# Image Sizing Issue When Printing



## Josh A (May 19, 2016)

Hello All,

I am new to this forum as I am also fairly new to Lightroom and photography. The issue I am running across I am sure may be fairly simple to many of you experienced users so I turn to you. Whenever I attempt to print my photos out, and for the purposes of this discussion we will go with a 4x6 print, the image is always blown up too much. The reason I noticed this is because when I edit my images, I tend to put my watermark on the image. Well, one time I accidentally left the watermark feature selected and it printed with the picture and a good portion of the watermark was out of the confines of the photo paper. I have scoured the Internet in the hopes to find an easy fix to no avail. Can someone please help me find out how to properly size my images so that they will be properly sized when I export to my soon-to-be customers. Thanks!!!!


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## Replytoken (May 19, 2016)

Welcome to the forum! What do you mean by blown up too much?  Are you cropping into the original image?  What do your images look like if you export them and view them on your monitor?

--Ken


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## Josh A (May 19, 2016)

Thanks for responding Ken,

I do not believe I am cropping into the original images. From my understanding, Lightroom has a feature where it nondestructively edits a copy of the original image. When I export them the image appears to be exactly like I want it to be. I have attached a few images, one is a screenshot of the image in Lightroom, another is a screenshot of the image post processing and exported, and the final (sorry for the horrible quality, my printer is running out of ink) is an image printed out. For the printed picture, this is another issue that I am running in to but only when I print at home. The image does not fill in the entire photo paper (it doesn't show up well in this because the printer didn't pick up the white space of the photo paper that wasn't printed on), which is not my desired outcome. Alternatively, when I send them off to get printed (I have been using Walgreens for 4x6 prints) the images are extending past the confines of the picture, or the exact opposite of the photo.


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## Josh A (May 19, 2016)

These are the other images.


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## Replytoken (May 20, 2016)

I suspect that the problem is with your printer settings and not with LR.  Assuming that your original image was shot on a sensor with a 2:3 ratio (typical for a DSLR), then it is the correct ratio to print a 4x6 (as this is a multiple of 2:3).  So, if you are not cropping your image, the printer is being presented with the correct ratio for printing.  If you are using a camera that does not have a sensor with a 2:3 ratio, like a Panasonic or Olympus mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, which uses a 3:4 ratio, then you will need to either crop the image to fit a 4x6 print or have white boarders on the printed picture and have the full frame occupy less than the entire print surface.  Having said that, may I ask what type of camera are you using?

--Ken


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## Josh A (May 20, 2016)

I am using a Canon 70D. And I have done some cropping but like I said even with the images cropped, it only does it when the images are being printed. How do I adjust the image after cropping, or during cropping, so that I can get the desired photo size?


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## clee01l (May 20, 2016)

Welcome to the forum. The print module prints a cell that has been described to fit inside the paper size being used.  In the Print Module Image settings panel, there is a  checkbox labeled zoom to fill.  If check the selected image will fill the cell completely. If your aspect ratio does not match the aspect ratio of the described cell, then parts of the image will be trimmed away that fall outside of the cell dimensions.
What are the pixel dimensions of the image posted above?  
What is the Height and width of the cell in the print module Layout panel? 
In the upper left corner of the displayed image in the print module are actual height & width values of the image as it will print.  What are these numbers?


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## Tony Jay (May 20, 2016)

Hi Josh - welcome to Lightroom Forums.

I think that Ken has already got to the crux of the issue.
Your problem is all about ratio's.

My suggestion is work on sorting out the problems you are having printing through Lightroom at home.
Once you have got that all sorted out you will know how to prepare images for export for third-party printing.

Go to the Print module.
Select an image to print.
As an exercise go to the R-panel and look at the options there.
On of the first options that one encounters is 'Layout Style' - choose Single Image/Contact Sheet.
The next sub-panel is 'Image Settings' - select Rotate to Fit but make sure that Zoom to Fill is NOT selected.
Now going down to the next sub-panel 'Layout' - in your case, given that you have mentioned printing 4X6 select inches as the Ruler Units

Next are Margins.
Now margins determine how close to the edge of the paper the actual printing will go. Select 0.5 inch for now (this can be changed a bit later  if required - how large to make the margin in relation to the paper size selected is always an aesthetic one)

Now comes the Cell Size.
Cell size often confuses people but at this stage it is very simple. Make the dimensions of the cell as large as the all the previous settings allow.

The result will be an image absolutely centred on the paper with no parts of the image missing. It may be that the image ratio is not exactly the same as the paper ratio but with this setup it does not matter - no part of the image will be lost in the print.

I am going to ignore the rest of the R-subpanels for now - we will just assume for now that resolution and colour management and the rest are all sorted appropriately.

The next port of call is the 'Page Setup' and 'Print Settings'.
These dialogs are to be found at the bottom left of the Print module.
Exactly how one proceeds from here is dependent on the printer that one is using and the layout of that printer's printer driver.
Essentially one wants to tell the printer driver that one is using paper that is 4X6 in dimension and to tell the printer to expect to print as portrait. There are plenty of other details as well but for the purpose of getting the printer to print the correct size and orientation this should pretty much cover it.
(If you tell me what printer you are using I can probably find the driver and download it to play with so I can check all the details.)

Once one is comfortable doing the above consistently and getting correct results it then becomes much easier to prepare images for export and third-party printing.

Tony Jay


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## Josh A (May 20, 2016)

Thanks for all the help guys. But as I mentioned, the images are only out of proportion when printed. I have attached a copy of the image post processing (i formatted the images to JPEG from RAW) earlier in the post and the image is set up exactly how I want it printed. But, once I send it off for third party printing...the image is always blown up too much ending up outside of the photo paper (sorry but im not familiar with the actual terminology for this occurrence). And when I print them at home, the exact opposite happens where the image does not fill the entire photo paper.


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## Josh A (May 20, 2016)

I am using a HP Photosmart B210a


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## Josh A (May 20, 2016)

Also, Tony, my Lightroom settings will not let me go any lower than 0.13 on the margins.


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## clee01l (May 20, 2016)

Josh A said:


> Thanks for all the help guys. But as I mentioned, the images are only out of proportion when printed. I have attached a copy of the image post processing (i formatted the images to JPEG from RAW) earlier in the post and the image is set up exactly how I want it printed. But, once I send it off for third party printing...the image is always blown up too much ending up outside of the photo paper (sorry but im not familiar with the actual terminology for this occurrence). And when I print them at home, the exact opposite happens where the image does not fill the entire photo paper.


Printing in LR, you still need to have enough pixels to fill the cell.  LR does not upsize image to print.   The answers to my questions are still important.  More critical to using a third party printer is the first question: "What are the pixel dimensions of the image posted above?"  The aspect ratio of the image to be printed MUST match the desired aspect ration of the paper being use to print.  If your third party printer is trimming parts of your image to fill the paper, then you have not given correct instructions. If there is an aspect ratio mismatch between what you sent and the size of the paper used, then one of two things occur. One, parts of the image fall outside of the paper (cropped images) or two, the image does not fill the paper and white margins result top & bottom OR both sides.


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## Josh A (May 20, 2016)

Here is a copy of a project I am working on now. This is a screen shot of my work inside of the printer module. Notice the settings.


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## clee01l (May 20, 2016)

This screen shot still does not answer the question about the size of the image in pixels.   However it does answer questions about the aspect ratio of your printed cell and the image that you are trying to print.  If you see the lines around the outside of your image. That represents your cell boundaries.  This is an aspect ratio of 1.53333. The Canon 70D has a sensor size in pixels of 5472 x 3648. So, the  true aspect ratio of an uncrossed image produced by the camera is 1.5000.  The difference between these two is clearly seen by the white space to the left and right of the image between the cell line and the image.
The 0.13" margin is the unprintable area with your HP printer.   That means it is incapable of printing a borderless print on at least one of the edges.  You can drag the cell boundary toward the edge of the paper to identify the unprintable area precisely.  As I indicate, at least one of the margins will always be at least 0.13".  The others could be zero.  What ever the result, the cell size will be the largest that you can get with that printer and paper. It most likely will not be an aspect ratio of 1.5.  The means that you will need to crop the image to an aspect ratio to fit the cell or accept the fact that some of your paper will not get printed and remain a white margin.


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## Josh A (May 20, 2016)

How do I find out what the size of image is in pixels?


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## Josh A (May 20, 2016)

Also, understanding what you just told me, why is it that when I send the image of for 3rd party processing the image always over fills the photo paper? I am not using Lightroom to print, just to develop the image, yet, when I send the images off they are always blown up too much and some of the image is cropped out.


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## clee01l (May 20, 2016)

Josh A said:


> How do I find out what the size of image is in pixels?


It is listed in the metadata Panel as Dimensions.  It also shows up in one of view info overlays in Loupe view Just cycle through the View Info options with the shortcut key "I"


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## Josh A (May 20, 2016)

The dimensions are 5472x3648. I would like to re-mention Clee, Kevin, Tony, and anyone else I may have missed, I am still a fairly new photographer and Lightroom user, so forgive me if I may seem a bit uninformed. I am just trying to learn this so I can get it right. With the dimensions I just gave you, going forward, how would I know how to set my picture up to send it for 3rd part printing so I can get the proper dimensions in, say, a 4x6 image?


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## Conrad Chavez (May 20, 2016)

Josh A said:


> Also, understanding what you just told me, why is it that when I send the image of for 3rd party processing the image always over fills the photo paper? I am not using Lightroom to print, just to develop the image, yet, when I send the images off they are always blown up too much and some of the image is cropped out.


This can depend on how the print service has their machine set up. Do the images come back as borderless prints? Many print services are set up that way by default. The only way to achieve a borderless print is to blow up the image in the printer until it extends past the edge of the paper, and of course that will crop out content at the edges. It's worth contacting the print service to confirm that's what they do, and to find out if they have another printing option that doesn't cut off the edges. If the print service has an option for borders you can find out if that prints the entire image.

If your HP has a borderless printing option, it would do the same thing. It would scale up the image in the printer, after receiving it from Lightroom, and probably overspray ink past the edges of the paper. My Epson printer has settings for how much to scale up a borderless print.


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## Replytoken (May 20, 2016)

Josh A said:


> The dimensions are 5472x3648. I would like to re-mention Clee, Kevin, Tony, and anyone else I may have missed, I am still a fairly new photographer and Lightroom user, so forgive me if I may seem a bit uninformed. I am just trying to learn this so I can get it right. With the dimensions I just gave you, going forward, how would I know how to set my picture up to send it for 3rd part printing so I can get the proper dimensions in, say, a 4x6 image?



No worries about asking a question.  The forum is here to help people learn, and your question is not out of the ordinary.  The pixel ratio is correct for a 4x6 so there should be almost no loss by a commercial lab, although most do disclaim a small margin loss and often show it "redlined" on the image.

Try a different lab to see if the problem lies with your lab.  I cannot assist with printing at home because I ship out all of my printing.

Good luck,

--Ken


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## clee01l (May 20, 2016)

Josh A said:


> The dimensions are 5472x3648. I would like to re-mention Clee, Kevin, Tony, and anyone else I may have missed, I am still a fairly new photographer and Lightroom user, so forgive me if I may seem a bit uninformed. I am just trying to learn this so I can get it right. With the dimensions I just gave you, going forward, how would I know how to set my picture up to send it for 3rd part printing so I can get the proper dimensions in, say, a 4x6 image?


This is why we patiently try to answer each question  (even how to find the size of your image in pixels).  The dimensions that you just quoted are those that I pulled from the 70D spec sheet. So this tells me that you have not cropped in LR.  It has an aspect ratio that is exactly the same as a 4X6" print (1.5).  You should be able to tell your 3rd party printer that you want a 4X6 borderless print. If they can't deliver a borderless print, then you need to get a new print vendor.  The printed image will have a density of 912 pixels per inch, so the printer (machine) will probably downsize your file to 300 or 600 pixels per inch, but you should still get a borderless print that completely fills the 4X6 paper with no part of the image cut off. 
If you want to print a full image with your printer and the printer won't print all the way to both edges of the 6 " side, you can create a cell in the Print module that is 3.913" X 5.87" and this will completely fill the cell with all of your image.


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