit depth from 16 bits to 8 bits, to further reduce the file size.  When that image has returned in Lightroom, export two versions from it: one for social media and one for print.

Social media was already discussed. It seems to me that the size shown in the screenshot is more likely for Facebook than for Instagram, reading the info that Rob posted about Instagram. Fill in 2160 for both width and height, so portrait images will not become 2160 wide but 2160 high.

For print, the original size would be best if you want to allow maximum print size. Otherwise set the maximum dimensions you want to allow in inches and the resolution at 300 ppi. Use sRGB because you do not know where the client will print it and if they use color management.

[rayjaycab]

Thank you so much! This helps a lot!

[rayjaycab]

Could you please share your export settings for both social media and printing? I often struggle with exporting for both because after editing in Lightroom CLassic, I typically use Photoshop for further enhancements. This means I have to edit the social media and print versions separately in Photoshop. Is there a setting that works for both printing and social media, so I can edit them together in Photoshop? My concern is that using social media-quality settings for printing may result in poor print quality, and if I use print settings for social media, the images may be too compressed and lose quality. My clients usually request two versions (one for social media and one for print), so editing them separately in Photoshop is quite time-consuming. I also sometimes edit from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop using Cmd+E. However, the DNG file it creates is massive, sometimes reaching 1GB for just one photo, which makes it impractical for me to use regularly.

[Posts merged by moderator due to double posting the same message]

[Rob_Cullen]

Not to be forgotten is Batch Exporting in Lr-Classic.

Create Export Presets for all the varieties of Export you want- Full-size for print, resized down for Facebook, etc, etc.

After you have made edits in Photoshop and returned the TIF, PSD, file to the LrC library (Full-size)-

-Select the Photoshop image

-Place a check mark in each of the desired Export Presets

-[Batch Export]

Result- multiple files for each different use.

[rayjaycab]

Thank you so much! Really appreciate your tips and advice!