13 Replies Latest reply: Mar 11, 2011 10:46 AM by ImagingBuffet RSS

    Lightroom Printing Instructions

    DVDmike Community Member

      Does anyone know of a good link to a video or other tutorial that explains how to use the print module?  I find this module completely unintuitive  coming from printing within photoshop.  It would appear that it totally disregards the PPI image size values that I have set up in my files.  If I create an 8x10 image in photoshop and bring it into LR to print, I want to print it at 8x10 and use the printer driver to select my paper size, in this case 8.5x11.  But I cannot figure out how to do something as simple as this.   Obviously, I need to spend some time learning how to use the LR Print Module.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

        • 1. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
          Pete Marshall Community Member

          When printing from LR all the print controls are on the sidebar in the module. These include setting the paper size and required ppi. Whatever you may have already set in another application is not relevant to LR. The link to help contains instructions on how to use the print module from within LR itself.

          • 2. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
            DVDmike Community Member

            I almost cannot believe that LR has no way to read the PPI resolution values from the file.  When you export from Lightroom, it even allows you to set the PPI.  I guess this is just for other programs' benefit.

             

            Since there is apparently no video tutorials available for the print module.  I will just skip trying to learn printing from lightroom and continue to use Photoshop.  I have tried to learn via the Adobe help with several other Adobe products and always found it to be a fruitless endeavor.  Perhaps, Adobe has taken a different approach to help in Lightroom and I should give it a shot.

            • 3. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
              kncowans Community Member

              Just found this in the LR 3.2 Online Documentation.

               

              • To control the print resolution, select Print Resolution and specify a different value, if necessary.
              • To use the native resolution of the photo (as long as it isn’t lower than 72 ppi or higher than 480 ppi), deselect Print Resolution.

               

              Hope this helps.

               

              Kevin

               

               

              • 4. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                Pete Marshall Community Member

                I suggested trying help...this will lead directly to a help page on printing, which is all very clear. On print resolution it says

                 

                In the Print module, the Print Resolution setting specifies the pixels per inch (ppi) of the photo for the printer. Lightroom resamples the image data if needed, depending on the print resolution and the print dimensions. The default value of 240 ppi is satisfactory for many print jobs, including high-end inkjet prints. Refer to your printer’s documentation to determine its optimal resolution.   In the Print Job panel of the Print module, do either of the following: To control the print resolution, select Print Resolution and specify a different value, if necessary. To use the native resolution of the photo (as long as it isn’t lower than 72 ppi or higher than 480 ppi), deselect Print Resolution.

                 

                Perhaps before dismissing suggestions you should try them. There are also some videos on printing linked from the LR on line help pages if you care to look. All pretty straightforward.

                • 5. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                  Samoreen Community Member

                  Hi,

                   

                  According to the printing size that you have defined, LR automatically calculates the correct printer resolution that is needed. So in most cases, you should uncheck the Print Resolution option, that is, you don't have to resize an image for printing. Just specify the printing size that you want in the print job properties (layout) and let LR do its job. The Printer Resolution property should be used only when the needed printing resolution falls outside the 180-480 ppi range (I'm here quoting Martin Evening's book), which is rarely the case.

                   

                  This is the way I'm using LR3 for printing and I don't have any problem with the printer resolution.

                  • 6. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                    DVDmike-XPRicI

                    I watched that one video suggested and it was helpful.  But I still have some questions.

                     

                    First off, deselecting the PPI does work.  In fact, it shows you the PPI of the photo in the layout for each cell.  So this is actually nice.

                     

                    In the single image / Contact sheet method, there is a "Layout" tab where you can set up margins.  While in the other two methods, Picture Package and Custom Package, there is apparently no way to select your layout?  Is it there and I just cannot find the margin setup inside of the Picture package?

                     

                    I used the picture package and added 8 2.5x3.5" cells to the package.  It put them right up next to one another.  When I printed the package, I could see a very fine line in between the top and bottoms of adjacent photos.  But no such lines existed where the photos line up on their sides.  Whenever I have made my own package in Photoshop by using layers and positioning them side by side and on top of each other, I never saw any fine lines in-between the adjacent photo edges in the print or when I zoomed in at 100% on screen.  Why is LR adding this gap in the top and bottom of the photos within the package?  The lines are so small that they work as convenient cut lines for manual trimming.  The blade on my cutter is wider than the width of the line, so it is actually a nice "feature".  But I would like to know how to control it and add it to the side of the photos too.

                     

                    Alternatively, I would be a nice option for LR to add colored cut lines at the top, bottom, and left and right potions for each cut to aid in trimming.  I do this sometimes in Photoshop when I create my own layouts.  I often will print 21 5x7" photos on a 24x36" portion of roll paper.  And having nice cut lines that extend beyond the photo area edge is a real time-saver when cutting up large volumes of print sheets.  Does LR have a way to do this?

                     

                    Is themain/only  difference between the "picture package" method and the "Custom Package" method only that in custom you can use multiple files and Picture Package you use just one photo that repeats?

                    • 7. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                      Jao vdL Community Member

                      In the single image / Contact sheet method, there is a "Layout" tab where you can set up margins.  While in the other two methods, Picture Package and Custom Package, there is apparently no way to select your layout?  Is it there and I just cannot find the margin setup inside of the Picture package?

                      The idea is that you freely position your images, so there are no margins. In image/contact sheet, you need margins to define the area over which you tile the images.

                       

                      Alternatively, I would be a nice option for LR to add colored cut lines at the top, bottom, and left and right potions for each cut to aid in trimming.  I do this sometimes in Photoshop when I create my own layouts.  I often will print 21 5x7" photos on a 24x36" portion of roll paper.  And having nice cut lines that extend beyond the photo area edge is a real time-saver when cutting up large volumes of print sheets.  Does LR have a way to do this?

                      There is a checkbox below watermarking that says "cut guides" this does what you want. It can do crop marks or cut guides that extend over the entire paper (but not through other images).

                       

                      Is themain/only  difference between the "picture package" method and the "Custom Package" method only that in custom you can use multiple files and Picture Package you use just one photo that repeats?

                      There is no "zoom to fill" in Custom package, so you cannot easily make different crops (say a 8x10 of a 2x3 ratio image) of an image in the print module.

                      • 8. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                        DVDmike Community Member

                        Jao, thank you for your help.

                         

                        I am not sure that I understand the rational behind not having margins.  But perhaps over time and use of the print module I will have a greater appreciation for this feature.

                         

                        Thanks for the tip about the cut lines.  For some reason they do not print out on all corners of a single 8x10 image.  It would also appear that they traverse the entire outside of the image on three sides.  I was not expecting it to print as if it was an outside stroke.  But as long as I make my cut properly, this should not be an issue.

                         

                        My follow-up question about PPI is this:

                         

                        I am using the custom package option and I created a template with 20 4x6" images on it to print on 24" roll paper.  I dropped all of my images, all cropped to 4x6 ration but not all the same PPI, into the template.  I can see that the images all have different PPI values.  When lightroom sends all of the images to my printer as one file, what PPI resolution does it use?  Does it use the lowest PPI of the images and downscale the rest?  Does up scale everything to the highest resolution PPI image?  Or, does it downscale everything to 240ppi or some other number?  And what method does it use to scale up or down?

                         

                        Another question that I have is about when sharpening is applied:

                         

                        When does LR apply sharpening to the image/images?  Does it apply it to each image separately?  And if so does it apply it before or after it scales it to a consistent PPI?

                         

                        When I did all of this "myself" in Photoshop, I created an action to resize each image individually to a common PPI and then sharpen each image.  I would then drop each image onto my large canvas.  When I first started printing multiple photos on roll paper, I sharpened after putting the images onto the canvas and this caused sharpening artifacts where two photos met.  And the way that most print sharpening algorithms work is that they need to be in the print resolution and you need to know the output size before you sharpen.  And this is why I set up the actions to work the way that I did.  Does LR also work this way?

                        • 9. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                          Jao vdL Community Member

                          I am not sure that I understand the rational behind not having margins.  But perhaps over time and use of the print module I will have a greater appreciation for this feature.

                          I looked at it a little bit and you can set margins for the custom package layout in the page setup dialog. The custom package reads it from the chosen page size description that the printer sends to the application. You then get grey areas around the page that you cannot drag your image into. I would agree that it would be good to be able to easily change these margins to be bigger like you can in contact sheet.

                           

                          Thanks for the tip about the cut lines.  For some reason they do not print out on all corners of a single 8x10 image.  It would also appear that they traverse the entire outside of the image on three sides.  I was not expecting it to print as if it was an outside stroke.  But as long as I make my cut properly, this should not be an issue.

                          The cut lines were probably inside the non-printable area of your printer (the margin ;-) ) . Make sure you set your paper size properly in the "Page Setup..." dialog Indeed it prints outside strokes when you choose "lines". I generally use the "Crop Marks" option for this reason.

                          • 10. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                            Jao vdL Community Member

                            Didn't see these questions in my email, so I didn't answer them at first.

                            I am using the custom package option and I created a template with 20 4x6" images on it to print on 24" roll paper.  I dropped all of my images, all cropped to 4x6 ration but not all the same PPI, into the template.  I can see that the images all have different PPI values.  When lightroom sends all of the images to my printer as one file, what PPI resolution does it use?  Does it use the lowest PPI of the images and downscale the rest?  Does up scale everything to the highest resolution PPI image?  Or, does it downscale everything to 240ppi or some other number?  And what method does it use to scale up or down?

                            If you uncheck the print resolution option, Lightroom sends the images each in their native resolution at the size you print them. So for example, a 4288x2848 (typical 12 MP camera) pixel image at 4x6" will be printed at 720 ppi. Another image in the same layout might be lower resolution and it will get sent to the printer at that lower res. Each image is sent separately. Lightroom does not render a full page image at a certain resolution but just tells the printer: "at coordinate x=.. and y=... and size ...x... print the following image". The printer then renders the page in its internal memory before committing it to paper. I do believe there is an upper limit to the ppi of images that Lightroom will send to the driver and it is 720 ppi I believe but don't quote me on that. The reason for that is simply that there is absolutely no point in sending more info as it will only slow down the printing and not result in any added detail.

                             

                            When does LR apply sharpening to the image/images?  Does it apply it to each image separately?  And if so does it apply it before or after it scales it to a consistent PPI?

                            It is applied to each image separately and AFAIK it is applied after scaling (if you set a print resolution of course, otherwise it is done at the native size of the image!)

                             

                            When I did all of this "myself" in Photoshop, I created an action to resize each image individually to a common PPI and then sharpen each image.  I would then drop each image onto my large canvas.  When I first started printing multiple photos on roll paper, I sharpened after putting the images onto the canvas and this caused sharpening artifacts where two photos met.  And the way that most print sharpening algorithms work is that they need to be in the print resolution and you need to know the output size before you sharpen.  And this is why I set up the actions to work the way that I did.  Does LR also work this way?

                            As I explained above, Lightroom renders pages fundamentally different then you did in the canvas method. Each image is treated separately (scaling to desired resolution and print sharpening) and the printer then renders the canvas from the image placement data that it is sent. This makes it that you never get the sharpening artefacts you describe at the edges of images.

                            • 11. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                              DVDmike Community Member

                              Jao, thanks gain for explaining everything!  You have been a great help.

                               

                              I would never had thought that LR could send coordinate resolutions!  I would not have expected my print driver to recognize this information.  But I guess that I learn something new everyday.

                               

                              I believe that the top end of my Epson 7800 printer is effectively 360PPI.  So as long as all of my images in my package are greater than this, I think that I can/should click on the print resolution check box and set the resolution to 360.  If I understand what I have read here, LR will resize each image and apply the appropriate level of sharpening for 360PPI before printing.  If this is correct, this print module will indeed save me a lot of time in the long run.

                              • 12. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                                Jao vdL Community Member

                                My pleasure. Modern printers can all do this. Some will do this calculation in the printer driver or RIP instead of internally in the printer, but the fact remains that Lightroom sends it the way I describe above to the printer driver, which either passes the data as is or interprets it and then sends it. This will save time and resources enormously in the long run.

                                I believe that the top end of my Epson 7800 printer is effectively 360PPI.  So as long as all of my images in my package are greater than this, I think that I can/should click on the print resolution check box and set the resolution to 360.  If I understand what I have read here, LR will resize each image and apply the appropriate level of sharpening for 360PPI before printing.  If this is correct, this print module will indeed save me a lot of time in the long run.

                                Note that inkjets in general do not have a native resolution as is. In general (and I am sure this one too) they lay down ink dots at very high resolutions like 1440 dots/inch (typical for Epson) or so. These dots are laid down in a random diffusion pattern and not really in a regular grid so comparing them to the image's ppi does not make much sense. It used to be in the olden days that the rule of thumb was to divide the dot resolution of your printer by 2.5 to get the maximum amount of detail you could print. For your Epson that would be about 580 ppi therefore. I expect therefore that you can probably print detail at more than the 360 ppi and you might benefit from going as high as 720 although the gain quickly decreases above 240ppi or so and will probably not be visible to the majority of people. It makes sense to try this out and see whether it has an effect to you. I can see it until around 480 ppi or so on my HP but not beyond that.

                                • 13. Re: Lightroom Printing Instructions
                                  ImagingBuffet Community Member

                                  I recently wrote a short article about how to find the native resolution at a specific print size. I didn't mention that you need to go to Page Setup first to set the page size, just in case that's not clear:

                                   

                                  http://www.prophotoresource.com/home/item/640-lightroom-quick-tip-finding-the-resolution-o f-an-image-in-the-print-module.html

                                   

                                  Hope that helps,

                                   

                                  Andrew

                                   

                                  Andrew Darlow
                                  Editor, The Imaging Buffet
                                  http://www.imagingbuffet.com
                                  Author, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques:
                                  An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers - http://www.inkjettips.com
                                  and
                                  Pet Photography 101:
                                  Tips for Taking Better Photos of Your Dog or Cat - http://www.PhotoPetTips.com
                                  http://facebook.com/andrewdarlow