Making sense of printing

[Andy_Prothero]

I am a newbie, so please excuse how ridiculous this question might sound!

I've finally bitten the bullet and am going to get some of my photos printed. I've been recommended to use Loxley, but I'm at a complete loss in terms of settings and dimensions. Loxley give pretty good instructions in terms of colour calibration etc, so I think I'm sorted there. But, I'm completely clueless in terms of sizing. Can someone please point me in the right direction of a simple and beginner friendly guide for sizing, which will allow me to understand the basics and ensure I don't lose any of the image from cropping difficulties etc. I don't understand what aspect:ratio is for instance, but know it's important somehow!

Hope this question makes sense.

I am using Lightroom CC.

Thanks,

Andy

[dj_paige]

I don't have a good link for this, but I'll just throw out a few points.

and ensure I don't lose any of the image from cropping difficulties

Cropping, by it's very definition, causes some of the image to be thrown away. There is no such thing as cropping where you don't throw away part of the image. (Of course, in Lightroom, you can always revert back to the uncropped image with no loss of quality or pixels)

I don't understand what aspect:ratio is for instance

It is the ratio of the width of the photo to the height of the photo. So, if your photo is (to take simple numbers) 6000 pixels wide by 4000 pixels wide, this is an aspect ratio of 6000:4000, or 3:2 if you do the math to simplify. If you are printing a photo at a paper size with aspect ratio x:y, then you must crop the image to an aspect ratio of x:y. So, for example, a print of 5 inches x 7 inches must be cropped to an aspect ratio of 5:7.

[Andy_Prothero]

Thanks!

[cmgap]

Not clear on your question. Are you asking how to use the cropping tool? Are you asking how to decide what size prints to order? Are you asking how to output your files for the lab?

When you select an image to print and then crop it to a specific proportion Lr will output the file via the Export feature. This link will walk you through the settings in the export process: How to export photos from Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC

Your lab will provide the file type (most likely jpg), the color space (some labs can print pro-photo most will want Adobe RGB) and resolution (300 pixels per inch) which will be the most important settings for printing photos.

Hope this is helpful.

[Andy_Prothero]

Thanks!

I obviously didn’t do a good job at explaining what I meant.

I’ve managed to work out all of the issues in relation to file type, colour space and resolution, but was really confused around printing and print sizes. My issue was that if I had cropped a photo in LR and then went to print that cropped photo out - how would I know whether certain elements of the newly cropped photo would be lost in the printing process depending on what size print I was looking for - hence my question about print options etc. I guess, that this is still related to aspect:ratio in some way and if I start to play around I might get a better insight. The Loxley site does show you quite well what you are left with - so maybe over time this will just become second nature and I can say - ah yes, that’s a 12*10 (here’s hoping anyway).

Thanks again for helping, I really appreciate it - just when you think you’ve learned one thing in photography you have to get your head around something else!

Andy

[dj_paige]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Andy+Prothero  wrote

My issue was that if I had cropped a photo in LR and then went to print that cropped photo out - how would I know whether certain elements of the newly cropped photo would be lost in the printing process depending on what size print I was looking for - hence my question about print options etc. I guess, that this is still related to aspect:ratio in some way and if I start to play around I might get a better insight

Don't "play around" with aspect ratio. Re-read what I said. "If you are printing a photo at a paper size with aspect ratio x:y, then you must crop the image to an aspect ratio of x:y. So, for example, a print of 5 inches x 7 inches must be cropped to an aspect ratio of 5:7." There is no "playing around" necessary. Print size aspect ratio must exactly match the photo's cropped aspect ratio. You do the crop, so you control what aspects of the image will not be printed.

[cmgap]

One of things that you can get into the habit of doing is viewing the output that you've exported in Photoshop to check your settings, sizing and cropping etc. The last drop down menu in the dialog box gives you a choice of what to do when the export is complete. Select open in Photoshop and confirm that you are satisfied that what you are seeing is what you want the lab to print. The more you do this operation the more comfortable you will be with the results.

[Andy_Prothero]

Thanks - that’s really helpful!

[dj_paige]

cmgap  wrote

One of things that you can get into the habit of doing is viewing the output that you've exported in Photoshop to check your settings, sizing and cropping etc.

Why can't this be done in Lightroom?