Question
I'm a recent Lightroom convert, and I've come to appreciate its built-in workflow for library management and developing. I'm still stymied by printing, however, because I want to use an online lab for printing photos. The most obvious starting point is Lightroom's Print Module; however, that module seems geared exclusively for use with an attached local printer (as of LR3), which does me no good whatsoever.
The stuff I'm specifically interested in includes:
- Use of ICC profiles.
- Cropping to size. I'm somewhat familiar w/ the use of aspect in the Crop tool in the Develop module -- is there a better / easier way? I'd also like to be able to handle "add x inches" for canvas prints.
- Resizing (up and/or down). What are the best practices here?
- Final sharpening and/or any other "before you print" steps.
Searching online yielded a handful of interesting links, though none of these really cover all of my needs:
- AdoramaPix Lightroom Export - seems to just do the uploading part.
- Export to Photoshop for final processing - seems to suggest it's best to do some of these final steps in PS rather than LR. I've got PS-E, so I could probably hack my way through this workflow, but it seems a bit kludgey.
- Using ICC Profiles with AdoramaPix - helpful for the ICC part of my problem.
To be clear, I'm not looking for an Adorama-only solution -- they're just an example. I'd like to understand whether LR is really suitable for this part of my workflow, though, and if so, what should those last steps cover?
Answer
I can't address the full scope of your question, but I can tell you that most labs don't want to know anything about your profiles The point of a profile is to generate a wonky set of differentials that allow imperfect physical displays and print outputs to display an adequate representation of the "true" image values in your image file. If your system is properly profiled, then the data in the file will be the ideal data, and the profile(s) are only used to let you see a best-case approximation of the ideal on your output device. So, if your equipment is properly profiled, the lab doesn't need any additional data beyond the file -- their own equipment will be profiled to render that file properly according to their own equipment's rendering quirks. And you shouldn't need to apply their profile for them (in most cases). The only thing you might have to worry about in colour terms is whether the lab prefers sRGB or Adobe for your application (and sRGB is not only standard but preferred for photographic/chemical printer/processors). Your lab will let you know what they want.
Much the same thing goes for sizing -- they (or their equipment) will know the optimum resolution for the substrate and printing technique, so any image size that's "adequate" will do (you wouldn't want to submit a VGA-sized image for a 30" x 40" print). Don't get hung up on PPI concerns at your end; that's the lab's job. You can certainly downsize an image to save upload time/bit count or upscale an image that's way too small for the desired print size (mostly to satisfy yourself that jaggies and other artifacts won't be introduced), but within reason you can trust the lab to do at least as good a job as you can (often invisibly in the printer system's RIP). Much the same can be said for pre-print sharpening; it's often done automatically for the output device in the RIP process.
The only time you'd want to get directly involved is when dealing with the canvas wrap issue, and I'm not familiar enough with Lightroom to tell you if or how you might be able to add a wrap border. It may be necessary to output to Photoshop.
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