Lightroom’s print options

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SBurkholder

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Lightroom has dozens of various print options in its dialogue boxes. Nowhere on the internet or Adobe’s documentation have I been able to find a concise explanation of what these options do. Often they seem to overlap one another. Some options display both input and output profiles at the same time as a choice. Adobe’s documentation just skips over these choices and gives you only a high overview of the print process. Does anyone have a source for these settings?
 
I'm unsure as to what you are referring to when you say," Some options display both input and output profiles at the same time as a choice." I use LrC for printing all my images. If you could pose your question a little more clearly I might be able to help you (or not...). The Print Module gives users many options for printing.
 
Are you talking about Color Management > Profiles in the Develop Module? If so, when you select the drop-down menu for Profiles, you may get a list of many of the color profiles installed on your computer, including those that wouldn't be used for printing. You can select those you want to appear, such as paper profiles, by clicking on "Other" and checking the boxes for those particular profiles that appear on the long list. Only those will show then when selecting a paper profile.
 
Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm already familiar with the adobe links and Lightroom Queen, but none of them really get the the gist of what I'm asking. And I've got my workflow such that I'm able to print fairly close to what I see (monitor wise). I was really asking if there was a resource that I could go to which would explain what exactly each option was doing inside of the program.

Some examples. Print settings are "primarily" found in two areas. I say primarily because there are other settings in obscure places which can also alter color management of a print.
The first area is in the Print Module>Print Job. All this code is written by Adobe, I'm guessing. The following are what I think Adobe is doing under these options but I really have no real knowledge, as I don't have any inside contacts.

Print to: (Printer/JPG) Where you wish to send the output.

Draft Mode Printing: (Check and it turns off all color transformation settings, speeds up printer to fastest print speed)

Print Resolution: Check here and it allows you to enter into the box the dpi of the resolution you wish to print with. A note from Epson's web site (I print with an Epson P800) that this number should be an exact multiple of you printer resolution. My P800 prints at a maximum resolution of 1440. So if my image dpi can support it, I should set this value at one of the following choices (1440, 720, 480, 360, 288) to get the best images, without math errors (according to Epson). You can see if your image can support is by choosing Print>Guides and selecting Dimensions. It will show up as a little box of information along the top of your image, but actually doesn't print with the image. To see the box you must uncheck the Print Resolution and you will see the dpi show up. Then you would check the Print Resolution and enter a multiple <= to your actual.

Print Sharpening: (Low/Standard/High) Your choice but doesn't effect how your image appears on the screen. Only adds additional sharpening in the output file. Question: when printing to a jpg files, does the extra sharpening apply? I should hope not as I would only typically wish it to apply to a printed output. Unclear. It is also unclear how much extra sharpening Low, Standard & High does the program boost.

Media Type (Matte/Glossy) I'm guessing the Matte gets an extra boost in sharping over Glossy. That would make the most sense.

Color Management

Profile: (Managed by Printer/ Printer ICC profiles) This makes little sense to me. The first option "Manage by Printer" seems to say "Let the printer choose your paper option." But in the Page Setup menus, you have an opportunity to select the exact same ICC profile that is presented to you. But if you select an ICC profile here, and the same ICC profile in the Page Setup menu, you will have a small color shift than if you picked "Manage by Printer", with the ICC profile selected in the Page Setup menu. My experience is that you should choose the same ICC profiles in both places for the best color balanced print. A little further along you have the option of selecting "Other" in choosing the ICC profile. In the dialog box which opens you have an option box to "Include Display Profiles". Huh? Why would you ever want to use a Display Profile at this section? What possible reason in printing would call for these options? Or might you want to use these for a jpg file output instead of paper ICC profiles? Unclear.

Intent: (Perceptual/Relative) I typically choose Relative but it will depend on the actual image and how many colors are out of gamut. Perceptual can induce slight color shifts IMO. Again, it depends on the image and which colors are out of gamut.

Print Adjustment: (Brightness/Contrast sliders) I don't understand why you would use these adjustment at this point in the printing process. Maybe if you were printing on poor quality paper e.g. newsprint, or crummy matte paper, when the black ink soaked into the paper and dulled the image quite a bit, it might be a use to boost brightness and increase contrast at this point in the process. Other than that I can't think of a reason.

I haven't even gotten into the Page Setup menus yet. My understanding is that this code is written by the printer manufactures. But there are several options available which typically aren't explained or poorly explained by them.

This reply is much more than I intended but I got into it and well, here we are. Anybody who can shed light on my questions, I'm happy to receive answers.
 
Are you talking about Color Management > Profiles in the Develop Module? If so, when you select the drop-down menu for Profiles, you may get a list of many of the color profiles installed on your computer, including those that wouldn't be used for printing. You can select those you want to appear, such as paper profiles, by clicking on "Other" and checking the boxes for those particular profiles that appear on the long list. Only those will show then when selecting a paper profile.
Hi, do you know how to add more paper profiles? I want to try some Epson Legacy papers, but I cannot find the matching ICC profile. I searched Epson sites extensively, in vain. Thanks.
 
SBurkholder, I feel your pain. Trying to find specific info on anything involving printing photos at home is maddening. It seems that there are many variables that affect the final printing result, but no explanation on how to determine the best settings for each and then tie them together for optimum results. Maybe somebody offers an online course on printing? I am going to monitor this subject and I hope you get some responses. If I find something, I will post.
 
I finally got my head around printing from Adobe products. The most important thing to understand in Lightroom is that the Page Setup button (left lower) runs a routine written by Microsoft and it generally tells Windows which parameters to use. The Print button on the lower Right, runs software created by Adobe. So if you are wanting to print with an ICC profile out of LR, then you will need to turn off all color management on the Microsoft Page Setup button. You don't want to color manage from both. Choose whether you wish to use Windows or Adobe to manage color, then turn off the other one you don't wish to use. A lot of information on this persons site. http://www.ronmartblog.com/ using Epson and Canon printers.

Some addition information can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/print-job-options-settings.html

Also print resolution is important and how to specify in LR is an article here. https://lightroomkillertips.com/using-print-dimensions-resolution/

Hope this helps
 
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Lightroom is first and foremost a cataloging program. All of the rest is somewhat of a younger sibling of Photoshop. Cataloging is its raison d'être. There are other solutions out there, e.g., OnOne software, but I've not personally spent enough time with them to give anyone a valid impression. Many people use a "no catalog" solution, by setting up some sort of folder structure and keeping tract of images that way. But IMHO that will only work for a few 1,000 images, after which you will be forced into some sort of formalized solution. I've looked at what other have done to set up catalogs, but none of them work for me, and I suspect that most photographers feel likewise.

As an example, for several years, I have used keywords and folder structure to organize my photos. Never having the need to use "Collections" or even to really understand their purpose. Well, I embarked on a new project a month ago, and "Collections" came to the rescue on some organizational problems I was having. So now I'm gradually working it in to my workflow where appropriate. So to answer your question, I thinking that the reason you don't see many articles about cataloging, is that there are as many ways to approach it as there are photographers. I would think you might make some headway in your article by talking with some of the stock/image houses and ask them how they prefer their images to be submitted. That might yield some sort of framework of best practices to use.
 
I tried to print from LR, but never did like doing so. I now export my images out of LR and then print using Epson Print Layout software. It is very easy and straightforward to set paper size, paper type and ICC printer profiles if you have them. For paper, I mainly use Red River Paper products because they have printer profiles to select, download, install and use for a lot of printers, including mine.
 
I do all my printing for albums competition etc. from the light room print module. I use apple an iMac until today (and I have not tried the new mac studio m1 max I just started setting up this afternoon. I use a Cannon pro 100 and keep everything simple. A photographer friend who happens to be a printer repair guy showed me how to keep it very simple. First page set up to match the paper you have in the printer. Using the"print settings or the printer tab I keep all the default settings for the Canon. Under color matching I use color sync to my monitor. Canon color matching is also not bad but 98% of the time color matching to my calibrated monitor works best for me. Then I go to quality and media and pick out the paper I am using ie. Photo Paper Pro Luster etc. Then I make sure I have the borders, size etc. I want and hit print.
 
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