Highkey printing issues!

[Larry14K]

Whenever I try to print highkey pictures (white background) it comes out extremely pixilated. I have no Idea how to fix this... Any suggestions???

-amateur photographer

 

[sscarmack]

How are you printing? Via a program or from a folder?

Are printing at the highest dpi? Highest quality, etc.

High key should have nothing to do with printing pixelated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Larry14K]

I take my pictures from lightroom (where they look clear) and move them to a folder and send them to cvs or Walmart for printing. And yes I'm using the highest resolution :/

How are you printing? Via a program or from a folder?

Are printing at the highest dpi? Highest quality, etc.

High key should have nothing to do with printing pixelated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sscarmack]

I'm assuming you export from Lightroom, correct?

Once you export, do the photos look fine to you?

What are your export settings?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Larry14K]

I'm assuming you export from Lightroom, correct?

Once you export, do the photos look fine to you?

What are your export settings?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Correct

My settings are
Quality=100
Resolution = 300 ppi
And of course I export it as a jpeg

 

[sscarmack]

Okay, so your not a complete amateur, you know what your doing.

I'm guessing the files are decent size, 10-15mb?

I wonder if there is a update issue?

Is there a preview before you submit the print?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Larry14K]

Yeah I might need to update it.
There isn't a area that says the MB
no there is no preview

 

[Larry14K]

I just checked the properties of the pic. They are around 7 MB

 

[KmH]

Are you doing the printing or is a print lab doing the printing?

What size are you making the prints, and what image resolution are the photos you are trying to print?

300 ppi is a general rule of thumb. Not all photos can successfully be printed at 300 ppi as the print resolution. Image resolution and photo content also have to be taken into account.

 

[Larry14K]

I believe it's 4x6
But I'm hoping to get them up to a 8x10.
Walmart and cvs are printing. Maybe I need to go with a better printing company

 

[Scatterbrained]

.............
Walmart and cvs are printing. Maybe I need to go with a better printing company

Well. . . . . . ., yeah.

Make sure that when you're exporting you don't have an export size/dimension selected. If you have a resize option selected that is downsizing the image then it may not be leaving enough resolution. For example, you can set the quality to 100, with a ppi of 300 but and it won't make a difference to the image size in resolution. That comes from the chosen dimensions. If you were to have something like "longest edge" selected and a value of 1024, then you'd still have an image with only 1024 pixels on the long edge. Beyond that, I'd stay away from drug stores and big box places for printing. Just sayin'.

 

[Larry14K]

Do you think Office Depot will be better?

 

[Light Guru]

I take my pictures from lightroom (where they look clear) and move them to a folder and send them to cvs or Walmart for printing.

Do you think Office Depot will be better?

Order prints from a reputable place that specializes in printing photos.

 

[Mike_E]

Resize the file to the intended print size.

Make sure you are not over sharpening.

 

[KmH]

Resizing the file will not affect the print size, but it may affect the print quality.

File size and image size (pixel dimensions) are 2 very different things. Print size is determined by the image size and the assigned print resolution (ppi).

The key here is the image resolution (pixel dimensions of the photos) being printed.

At 300 ppi to make a 4x6 print the photo has to have pixel dimensions of 4 inches x 300 ppi = 1200 px and 6 inches x 300 ppi = 1800 px.
If the photo has more image resolution than 1800 x 1200 pixels then it can be printed at more than 300 ppi.

Pixels / inches = ppi
Pixels / ppi = inches
Inches x ppi = pixels

There is more information in the other thread you started about why you are not getting quality prints.