# graphical watermark and cropping



## Lance (Jan 12, 2010)

I wish to photograph about 1'' couples at an event, have 5x7 prints made off site, then return to hand out the pictures after the event. I have tried LR2Mogrify with success to add the name of the venue to the image. I can get the graphical watermark to work, with a black border, but I can't get the image sizing to give me a 5x7. I've tried setting 5x7 (dimensions) (width and height), long edge 7, short edge 5. Width & height, dimensions and long edge 7 come out to 7 x 4.667. Short edgecomes out to 5 x 7.5. I guess I could make a Photoshop cropping action to work upon export. I don't see how the cropping thing can work in Lightroom anyway. I know when you crop to a 5x7 or 8x1' you loose some real estate on the long edge. Any ideas?


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 12, 2010)

So do you want the black edge the same all the way round, or do you want the picture the right ratio with different size black borders.


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## Brad Snyder (Jan 12, 2010)

And are you cropping the images to the correct aspect in Lr, before you export them thru LR2Mogrify?  Those final dimensions you're mentioning sound suspiciously like 4x6s.


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## Lance (Jan 12, 2010)

I want the black edge all the way around, so I believe that I need to send it to the printer cropped as a 5 x 7, and not let the printing service crop it. If I didn't have the black border I could probably just bring the full sized printable jpeg to the printer and let them crop it. I would have to leave some extra room in the photograph on the top and bottom.


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## Lance (Jan 12, 2010)

I think you are right, the dimensions look like a 4x6 ratio. I'm cropping on export. I thought I could do everything all at once. 
I'd be using studio lights with a backdrop, so all the shots would be the same. Hmm, maybe you are right, crop them 1st., since LR has such a fantastic crop tool. I could crop one then sync all the others to that crop. Then export through LR2Mogrify to get the graphic on the image. Does that sound right?

I really appreciate the time everyone puts into this forum.


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## Denis Pagé (Jan 12, 2010)

This sound right except that you may want to tweak the position of each in the crop area after synching the crop ratio.

You may also find my following tip of interest in your context: How to crop for equal borders using mogrify and the print shop borderless mode


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 12, 2010)

[quote author=Lance link=topic=89'3.msg59851#msg59851 date=1263323'21]I'm cropping on export.
[/quote]

That's probably the key there - LR crops to a ratio in the Develop module, and then sets the size in the Export dialog. It's a 2 step process, unlike PS, because the same crop ratio can be output to lots of different sizes (for example, a 4x5 crop in Develop might be output as 4''x5'' for web, 4x5 for print, 8x1' for print, 16x2' for the wall, etc).

So yes, your latter plan sounds like you're getting the right idea.


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## Lance (Jan 13, 2010)

I'll be using a backdrop with studio lights and the camera on a tripod, placing the people (1 or 2) in the same spot. If I pay attention, I hope that I won't have to tweak the crop at all. That may be wishful thinking. Thanks for the link. I too a quick look and it seems very comprehensive. I'll have to spend more time on it.


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## Lance (Jan 13, 2010)

Wow, you addressed my next question. I tried this on 3 images (before reading your post);
Cropped one image to 5x7 in LR then synched the other 2.
Exported all 3 using LR2Mogrify. Outer border 2' pixels. Referred to my graphical watermark.
Then I checked the final sizes in Photoshop, which weren't 5x7's.
For the heck of it, in LR2 Mogrify, I selected Image sizing "dimensions" 5x7 ("width & height" works the same), then exported. That gives me 5.133 x 7.133 when checking in Photoshop. That should work as a 5x7 at the print shop.
These all were in Portrait orientation.
So, as you said, exporting a cropped image is a 2 step process. Thanks for explaining the reasoning behind it.


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## Halfje-Bruin (Jan 13, 2010)

What I might do is create a 5x7 crop development preset. Then select all photos and create a collection and make sure that virtual copies are created (checkbox) and that all selected images are added (another checkbox). Next, select all the images in the collection and apply the crop preset. This will place the 5x7 crop in the centre of each image, as large as possible. Verify that the crops are placed correctly.

Now you can export using LR2/Mogrify. Check border size and image dimensions so that you get a real 5x7 that doesn't require any processing at the printers.


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## Bruce J (Jan 13, 2010)

[quote author=Lance link=topic=89'3.msg599''#msg599'' date=1263356587]
For the heck of it, in LR2 Mogrify, I selected Image sizing "dimensions" 5x7 ("width & height" works the same), then exported. That gives me 5.133 x 7.133 when checking in Photoshop. That should work as a 5x7 at the print shop.
[/quote]

Warning: 5.133 x 7.133 is NOT the same aspect ratio as 5 x 7! Do the math.
I don't use Mogrify, so I'm guessing here, but it sounds like you are taking a 5 x 7 aspect ratio crop and then adding a fixed margin all around the edges. That changes the aspect ratio. If you want a true 5 x 7 aspect ratio on output, you will have to crop to a custom ratio that is slightly more elongated ratio than 5 x 7 before you add the equal-sized margins. But, maybe this level of detail is not important to you, in which case, ignore this whole post. Cheers,


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## Denis Pagé (Jan 13, 2010)

If your 2' pixels border add .133 then you output at 3'' ppi. 5" x 7" at 3'' ppi is 15'' x 21'' pixels. 15''-4' x 21''-4' pixels leave 146' x 2'6' pixels for the image. Lightroom can not accept values over 1''' in aspect ratio so divide by 1' to get 146 x 2'6 or 73 x 1'3. You then want to crop your images at an aspect ratio of 73 x 1'3, export at 4.867" x 6.867" then add your 2' pixels in mogrify and you will get 5" x 7" if exported at 3'' ppi.

(73 / 1'3 = 4.867 / 6.867 = '.7'87 ratio).

If you want to take into account the loss when printing borderless, you will have to go by the link I gave you above.


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## Lance (Jan 14, 2010)

I'm responding to the previous 2 entries. 
1. Yup, 5.133 x 7.133 isn't the same aspect ratio as 5x7. A 5 x 7 ratio comes out to 5.133 x 7.186 I do need to have it at 5x7 when taking it to the printing service.

2. Thanks for the numbers. I'll try the 4.867" x 6.867 method. Actually, I have just tried to add the 2' pixels as an inner border, selected 5 x 7 on export, and it comes out to 5x7 when opening in Photoshop. I loose some of the picture all the way around that way, but that might not be an issue.


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## Denis Pagé (Jan 15, 2010)

My numbers were for and "added" outer border.


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