Soft / out of focus prints, need some help please!

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AWills

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Hi everyone, I am hoping somebody might be able to tell me where I've gone wrong!

I edited my images in Lightroom as NEF files, and exported them as JPEG files, sRGB, 300 pixels per inch. I then had to crop them on Photobox as I wanted to print as 5x7.

These images looked really nice on my MacBook after exporting, but when I received the prints from Photobox today they look blurry / out of focus / soft. The colour also looks a bit different but I guess that is to be expected.

When I look at the file info after exporting, the dimensions are 4000x6016. Could the dimensions be anything to do with the poor end product?

If I was to crop to 5x7 in Lightroom before exporting, could that solve the problem?

Any advice appreciated! Thank you in advance.
 
4000px / 5" = 800ppi
6016px / 7" = 859ppi

You've got plenty resolution there, but you've also got an image that doesn't match the aspect ratio of the paper.

I've never used Photobox. But my standard workflow for online printing in your case would be to crop the image in Lightroom to 5:7 and export as 3100 pixels on the longest edge (7" x 300ppi), making sure that the maximum file size box is unticked and that JPG quality is set to 100%.

It may or may not solve the problem, but you'd need to share the image file for a better answer.
 
Why don't you use the print module in Lightroom? If you set the paper size and margins you can adjust your image on the paper to choice and then print.
I do find it best to use the appropriate paper profiles which are usually downloadable from the manufacturers site.
If you have an hour or so to spare it is well worth viewing THIS YouTube tutorial which goes into the Lightroom printing workflow in detail.
 
Thank you for your replies!

@Alastair - Could it be that the resolution is too high? (I'm new to this, please forgive me if my questions seem a little silly!)

Photobox emailed me back not long ago, the customer service representative said they had recently changed their service to auto adjust each print as default. That explains the colour but could that also somehow explain the out of focus look? They are doing reprints without auto adjustments free of charge, so I guess I'll find out when they arrive on Friday.

How do I change pixels on the longest edge? I already have the maximum file box unticked and quality set to 100%.

Final question (I think!) If I want to print 5x5 images, or 8x8 images, do I select the 1:1 aspect ratio in Lightroom?

Also, how do I share an image? I'd like to get some opinions on this forum about a portrait I've been working on this evening.

@Clactonian - I don't print from Lightroom as I unfortunately don't have access to a printer. I'm currently exploring printing methods, I just want high quality prints that don't mess with my editing! I'm about to explore this forum to see what everybody else uses. Thanks for the link, I've bookmarked it to watch very shortly.
 
AWills said:
How do I change pixels on the longest edge? I already have the maximum file box unticked and quality set to 100%.

Final question (I think!) If I want to print 5x5 images, or 8x8 images, do I select the 1:1 aspect ratio in Lightroom?
Click to expand...
Look further down the Export settings.

Yes. A 5"x5" image is 1:1 aspect ratio.
 
AWills said:
I don't print from Lightroom as I unfortunately don't have access to a printer.
Click to expand...
The Lightroom Print module can print to a file.
 
Alastair said:
.... my standard workflow for online printing in your case would be to crop the image in Lightroom to 5:7 and export as 3100 pixels on the longest edge (7" x 300ppi)...
Click to expand...
That'll be 2100 pixels presumably, not 3100?
 
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