For printing you probably want to export a copy of your file using the jpeg format at its maximum quality. Most photolabs are setup to print files in the sRGB colorspace but if your lab provides custom profiles for their paper surfaces then I would pick the appropriate profile.

For top-quality results, export files at the size that they will be printed and with low to normal export sharpening. I also suggest that you set your own crop using the crop tool in the develop module before you export. By taking control over the cropping, sizing, and sharpening you leave little for the lab to do which is generally a good thing.

Assuming that you have spit out the perfect file the final step is to instruct your lab to print exactly what you give them. In particular, you want to make it clear that they are not to color correct your files.

Just to ease your fears, the top-quality print-ready jpeg file that comes out of Lightroom should have a much smaller file size than the original capture.

hope this helps,

David

Anna

-Scott

-Scott

http://morethanwords.be/blog/

Alan.

If you are printing directly from Lightroom (using the Print Module), you can specify the print size in the options on the right in combination with the paper size you set in the Page Setup dialog box.

If you are printing outside of Lightroom, you specify the physical dimensions of the image in the Export dialog.

To make things easier, I prefer printing directly out of Lightroom. I’m not typically needing to upsize an image (printing it larger than it would normally be able to be printed due to pixel dimensions). Many photographers have a favorite upsize routine that they use in Photoshop (upsizing in increments versus all at once, using plugins such as Genuine Fractals, etc), but I’m happy to do most of my work in Lightroom.

The advantage to upsizing an image in Photoshop is that you can control what’s known as the “interpolation” method. Interpolation refers to the way that the software “makes up” the new pixel information that must be inserted into the file to make it larger than it originally was. Upsizing and interpolating an image always results in lower image quality, although you can get away with a surprising increase in image dimensions without sacrificing too much.

I know that probably sounds like a lot, but the bottom line is that I just do my sizing when exporting or printing from Lightroom unless I REALLY need to make a print that’s much larger than the original. In that case, I result to Photoshop.

Let me know if you need more information on this.

-Scott

I have two questions regarding LightRoom.

How do you resample or resize images for printing from lightroom? and wich one will be better in terms of print quality.

Thans,

John.