Printing Photos?

[0ptics]

Hello all, I want to print some of my photos out but have never done so before and know nothing about printing. I'm currently using a D7100 and edit RAW photos via Lightroom 5 and convert them to jpegs. I wish to print out the jpegs but have several questions.

1) I usually choose sRGB when I convert my RAWs to JPEGs, is that the correct setting?

2) I remember taking a photo class a few years ago and my prof told us to save our photos through Photoshop and change the resolution to 300, I don't remember why though. What resolution should I set it to,100?

3) My prof also told us something about when printing your shots to change your photos to CYMK rather than RGB, again don't remember the specifics, but is this correct? I hope my prints come out the same colors as how my Laptop displays them (currently have the Macbook Pro Retinal Display and Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro)

4) With the D7100 it allows me to get 24.3mp pictures (6000x4000); I plan to print maybe 8.5"x11" but also plan to print BIG prints. What would be a good maximum print size be with the D7100.

5) Any other tips or advice that I need to know when printing my shots? Is there a specific company that I should go to or camera store (live in WA state)?

Thanks!!

 

[WayneF]

Hello all, I want to print some of my photos out but have never done so before and know nothing about printing. I'm currently using a D7100 and edit RAW photos via Lightroom 5 and convert them to jpegs. I wish to print out the jpegs but have several questions.

1) I usually choose sRGB when I convert my RAWs to JPEGs, is that the correct setting?

Yes, everything is sRGB. Your own printer, your monitor and the internet, your online printing services, everything is sRGB.

Adobe RGB is another option if you are prepared for it, but if you are, you will absolutely know, and would not be asking the question. Otherwise, the answer is always sRGB.

2) I remember taking a photo class a few years ago and my prof told us to save our photos through Photoshop and change the resolution to 300, I don't remember why though. What resolution should I set it to,100?

Maybe the memory has faded, but that omits all the details.

The dpi value you tell Raw to output the image is just the simple number it puts in the file. It does not affect your image pixels in anyway, and as such, it is absolutely don't care. When you go to print it, you will take care of it then.

When you tell an online printing service to print it 8x10 inches, they will, and it is important to give them enough pixels (2400x3000 pixels), but the dpi number in the file is ignored. They will scale it themselves. If you give them 2000 pixels, and tell them to print it to cover 10 inches, it will print at 2000 / 10 = 200 dpi (regardless of any number in the file).

However, when you tell your computer programs PRINT menu to print it, then it will look at the dpi number. No one else ever looks at it.
But if it says 300 dpi (and it should), then the print menu and driver will space your pixels over the paper at 300 pixels per inch. The paper size it covers depends on how many pixels you gave it.

The basic concept: (8 inches x 300 dpi) x (10 inches x 300 dpi) = 2400 x 3000 pixels (the printing requirement)

If you say Print, with this 2400x3000 pixel image, at 300 dpi, the driver will space those pixels at 300 dpi to cover 8x10 inches of paper.

See Pixels, Printers, Video - What's With That? (generally) and Image Resize - Cropping, Resampling, Scaling (more specifically)

3) My prof also told us something about when printing your shots to change your photos to CYMK rather than RGB, again don't remember the specifics, but is this correct? I hope my prints come out the same colors as how my Laptop displays them (currently have the Macbook Pro Retinal Display and Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro)

Absolutely not true or desirable, or even usable. The world is sRGB.

Yes, commerical prepress does use CMYK. Are you doing commerical prepress? And you can buy CMYK drivers for some advanced printers... do you have that?

Assuming No, then you absolutely do want sRGB. The world is sRGB

4) With the D7100 it allows me to get 24.3mp pictures (6000x4000); I plan to print maybe 8.5"x11" but also plan to print BIG prints. What would be a good maximum print size be with the D7100.

For 8.5x11, the optimum is (8.5 inches x 300 dpi) x (11 inches x 300 dpi) = 2550 x 3300 pixels.

With 6000x4000 pixels, at 300 dpi, would print 6000/300 = 20 inches x 4000/300 = 13.3 inches. (20 x 13.3 inches). Same formula, same concept.

You could print at lower resolution, like 200 dpi would print half again larger than 300 dpi (paper area covered less densely). And since we look at large prints from a greater distance (and don't hold them under our nose), the little lower resolution would not be noticeable (in a large print, not under our nose).

5) Any other tips or advice that I need to know when printing my shots? Is there a specific company that I should go to or camera store (live in WA state)?

Mass market printers, like Walmart photo or Kmart photo or the drugstore one hour photo, are inexpensive, sometimes good enough, but not always the best quality. There are online printer services that specialize in doing better work.

Two I have used with great satisfaction are mpix.com and adromapix.com

 

[Ido]

First piece of advice: Calibrate your monitor. I use the cheapest calibration model available at B&H, the Spyder4EXPRESS by Datacolor, and it works very well.

Look for a good printing lab/service, either local or online. If it's local, you can probably print a small image just to make sure that the print comes out fine (color and brightness), before printing the bigger ones. Should save you some trouble afterwards.

Lightroom's Export dialog offers a very powerful automated resizing function. You can tell Lightroom the dimensions of the planned print (in inches), as well as the print resolution (pixels per inch), and it will figure out the required pixel dimensions and resize it for you; it can obviously make the image smaller, but it can also make it bigger. Here's an example of that, by Jared Polin - turning a 4928 x 3280 pix. image into a gigantic 18000 x 11981 pix. image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredpolin/14916428335/in/set-72157646405235086. You can even download the full resolution file and print it for yourself - Jared Polin approves it, as long as you don't use it commercially (i.e. sell it).

Whenever I resize a photo, I also apply output sharpening, which is also extremely simple in Lightroom. In the same Export dialog, scroll down to Output Sharpening, choose the media (screen, matte / glossy paper) and make sure it's on Standard (you can experiment with the other options, but it's best to start with Standard).

 

[KmH]

There is no dpi number in a digital photo file.

Print resolution is defined by how many pixels per inch (ppi) is assigned to the photo file.
Lightroom/Camera Raw output assign a ppi value.
Ppi and dpi are not interchangeable terms, though many do interchange the terms.

Online print makers have minimum print resolution limits as a means of protecting their reputation..
If the file you upload has insufficient image resolution for the size print you order they will refuse to make the print.
If their print resolution limit is 100 ppi they will not print an 8x10 from a file that has image resolution of less than 800 x 1000 pixels.

300 ppi is a rule of thumb print resolution.
The bigger a print is the further from the print viewers will stand. The further from the print a viwer is the less ppi the print needs.
That's why they can print billboards from DSLR image files at 10 ppi.

pixels / inches = ppi
pixels/ ppi = inches
inches x ppi = pixels.

 

[WayneF]

There is no dpi number in a digital photo file.
..
Ppi and dpi are not interchangeable terms, though many do interchange the terms.

Obviously not everyone knows, but of course they are interchangeable terms. I do it all the time. And I will continue doing so, because dpi has always been the name for image resolution (pixels per inch). Anyone not understanding that is going to have troubles understanding all they read.

dpi is extremely familiar to anyone using digital images (scanning) before digital cameras became popular, simply because that was always the only name of it.

Your statement could have more correctly said "the term ppi is NOT in the specifications for our popular image files".

The formal technical specifications at the very heart of our digital imaging definitions use dpi to mean pixels per inch of image resolution:

• JPEG file specifications See page 2 and 5, dpi, "dots per inch", meaning pixels.
• TIFF file specifications See page 38, "dots per inch", meaning pixels.
• EXIF 2.2 specifications See pages 19, 90, 101, 104, 108, 112, "dpi", meaning pixels (the number 72 dpi there has no significance, it just means "blank, no information").

Repeating the obvious that is proven above, our most dear technical specifications obviously do use dpi for pixels per inch (because that has always been its name). So take your silly little problem to them.

But some newbies did have trouble differentiating between printer ink drops per inch, and image resolution pixels per inch, because both were called dots per inch, and they could not get the difference. Most words do have multiple meanings, defined by context. But some whippersnapper got the notion to invent the ppi term, and wanted to outlaw dpi for image resolution, I guess because they could not understand anything else. But not everyone agreed with the necessity, and use of dpi is sill of course extremely strong, rightfully so (that is the name of it). There is no issue understanding it, since the meaning of dpi is defined by context. If about printers, it means ink drops. If about images, it means pixels. Images have no ink drops in them. What's hard about that?

Scanner ratings also always call it dpi, also referring to pixels per inch of course. There are no ink drops used in scanners - scanners create pixels, and a scanner is rated maybe 4800 dpi. meaning pixels per inch capabilty.

Continuous tone printers (dye-subs, and Fuji Frontier types) don't print discrete ink dots of three colors like inkjet printers must - instead they mix the color of the pixel directly, and they print actual pixels (called continuous tone). There are no dithered ink dots then, just pixels. But these printer ratings still refer to the spacing of those image pixels with the term dpi, simply because dpi has always been the name for "pixels per inch".

Consumer inkjets have somewhat given up the dpi term now, and now printing quality menus are usually marked Best, Better, or Good, instead of dpi numbers. They should have done that in the first place.



The importance to a newbie is they can use either term they prefer (dpi, ppi, interchangeable). But everyone else also uses whichever they prefer, so when reading, it is absolutely necessary to be able to understand it either way. Just how it is. Like it or not.

 

[ruben_c]

First piece of advice: Calibrate your monitor. I use the cheapest calibration model available at B&H, the Spyder4EXPRESS by Datacolor, and it works very well.

Indeed the Spyders work very well for calibrating monitors, but if you're on printing, I would at least buy the Spyder4PRO version. That's the one I use. Let me explain why:
Spyder4EXPRESS hasn't got an ambient light sensor. Therefore the calibration won't be corrected regarding your ambient light.

To see the contrast and brightness as it will be in the output (print), it's necessary to adjust your monitor in terms of your ambient light.