First atempt at printing

M

mauckcg

Senior Member
14086424397_bb4e90fb71_b.jpg


I'm pulling together a few pictures from Sebring that I want to get printed. I've seen mentioned around the web that you should bump up exposure by about a 1/4 stop in Lightroom, to make up for the back lighting a computer screen has. Is there any truth to that or is the image above ready to print as it is?
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I print from Photoshop, and it's my experience that I need to bump the midpoint level to 1.2-1.3 from the reference image (I'm using a MacBook Pro Retina, calibrated with SpyderPro). I don't strictly brighten because it blows out the highlights. In LR you'd want to go to the Tone Curve section (assuming you haven't messed with it yet) set the curve to Linear and bump the lights and darks about +15 to +30 each depending on the shot. You'll get the hang after one or two test prints.

Every monitor is different, as is every printer, so it's going to take you a bit to figure it out. Are you printing them or someone else? If you're sending it out I highly recommend you use Nations. Provided that you have calibrated your monitor they can send you an ICC profile that you can use in the Soft Proof function in LR to check how it will look on their printer.
 
Browncoat

Browncoat

Senior Member
BackdoorHippie said:
If you're sending it out I highly recommend you use Nations. Provided that you have calibrated your monitor they can send you an ICC profile that you can use in the Soft Proof function in LR to check how it will look on their printer.
Click to expand...

+1 for Nation's.

I use them or Bay Photo for pro quality prints. Either one will do an awesome job.
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
Couple of things in LR...

In 'develop' mode... make sure you understand the 'soft-proofing' switch in the lower left corner, relative to exposure and contrast. You can also adjust the background settings.

In 'Print' mode, the last lower right panel has 'Color Management'...
make sure the correct printer profile is selected, if 'managed by printer' is selected
ticking the 'print adjustment' box opens the dialogue for 'brightness and contrast'...

the defaults are ---0---

do a test for your printer, one at --0-- and maybe one or two with extremes at --+100-- just to see what/how it affects the range on your printer...

Remember... if you haven't calibrated your monitor, and done some testing with your printer/monitor...what you see won't necessarily be what you get...

For outside printing I'm another satisfied Nations Printing customer...
 
M

mauckcg

Senior Member
BackdoorHippie said:
I print from Photoshop, and it's my experience that I need to bump the midpoint level to 1.2-1.3 from the reference image (I'm using a MacBook Pro Retina, calibrated with SpyderPro). I don't strictly brighten because it blows out the highlights. In LR you'd want to go to the Tone Curve section (assuming you haven't messed with it yet) set the curve to Linear and bump the lights and darks about +15 to +30 each depending on the shot. You'll get the hang after one or two test prints.

Every monitor is different, as is every printer, so it's going to take you a bit to figure it out. Are you printing them or someone else? If you're sending it out I highly recommend you use Nations. Provided that you have calibrated your monitor they can send you an ICC profile that you can use in the Soft Proof function in LR to check how it will look on their printer.
Click to expand...

I've fiddled with the soft proof a bit. Most of the editing i do is through the basic panel, detail and split toning. I've stayed away from the tone curve, things get weird when i start to poke around with that.

downloaded the Nation's app i guess you would call it. I'll order a few prints from them and see how that goes.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
I have the book The Digital Negative by Jeff Schewe which explains editing using Photoshop and Lightroom, but he also has another book titled The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing. I don't own it and wonder if the info is worth the price of $29.99 (Kindle is $22.99).

Has anyone looked through this book? I'm just wondering if it will be a good companion to his first book.

The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing: Jeff Schewe: 9780321908452: Amazon.com: Books
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
Yes, I have both books... It is worth it, because he adds insight into the the processes involved, especially in the large printing houses... and how to prepare images as disk files to submit to the print houses... He also does a good job of describing the 'printing' workflow for the smaller, color printers the photographer may be using today for in-house printing...

I might be biased though coming from an early laser printer development background... who made a living programming custom laser printer applications...
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
FredKingston said:
Yes, I have both books... It is worth it, because he adds insight into the the processes involved, especially in the large printing houses... and how to prepare images as disk files to submit to the print houses... He also does a good job of describing the 'printing' workflow for the smaller, color printers the photographer may be using today for in-house printing...

I might be biased though coming from an early laser printer development background... who made a living programming custom laser printer applications...
Click to expand...

Thanks kindly, Fred! Your info is valued and appreciated! ;) Maybe I will track the book via CamelCamelCamel although the current price doesn't appear to be too bad. Hmm...decisions, decisions. :confused:

CamelCamelCamel Price tracking for The Digital Print
 
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