Getting stuff printed

[Blasted]

I’ve never sent anything away to be printed before and am looking at using DSCL for some prints as it has been recommended by a number of people on this forum.

So, what’s the best way to go about it?

I currently shoot my images in RAW and process in Lightroom 3. I use a canon 450D and this gives me an image size of 4,272 × 2,848 (12.2 MP) this is a 3:2 ratio. I don’t tend to crop my images, but I want a few at 10x8, so should I just use the crop function and lock to a 10x8 aspect and keep it as large as I can? What would be the largest size I could realistically print at?

Once I have a number of files ready do I export as JPEG and upload them to the site or is it better to put them on a CD and post them in?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chappers]

Yes use the crop function to select the part of the image you want. You can then export the image for printing. Check DSCL web site for any specific details as to how the images should be presented.

As far as size is concerned, 8 x 10 from a 12Mp camera is no problem. How large is a difficult question to answer. I have images from a 6 Mp camera that are printed up to 20"x 30". The trick is not to over process and watch the sharpening slider. Over sharpening can kill a good image. The other point is look how good the image is, i.e. sharpness, image contrast. A soft image will produce a soft print.

As far as sending the image to the lab, I've sent loads of image via FTP and other methods with no problem, so provided you have a good internet cnnection I can't see any problem with uploading them .

 

[Blasted]

Thanks for that.

 

[J.D.]

Yes as John says use the crop tool in Lightroom. Then export as a jpg - I use the following settings as a preset, they might be helpful:

1. Export as jpg, quality 100. Set colour space as the appropriate printer profile for the paper you want (profiles can be downloaded from their website)

2. Resize to fit long edge to appropriate print size (image sizes on their website too, eg 12x8 is 3600px)

3. Sharpen for Matte/Glossy paper. Amount standard