Printing ratios for digitals sent to local retail lab

[NJHeart2Heart]

I just recently (and a long time ago) had a problem with my digital photos being printed at 35 mm ratios and being cut off at the edges. First, can someone tell me, in lightroom numbers terms, what ratio my digital files have to be cropped to in order to print properly for 4x6, 5x7 and 8x1' papers at a retail lab?

And secondly, is there a way to automate this so I don't have to do it manually with each photo --like an auto resize type export plug-in?

So, in essence, I want to be able to develop 2' images, (including my own manual crop changes for the sake of the compositions) then export those files as jpgs with automatic resizing for printing of a particular sized paper at the lab.

Thanks in advance!
Dawn in NJ

 

[clee01l]

[quote author=NJHeart2Heart link=topic=7318.msg49853#msg49853 date=1248385721]
I just recently (and a long time ago) had a problem with my digital photos being printed at 35 mm ratios and being cut off at the edges. First, can someone tell me, in lightroom numbers terms, what ratio my digital files have to be cropped to in order to print properly for 4x6, 5x7 and 8x1' papers at a retail lab?

And secondly, is there a way to automate this so I don't have to do it manually with each photo --like an auto resize type export plug-in? [/quote]Check out the Crop tool. The built-in ratios include 4X6, 5X7 and 8X1' Any of these crops that you pick from the list can be resized in printing to fit those dimensions in inches. LR uses as much of the available frame to fit the chosen crop ratio Your D8' sensor (3,872 x 2,592) without cropping is 3:2 or 4"X6" at 645ppi. BTW, the 35mm ratio is 3:2 (2:3) which translates to a 4X6 print.
In develop mode, if you copy the settings and apply them to a group of photos, the crop dimensions (and position) will also be transfered. This may or may not be the crop position that you want.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Or you can select the crop ratio in the Quick Develop panel with multiple images selected in Grid view, and then tweak as needed.

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Some users find it helpful/useful to make Virtual Copies for each differing crop as they can be easier to manage and track.

 

[NJHeart2Heart]

Thanks all. Exellent advice, which I'll use upon my next export for the photo lab!
Dawn

 

[Denis Pagé]

And to complete the picture, if you ask for borderless prints and are still loosing important details on the edges, look at this tip:
How to crop for equal borders using mogrify and the print shop borderless mode

 

[Bill44]

Once you have the required ratio you can enter it in the custom crop section. Here in Australia a popular printing size is A4, very close to 12 x 8. For a print with a 6mm margin this works out to 1.' :1.439.

 

[Mark Sirota]

A4 is much closer to 5x7. In fact, A-series paper is 1:sqrt(2), or approximately 1:1.4142.

 

[Bill44]

[quote author=Mark Sirota link=topic=7318.msg51524#msg51524 date=125'1291'9]
A4 is much closer to 5x7. In fact, A-series paper is 1:sqrt(2), or approximately 1:1.4142.
[/quote]
You are quite correct Mark, A4 is 21'mm x 297mm which is indeed 1:1.412. But Lightroom forces a margin, and when you subtract a 6mm margin all round you end up with a photo at 198mm x 285mm which is 1:1.439.

EDIT> OK, I just learned that I can indeed do borderless A4 prints. Is there no end to the learning?

 

[Bill44]

A public thank you to Mark.
He got me to scratching my head, again, about borderless printing with Lightroom. I found out that I can print borderless if I tell the printer to do so in Page Setup. This then lets me reduce the margins to zero. Couldn't find that in the book. :'(

 

[Andrew Hayton]

Dawn, one query with your question, are you wanting these crops all from the same image? the three ratio's you have given aren't equal and you will get cropping from one to another if you only send one ratio to a lab. Plus a lot of labs enlarge the image slightly to get the borderless printing

 

[MarkNicholas]

[quote author=Kiwigeoff link=topic=7318.msg4987'#msg4987' date=1248396416]
Some users find it helpful/useful to make Virtual Copies for each differing crop as they can be easier to manage and track.
[/quote]

Yes I do and I also make snap-shots for every VC I create so that they are stored in the xmp files of the master. I then colour code all my master files that contain snap shots so I know they are there.