Jim Bianco

When I fix a pic in LR 4,how do I send it to a printing company from LR . eg.,like shutterbug or a good printing co. and what are the good ones out there that won't drain your pocket. Thanks Jim Bianco

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

I do the finish in Photoshop where I can crop - resize - change to tiff or jpg for taking or sending to a "out of house" print company.

I do not make use of LR - I use "Bridge" and open as RAW to do my first edits then to CS-5 to finish. Sorry If This will not help = However, both programs are very similar.

Jim Bianco

Thanks Jim B.

twowindsbear

Contact the printing company for their file specs & instructions. This way you'll know what is required.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

You might also pose your several questions in UHH's "Printers and Color Printing" section. At the bottom of this page, click the link to "All Sections", scroll down to the one for printers and subscribe. Best wishes!

Jim Bianco

Thanks to all. Jim B.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I use Exposure Manager for most of my printing... but there are many different ones that do good work at affordable prices. They will give your their specifications and might provide a color profile for their particular process, which you can use to "soft proof" your images and get a better idea how they'll look printed. The printing service usually provides some means of uploading your image files to them for processing. They'll be happy to share the details, I'm sure. BTW, some chain stores such as Walmart, Staples, etc. offer the similar service... you can upload to a website, then pick up the finished prints at your local store. That might save on shipping costs and time.

Most printers I've worked with want 8 bit, sRGB JPEGs at about 170 pixels per inch minimum resolution. 240 is ideal, though I use 300 ppi most of the time simply because the math is easier.

I don't recall if LR4 is able to load color profiles and "soft proof". I know I can in LR6, though like a previous poster I don't use LR to finish photos... I pass them off to Photoshop (CS6 in my case) and soft proof them there.

For the best results, your computer monitor should be calibrated. If you aren't already doing that, it's probably "lying to you"... not rendering colors very accurately and actually way, way too bright for photo finishing work. This causes you to misadjust colors and make too dark prints. The good news is that calibration devices (hardware and software) are widely available and relatively easy to use... Pantone Huey, XRite ColorMunki and Datacolor Spyder are three of the most popular. These are actually a good investment in the long run because they'll save on wasted ink and paper if you make prints yourself, or the cost of re-doing prints if you outsource to a service online. Computer monitors also change over time... I recalibrate every 60 days. My monitor is about 5 or 6 years old... had to be reduced to about 20% brightness when I first got it, for accurate photo exposure adjustments. Now after quite a few years of use I find I'm setting it a little over 50% brightness. Beyond that, the color profile tends to change a little bit each time I recalibrate, too.

Not all monitors and computer graphics cards can be set for brightness, contrast and custom color profiles. You'll have to check yours.

lsimpkins Loc: SE Pennsylvania

Jim, to specifically address the first part of your question - you need to export your adjusted photo from LR. The printing company will be able to tell you (usually listed on their website) what format (usually jpg, but sometimes tiff) they need and what resolution they require. Then you usually upload the image(s) to their website after creating an account, etc. I have used Shutterfly for photo books and found their work to be very good, but I am sure there are better and more expensive places, too.

SteveLew Loc: Sugar Land, TX

I had issues with sending photos to Bay Photo which I like. I have learned the hard way. First, do not crop your photos to severally before you send to a print company. Second, do not edit your photos colors much before you send them to a professional printer. Finally, as already mentioned send a tiff or jpg file and with about 300 psi and let the printing company make color corrections. Bottom line is to allow the professional printing company the most latitude to make adjustments to your photo. Once all the adjustments are made by the printing company you will be able to see your photos and either "pass" these photos or request further work.

As mentioned by other it is always a good idea to ask the professional printing company what format they would like to see your photos and what degree of editing that they will allow from you.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

After you finish editing your image in LR4, crop it to the ratio you want your print to be. If you want 8x10 then use 8x10 in custom or use 4x5 to get the correct ratio. Then add a little extra sharpening as your final step. Last, in the Library mode, go to Export button (bottom left side). The export dialog opens and then use the right side of the drop downs and open each one, one at a time and make your selections as to where you'd like the image saved, Export Location, File Naming, leave Video alone, File Settings>jpeg, sRGB,Quality: 100; Image Sizing>no check in box, Resolution 300; Output sharpening>choose on if you didn't sharpen as your last step in LR; Leave the rest alone and click Export. Done. Upload to print lab, or save to a thumb drive and take to a lab.

anneabc

Oh no, I already sized my images to 11x17. Is that going to be a problem when sending to a printing company?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

If you had enough ORIGINAL, CREATED-BY-THE-CAMERA pixels to create an 11x17 at 240 PPI or greater, then no.

If you send a pro lab a larger image, they can either scale it down and crop it to fit, or scale to fit the longest dimension of a standard paper size, and fit the rest without cropping. They may charge differently for one or the other process...

11x17 is an odd aspect ratio, compared to most photo print sizes.

If you have it, you can return to a copy of the original image. Since you're using Photoshop, you can use the Crop Tool to set a target crop size, such as 8x10 @ 250 PPI, or 16x20 @ 180 PPI.*

*Larger prints need LESS resolution, since they are usually viewed from a greater distance... just like a 55" HDTV, which looks sharp at six feet, but only displays 1920x1080 pixels, the same exact image size as an 8 inch by 4.5 inch photo printed at 240 PPI!

For best results, as others have stated, CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR with a colorimeter and software kit. Then get the lab's printer profile, and enable it as a Proofing Profile or Viewing Profile in your software while making color adjustments. When this is done correctly, your prints will be very close in color and brightness to what your monitor is showing you.

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

You can use the Lightroom Print module to prepare your image to be printed by someone else.
It is done through the panel at the bottom labeled "Print Job" and selecting "Print to:" and in the drop down JPEG File, then all of the settings for the file can be specified there and it can even be "soft Proofed"
if desired.

Then at the bottom of the panel in the right hand corner click "Print to File" and you can save it where ever you'd like and then e-mail it.