While we love the speed of sending photos to friends and family by email, sometimes we just like to make our own print to display. It’s so satisfying to take a photo, make adjustments, then see a print of it on the wall!
If you’re printing to a locally attached printer, such as an inkjet printer, you can use Lightroom Classic’s Print module to print your photos. But often it’s confusing choosing the best settings to use.
Making a 4″ x 6″ print
As it’s one of the most popular sizes to use, let’s create a simple 6” x 4” borderless print (assuming your printer can print borderless!)
- Select the photo or photos you want to print, and then switch to the Print module using the Module Picker at the top of the screen.
- At the bottom of the left panel group, click the Page Setup button to display your printer’s dialog. (The options vary depending on the operating system and printer.)
- Select your paper size, for example, if you’re using 4×6 borderless paper, you’ll need to select the 4” x 6” borderless setting. The dialog varies depending on your printer driver and operating system. Close the Page Setup dialog.
- In the Layout Style panel at the top of the right panel group, select Single Image/ Contact Sheet.
- In the Image Settings panel, check Zoom to Fill and Rotate to Fit. This fills the cell with the photo.
- In the Layout panel, set all the Margins to 0 for borderless printing. If they won’t go down to 0, the Page Setup isn’t set to borderless or your printer can’t print borderless, in which case you’ll need to use a larger piece of paper and cut it down after printing.
- Still in the Layout panel, set the Rows and Columns sliders to 1 to place a single photo on the page, and set the Cell Size to 4×6 for a 4” x 6” print.
- In the Toolbar underneath the preview, choose Selected Photos from the Use pop-up to print the selected photo(s) or All Filmstrip Photos to print all of them. Try a single print to double check your settings before printing a large number of photos.
- Scroll down to the Print Job panel. As a default, set the Print Resolution field to 360 ppi for Epson or 300 ppi for Canon/HP.
- Enable the Print Sharpening checkbox, selecting the amount in the first pop-up (Low, Standard or High) and the paper type (Glossy/Matte) in the second pop-up. If in doubt, select Standard Glossy.
- If you have a profile for your printer, select Other from the Color Management Profile pop-up and choose the profile. Press OK and select the profile in the pop-up.
If you don’t have a profile, select Managed by Printer so that the printer cares for the color management. - Press the Printer button to view the Print dialog. Like the Page Setup dialog, this dialog varies depending on the operating system and printer driver. If you’re using a Mac, you may need to press the Show Details button to access the printer driver options.
- Select your paper type, quality settings and any other settings specific to your printer driver. (If these options aren’t available, ensure that you’ve installed the printer driver direct from the manufacturer rather than the default driver provided by the operating system.) If you’ve selected a profile in the Color Management Profile pop-up, select No Color Adjustment or ColorSync in the printer dialog.
- Finally, press Print and wait!
If you want to send off photo files for printing, you’re better to use the Export dialog rather than the Print module. If you want a lot printed then that’s the most economical way to do it. But it’s so satisfying seeing the results quickly and within minutes proudly displaying them in a frame on the wall!
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
If you have the Photography Plan, then as well as Classic you have access to the Lightroom cloud ecosystem including the mobile apps and web interface. For more information on these apps, see Adobe Lightroom – Edit on the Go.
Note: purchase of these books includes the first year’s Classic or cloud-based Premium Membership (depending on the book purchased), giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the applicable Lightroom version if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
We also have a special bundle offer for the two books. This includes Premium Membership for the first year as described above for the whole Lightroom family!
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