Cropping Help

Just so I know Im am doing it right, Im sending some prints to dscolourlabs.co.uk, I want to send them as pro prints so they don't mess about with the colours, but they need to be sized correctly first, now as I'm also new to photoshop cc its also a learning curve.

Whether its the long way round of doing things, but i have already got a file of full exported Jpegs from LR, and only a few of them want printing so I am putting them into into PS, then choosing the W x H x Resolution to get the size, they require 300dpi, but options i have are px/cm or px/inch which do I choose?

I am then converting to the colour profile of the lab, then saving as to get my final product ready to send off.

Does this sound right? or am I way off the mark?

300 pixels per inch.

Are you sure the lab wants you to convert to their profile? Most supply the profile to be used in soft proofing the image, but expect the image they receive to be in sRGB space.

Thankyou for the reply,

tzalman wrote in post #16526794
300 pixels per inch.

Are you sure the lab wants you to convert to their profile? Most supply the profile to be used in soft proofing the image, but expect the image they receive to be in sRGB space.

According to step 5 on here
http://www.dscolourlab​s.co.uk/tech_support.c​fm

and here at 4:27 http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=dGftT7xzUC0

or am I misunderstanding them? Im new to the printing side, as I usually just leave everything on the mac!

Those profiles are provided for your use, if you were to print at home using those paper(s). If you are printing yourself, you always want to use a profile for the specific paper you are using; most paper manufacturers have them available on their website.

Regarding the resizing: Wouldn't it be easier to do all of that in Lr?

- Crop to the ratio that you want to have printed
- Select 300ppi from the export dialog (Image Sizing)

I don't see the need for Ps here.

tzalman wrote in post #16526794
300 pixels per inch.

Are you sure the lab wants you to convert to their profile? Most supply the profile to be used in soft proofing the image, but expect the image they receive to be in sRGB space.

I use DSCL and I read it as they ask for it to be converted to the profile. My last steps are to softproof it with the profile and then convert it to the profile.

I also use the pro service, so that they print exactly what I send them, I generally get 15x10 inch borderless prints, which I then place in 16x20 mounts, cut to suit the crop I want. The actual files I send are sized at 4500x3000 pixels and set to 300dpi (or ppi to be strictly correct).

Quoted from the page linked above: "All images should be supplied as SRGB or with our own profiles as JPEG files at 300 dpi and sized to the correct output size required."

I've sent lots to them and have never converted anything from sRGB to their own profiles and I've never been unhappy with the results.

The next time I send stuff through to them I may well try a test and submit sRGB and converted versions of the same print through to see what difference there is wnhen I get them back.

As to color space if they say either sRGB or their profile (which would include color specifics for their paper/ink/printer), well it's up to you. If you have a properly calibrated monitor so that you can soft-proof using their profile, well, sure, otherwise use sRGB, the "safe" color space!

As to the 300ppi, the only question there is are they expecting you to resize your images to a "real"/working 300ppi resolution, or are they simply specifying that they want the ppi "label" to be 300ppi...?

Since one of the quotes mentioned "resizing", well I guess they want real 300ppi? In that case you'd need to resize/resample your images. Photoshop has the Image/Image Size dialog so that, after cropping to the desired dimensions/aspect ratio you can then size the photo to the proper dimensions in inches and the 300ppi resolution, specifying that yes, you want to resize/resample the images!

I can safely say that if you supply >300 dpi then the prints will be fine.

I've recently printed 12x4, 18x6 and 24x8 panos from the same (7200px long edge) file and the images were great.

Thr crop ratio must however be correct.

The big benefit of downsizing is that the upload process takes much less time.

Thankyou for the responses, and a massive thank you to Nightstalker for the help this evening

Nightstalker wrote in post #16527253
I can safely say that if you supply >300 dpi then the prints will be fine.

I've recently printed 12x4, 18x6 and 24x8 panos from the same (7200px long edge) file and the images were great.

Thr crop ratio must however be correct.

The big benefit of downsizing is that the upload process takes much less time.

This ^

To add to the others when I use DS Colour labs I also convert to the provided colour profile for the image that I send. Infact I have a printing preset set up in LR for them specifically. It resizes to the correct pixel dimensions for me, adds a 5mm black or white border and sets the colour profile to the one they supply. It then saves as a JPEG at 80% quality. As well as the above I have various specific aspect ratios saved so that the images will fit the paper correctly allowing for the addition of the 5mm border.

Alan

This whole thing can cause some confusion because different labs have different specs and procedures. It's always important to get the proper info directly from the lab. We here in forum-land may not have the correct info since we don't use the same labs!

tonylong wrote in post #16528006
This whole thing can cause some confusion because different labs have different specs and procedures. It's always important to get the proper info directly from the lab. We here in forum-land may not have the correct info since we don't use the same labs!

The OP linked the info here:

Pumba wrote in post #16526897
Thankyou for the reply,

According to step 5 on here
http://www.dscolourlab​s.co.uk/tech_support.c​fm

and here at 4:27 http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=dGftT7xzUC0

or am I misunderstanding them? Im new to the printing side, as I usually just leave everything on the mac!

drvnbysound wrote in post #16528042
The OP linked the info here:

Right, I saw that, although the OP still expressed "misunderstanding"!

Like I said, this can all be confusing!