Lightroom > Pixelmator workflow > PDF workflow

[Atma Singh]

i want to use Pixelmator to create photo-books. my queries:
- Asuka Books who will be doing the printing require pdf docs that conform with Adobe RGB colour space and ar 271 dpi. I take it that by simply exporting from LR with with that in mind and with images at a resolution of 271 ppi, I will be fine right?
- Pixelmator only allows editing at 8bit. I do not plan to edit the images in Pixelmator in any way. However it would be handy for me to be able to resize images without the fear that they will be degraded - will resizing them in PM present any problems?
- I have Asuka's ICC profile. When exporting images from LR should I attach embed the ICC profile then or should I do so when I create the final PDF's after finishing my work in PM? I'm figuring best to do it at the end but wanted advice in case i have got it wrong.
- Any other hints and tips re: workflow?
many thanks.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

[quote author=Atma Singh link=topic=95'2.msg64''2#msg64''2 date=127'675745]
- Asuka Books who will be doing the printing require pdf docs that conform with Adobe RGB colour space and ar 271 dpi. I take it that by simply exporting from LR with with that in mind and with images at a resolution of 271 ppi, I will be fine right?
[/quote]
As you've mentioned you're going to be resizing in Pixelmator, I'd just output a full resolution file (i.e. uncheck the other sizing options) at whatever ppi you fancy. 271's fine.

- Pixelmator only allows editing at 8bit. I do not plan to edit the images in Pixelmator in any way. However it would be handy for me to be able to resize images without the fear that they will be degraded - will resizing them in PM present any problems?

Nope, that's fine, just don't resize the same files repeatedly. For example, don't shrink it down, and then decide you want it bigger again, as it will have thrown away pixels when it shrunk it, and then have to create new ones to increase again. I love Photoshop's Smart Objects for avoiding that situation.

- I have Asuka's ICC profile. When exporting images from LR should I attach embed the ICC profile then or should I do so when I create the final PDF's after finishing my work in PM? I'm figuring best to do it at the end but wanted advice in case i have got it wrong.

I'd do it at the end personally, because then if you decided to send the same design to another company one day, you'd have an Adobe RGB version to be able to convert to the other company's profile. It also means any extra data you add, such as borders on the pages, will all get converted too.

 

[Atma Singh]

thanks victoria - that's one more occasion where you've helped me out

 

[Atma Singh]

victoria,

i would much prefer to do minor resizing and some cropping of my LR exported full-size TIFF's from within Pixemator as this will obviously make it much easier to try-out layout ideas etc. trying to do this all in LR will be very time-consuming and counter-intuitive. i will certainly crop as much as possible in LR as then i would be working with pre-export RAW files which will make my exports better quality.

also, will the fact that PM operates at 8 bit affect me when it comes to me resizing my TIFF's?

 

[Victoria Bampton]

That's fine Atma, just don't make it really small then really big - try to only resize once when you're actually working in Pixelmator. 8 bit will do you fine unless you're making big colour or density adjustments in PM, which you won't, because you'll have already done them in LR.

 

[Atma Singh]

thanks!

 

[Atma Singh]

If anyone can help i would appreciate it greatly. Pls see:

http://www.pixelmator.com/support/viewtopic.php?t=3'49&postdays='&postorder=asc&start='

Although not specific to LR, my query does involve a LR based workflow. I am having problems trying to understand the following:

- how to ensure that my Asuka Book will print correctly and in relation to this, ensuring i can get a good idea what it will look like via calibration of my monitor and use of their ICC profile - notes regarding the profile can be found here towards the bottom; soft-proofing is mentioned too:

http://uk.asukabook.com/downloads_colour.html

i thought i just needed to calibrate my monitor, use their test print to make some fine adjustments, edit the images and then export them (whether from LR or Pixelmator) using their ICC profile. i am soooooo confused :-(

 

[Victoria Bampton]

The soft-proofing instructions and ICC profile won't help much as they're referring to Photoshop's soft-proofing, which doesn't appear to be available in Pixelmator. To check your calibration, open this file http://uk.asukabook.com/downloads/AB_Calibration_2''9.jpg into Pixelmator and LR and check it against the physical print. Do they look pretty close? If so, what you see on screen should be pretty close to your printed version.

Then try this:
Export your files from LR as TIFF
Design your book in Pixelmator
Output your PDF, set to the PPI you need and at highest quality JPEG.

 

[Atma Singh]

hi,
thanks for that helpful info victoria. one of the pixelmator gurus has suggested an interesting workaround for soft-proofing:
http://www.pixelmator.com/support/viewtopic.php?p=11774#11774
some colour management queries in the light of Anthony's ideas on that thread:
- should i carry out a 'standard' calibration i.e. i let the monitor and calibrator work their collective magic and then i DO NOT tweak the monitor in any way afterwards as i have been doing - which is by eyeing their calibration print in relation to their electronic calibration image and making fine adjustments.
or perhaps i should use a different 'colour management workflow' when it comes to setting-up my monitor so that when exporting or soft-proofing, i can get reliable and accurate results...? please suggest if so
(fyi, my monitor is an Eizo which as you probably knows uses the SpyderPro in conjunction with it's colour LUT via it's own firmware'hardware, not with external software)
as you can see, i am still seriously worried about ordering a very expensive Asuka book only for it to go really wrong :-(
what would be REALLY amazing is if you literally spell out how i should be managing my monitor calibration e.g. tweaking or no tweaking.
ps - i very much appreciate the time you have spent helping me out