Beginner Lightroom and picture question

Damo88

Damo88

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Damen
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hi

A while ago when i was practising i did an image and edited via lightroom.

I saved it as a jpeg etc and then i deleted the raw file. I know normally you wouldnt but i was just having a play around.

Now i would like a print of this, if i import the jpeg in lightroom and saved it at the size i want and qaulity as per printing shop, could i do this? Or would i loose image qaulity?

Thanks
 
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There's no way of answering this without knowing:
  • The details of the size and quality the JPG was originally saved at, and
  • The size you want to print
If the original JPG is of sufficient quality to print at your chosen size you'll see negligible difference for printing purposes. However, if you saved the JPG too small/too poor quality to start with and/or you want to print bigger than the JPG will support you'll run into problems.
 
Alastair said:
There's no way of answering this without knowing:
  • The details of the size and quality the JPG was originally saved at, and
  • The size you want to print
If the original JPG is of sufficient quality to print at your chosen size you'll see negligible difference for printing purposes. However, if you saved the JPG too small/too poor quality to start with and/or you want to print bigger than the JPG will support you'll run into problems.
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the jpeg I did save was at 100% quality, 250 dpi I believe, but id like to re import the image, and the company state 402 dpi with image quality of 80%, but as said could I re import and save it at a higher dpi?? and then resave as jpeg again, hope this helps
 
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Damo88 said:
the jpeg I did save was at 100% quality, 250 dpi I believe, but id like to re import the image, and the company state 402 dpi with image quality of 80%, but as said could I re import and save it at a higher dpi?? and then resave as jpeg again, hope this helps
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DPI in the jpeg file is just a number, change it to what ever you want - it won't make a difference.

The pixel resolution is the key thing. If the raw file was 6000 x 4000 pixels, and you didn't resize or crop the image, the jpeg will be 6000 x 4000 pixels.

If the print company want 402dpi (the same as pixels per inch basically - one screen, one print), you're looking at approx 15 inches by 10 inches printed at that resolution.

If however when you saved the jpeg, you did something like 'resize longest edge to 1024 pixels', then you're looking at something 2.5 inches along the longest edge at that resolution. 402dpi seems quite high - is it for close up viewing only or hanging on a wall - obviously the longer the typical viewing distance, the lower the print dpi needs to be, so the larger the print can be from the same file.
 
Saying that when i have saved them before i have never ticked the resize box anyway.

The company do tell me to tick this box and alter the long edge etc so when i put long edge. They state if i want a 7.5 photo then i put in 7inch resolution 402.

It is all confusing to me a little lol i can change the long edge to short edge, dimentions, w&h, megepixels, percentage.
 
Which print company is it and what size is the print going to be? Like others have said it all depends on resolution of the JPEG. It may be worth uploading the JPEG on here for someone to tell you exactly what can be dove.

With lightroom I import the RAW files, keep them on the hard drive, edit the image and export as JPEG at the size and quality I want for each purpose (printing, web viewing etc) only when I want the image. I never keep the JPEGs once I've used them for the purpose I exported them for. I would never delete the RAW file as I can always make a new JPEG file from it in the future. The edits you do in Lightroom are only applied when you export the image. Lightroom editing is no destructive, you aren't actually editing the RAW.
 
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Damo88 said:
Saying that when i have saved them before i have never ticked the resize box anyway.

The company do tell me to tick this box and alter the long edge etc so when i put long edge. They state if i want a 7.5 photo then i put in 7inch resolution 402.

It is all confusing to me a little lol i can change the long edge to short edge, dimentions, w&h, megepixels, percentage.
Click to expand...

From what you say, their printers print at 402 dots (pixels) per inch.
So if you want a photo that is 7.5 inches wide, you need to give them a jpeg file that is 7.5 x 402 = 3,015 pixels wide.

Most printers normally have good websites that take care of all this for you - but you can sometimes get better results doing it yourself before you send it off. If you're really stuck, upload the original image and tell us the size you need and someone will help.
 
Hi

Long edge on A4 is 11.69 inches, so at 402dpi, that 11.69 x 402 = 4699 pixels, or you can set the dimensions as follows (both will save the same image)

Screen Shot 2017-06-03 at 19.36.06.png

Correctly size files for all three based on the long edge (2 x A4, 1 x 6x4) can be downloaded from Google Drive (no sign in should be required if I've got the settings right)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6ahKehHs-kzbVB2eXM0bnZGRzQ?usp=sharing

Word of caution though, the aspect ratio isn't quite right on the A4 ones - while the pics will be A4 wide, they will be about 8 inches in the other direction as opposed to the 8.27 inches for the normal A4.

*** EDIT - I've added two extra files starting with the name A4 Crop which are cropped slightly to fix A4 exactly at 402 dpi.
 
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I did dave, it wasnt important to me and the wife now wants a print lol !

Thats brill furtim thats exactly what i did, if i do crop an image, how would i determin its size? Even if its cropped can i still put for a 7x5 or a a4 print etc providing my dpi and measurements are set by me?

402 is a wierd one as i had a canvas 20x20 done for my mum for mothers day and i set the dpi to 250 and its come out perfect.
 
jerry12953 said:
It's a very odd resolution, 402 dpi.........:thinking:

But yeah, check your recycle bin and never delete your raw files!
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I thought the same about 402 (and it's not dpi, it's lpi, but everyone gets it wrong any way)

Keeping terabytes worth of files you don't need is part of being a photographer. Welcome to a world of cheap storage.
 
Phil V said:
I thought the same about 402 (and it's not dpi, it's lpi, but everyone gets it wrong any way)

Keeping terabytes worth of files you don't need is part of being a photographer. Welcome to a world of cheap storage.
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I know Phil its what proam website state, it doesn't even give me an option for dpi as I know its ppi selection, yes I know you are right, specially any thing I do for other people etc..
 
Damo88 said:
I know Phil its what proam website state, it doesn't even give me an option for dpi as I know its ppi selection, yes I know you are right, specially any thing I do for other people etc..
Click to expand...

Loads of print websites are crap.

You can't beat DSCL for price / quality and customer service.
 
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