If like me you have struggled to prepare your images for printing this are the Lightroom settings that I currently use.
I send my JPEGs away for printing either to Loxley or to 2020 Photographic who is a local print shop in Farnborough.
UPDATE November 28th 2017
The latest version of Lightroom Classic CC now has different semantics for the Print tab.
The margins of the printer are now imported so an A4 JPEG with no margins can be generated using the workflow below.
Getting the image ready
Before I started with Lightroom I use my ColorMunki to adjust my screens. I started using a ColorMunki as my images always came back from the print shop too dark simply because my screen were way too bright.
As I edit the image I use a crop overlay that I have defined that has the ratios of an A4 sheet. After entering 210 by 297 Lightroom adjusts the ratio to 8.27 by 11.7. This is my chosen size for all prints for competitions and ultimately for applying for RPS distinctions.
Once I am ‘happy’ with the image then the real fun can begin . . .
The Print Tab in Lightroom
This tab needs to be approached methodically otherwise what is appearing on your screen will definitely cause concerns!
My printer defaults to A4 and despite selecting print to file you’ll see the details of this to the left of your image.
I start at the bottom of the tab with ‘Print Job’. This section diverts the Lightroom output to a file on disk.
Section – Print Job
Print to : JPEG file
File resolution : 300 ppi
Print sharpening : Standard
Media Type : Matte
JPEG Quality : 100
Profile : sRGB
Now back to the top of the tab and I work my way down each of the sections in turn.
Section – Layout Style & Image Settings
Single Image/Contact Sheet
Rotate to Fit
Section – Layout
I have alternative versions of this section depending on which print shop I am using. This set of options are for 2020 Photographic. This print shop doesn’t use A4 sized paper and images sized to A4 are delivered with a border because of the larger paper size used.
Please see the alternative section for images sent to Loxley.
Ruler Units : Centimeters
No margins
Cell size set to A4
Height : 29.70 cm
Width : 21 cm
Using Loxley for my printing
Rather than use Loxley’s default borders, I set a border here in Lightroom around the image still with the A4 size. This is because Loxley delivers the images on A4 sized paper.
Why do I need a border? Having a border allows me to ensure that the print is mounted securely and I don’t have to ‘crop’ the image with the mount to get the necessary overlap for fixing.
Lightroom allows a different colour other than white for the border to be selected
I adjust the margins as shown here
The cell size is adjusted as you alter the margins. I do recommend the same margins for top & bottom and for left and right.
Lightroom allows a different colour other than white for the background colour (i.e. the border) to be selected. Just check this box and then chose your alternet colour.
And finally
Click ‘Print to file’ and tell Lightroom what to call the file and where to place it on your computer.