Hey folks!

In this article I want to touch on the two very distinct editing outcomes that engaged photographers are likely to encounter.

The first is editing for screen, and for many creatives this is the only editing outcome that gets engaged. It involves taking your source images, whether RAW or JPEG and processing them after they have been shot and culled via some software, typically on a computer, but also potentially on a tablet or smartphone.

The format that you record in is your choice, just know (remember) that JPEG is a destructive compression format that dumps just over 70% of the data when saving in JPEG fine, on each save. RAW is not an image at all, merely a sequence of bits that need to be transformed into a viewable image by a RAW converter. Both involve a level of post processing that you have no control over prior to your edits, RAW having the primary advantage of being non-destructive. Pick a tool that works for you and become skilled with it. There are lots of different tools of course and one may suit you better than another and so what works for you is best.

The Second Outcome

Here’s where I want to spend time in this article. The second outcome is editing for print. This is a very different edit, and while you can start with your finished edit for screen, probability is high that your screen edit is not optimal for printing. Substantially fewer creatives do this kind of edit, and those tend to be the folks who print themselves or work with a high end external lab that will accept file formats other than JPEG.

I personally use Lightroom for this process in general and typically start with my screen edit. This means that I have already cleaned up spots, done whatever I wanted from a correction perspective in either Lightroom and / or Photoshop and am happy with the screen ready image.

I start by making a Virtual Copy of the screen edit because I am going to need a separate file for my print edit. Virtual copies are a massive time saver and I encourage all to learn to use them.

Now working on the virtual copy, I enter Soft Proofing mode. At this point, I’ve already thought through what type of paper that I will be printing on, and ensured that I have installed the proper ICC profile for that paper and my photographic printer. I choose the paper type in the dropdown by picking the ICC profile. I then activate Simulate Paper and Ink. Then I choose to create a Proof Copy. This is a second virtual copy that I am going to do the needed work on. Virtual copies take almost zero space so use them freely. My four key steps are here. Create Proof Copy, choose a suitable paper ICC, activate Simulate Paper and Ink, and choose Relative Intent.

At this point I have a reasonable estimate of what my image will look like on the paper that I have chosen. I have not yet done gamut checks, but this will come. Here’s where I go back to the Lightroom edit tools and make adjustments based on the SOFT PROOF to get the image to look as I would like it when printed. The paper choice has a HUGE impact so you might want to run through a number of different paper simulations before spending a lot of time in the editing steps, particularly when you are starting out.

I do not find that I have to make a lot of big changes. Most often I find I need subtle manipulations of the Tone Curve, and adjustments to saturation and luminosity. These are global changes in Lightroom and if things get wonky, i will choose to do masked edits in Photoshop or less often brush based edits in Lightroom. It does mean making more Proof Copies when the image is returned from Photoshop, but they take negligible space and the outcomes are worth it. Every image is different, and I have no use for presets so every image is death with individually.

The next step is activating the out of gamut warnings. There are two, one for your display and one for the print. While both are interesting, and you may be surprised by the limitations of your particular display, the one that matters here is the out of gamut warning for print.

What you will learn from it is how far out (if at all) your current edit is for the paper you have chosen. This is a marvellously useful time saving tool to give you some guidance as to how suitable the paper that you have chosen will be for the image that you are working on.

In my example, I chose a Hahnemuhle Rice Paper, and did so with intent because I know that rice paper is not a great choice for images with a lot of contrast like the sample one. Here I see that parts of the treelike are going to be out of gamut. This does not mean fail, it means that I won’t get expected colour rendition when I print on this paper. I could choose to make edits to the image, typically done in the luminosity and colour saturation tools to try to bring the image into gamut. Another option, would be to see what would happen with a different paper.

By changing the paper to a Baryta FB, which is both brighter and less textured than the Rice paper, the out of gamut issues disappear. While this was a very quick fix, it is informative. The shinier and flatter the paper, the wider its printing gamut will commonly be.

Had I chosen a highly textured canvas, I would see a very different response depending on the image. In this case if I chose the Daguerre canvas which is less contrasty natively, I was completely in gamut from the word go, but the image looks less punchy and a bit softer, as I would expect with a canvas. This is another reason why inspecting the paper gamut and using Ink and Paper Simulation in your print edit is so important.

Only once I get my paper selection and gamut response to what is acceptable to me am I ready to switch to the Print module.

Lightroom Print Module

A giant frustration for me and others is that the print module does not display your soft proof with the Ink and Paper simulation. Do NOT judge the image in the Print module. EVER. It is not representative of what the print will look like.

Choose Page Setup and Printer Setup and get this stuff configured right. READ the documentation that came with your paper to tell you which paper type to select in printer setup. This matters ENORMOUSLY. It may also tell you of customizations that you need to make. Ignore this at your peril. Once you have that correct and have set your print frame to what you want, on the paper size and type that you want head to the Print Job dialog.

Take note of the settings in the graphic above. Print to Printer, set the resolution you need, if you do not know, figure it out based on expected viewing distance and print size. Thats a subject in itself. If common wall art up to 24x36, you won’t go wrong between 240 and 300 ppi, although you may be able to go less. There is no point at all going higher because this setting is for the file, the printer resolution is set itself in the Printer Setup dialog.

Unless the documentation specifies that a paper is gloss, choose matte and set print sharpening to High. It does no harm and in most cases works best. ALWAYS check 16 bit output. Under colour management, select your ICC profile (this does not come across from the soft proof page - another stupid thing on the part of Lightroom) and match your rendering intent which unless things are all cocked up will be Relative.

DO NOT use the print adjustment sliders, unless you are one of those folks who insists on keeping the display brightness too high. If your prints come out dark relative to your display, the print is right, the display is too bright. If you refuse to drop the display brightness, then you can activate the brightness slider and start at +20. This is the lazy person’s way out because it does not fix the problem, it simply masks it. However, for some it is all they want, and that’s they’re choice.

Now make a print. If you are printing on wonderful paper, such as the Daguerre Canvas in this example, do not even think about judging the print for hours. in fact you shouldn’t be handling the print for a few hours anyway. For fibre, canvas or rag based papers that are not resin coated, I prefer to let the print dry naturally (no hair dryers please) for 24 hours before trying to make a value judgement. If you did your work properly up front and your screen brightness is proper, your print is going to look very much like your print edit ins soft proof view as you see on the screen.

When you like your print, Lightroom has the wonderful ability to SAVE the print as a configured example, so when you need to make another print of the same image, you just open the saved print and print it.

In Summary

This article is not a printing class. It is a very high level overview of the edit for print process. Learning to do this well, is skill development. It takes time, proper practice and commitment. Sadly there are very few really good photo printing classes out there. If you want the best, contact my dear friend Daniel J Gregory at https://www.danieljgregory.com He has been my instructor and a great mentor in printing. I did take classes in digital printing some years ago, but have to be honest that I have gotten more from practice, experimentation and learning from Daniel than I did at school.

Do you have an idea for an article, tutorial, video or podcast? Do you have an imaging question unrelated to this article? Send me an email directly at ross@thephotovideoguy.ca or post in the comments.  When you email your questions on any imaging topic, I will try to respond within a day.

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I'm Ross Chevalier, thanks for reading, watching and listening and until next time, peace.