Chris Orwig's Lightroom Tips & Tricks: Picture Package, Print Sharpening, Prints and Printing, and Web Gallery Options
This article was originally published on PhotoshopUser.com.
Recently, I spent some time with Seal (the musician who also happens to be an amazing photographer and avid Lightroom user). Using Lightroom, he showed me photos from a recent trip to India and I was struck by the depth and thoughtfulness of his photography. Lightroom is an unbelievable tool used by a wide range of photographers. Here’s an assortment of output tips to help you make the most of Lightroom 2.
Print Sharpening
New in the Lightroom 2 Print module’s Print Job panel is the ability to add print sharpening based on the file’s output resolution and media type. Remember, however, that print sharpening is added to any sharpening that you’ve already done in the Develop module. In most cases, you’ll find that a Standard amount of sharpening will work best. (Note: Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the menu. The sharpening is of superior quality, as it’s based on the PhotoKit Sharpener algorithms.)
Printing and Rendering Intent
When printing JPEG files from Lightroom 2, you can choose between Perceptual and Relative rendering intents. Choose Perceptual if you may have many out-of-gamut colors, as it tries to preserve the visual relationship between colors and it shifts gamut colors to colors that can be printed. Choose Relative when you have fewer colors that are out of gamut, as Relative rendering preserves all of the in-gamut colors and shifts out-of-gamut colors to what it determines is the closest reproducible color.
Web Gallery options
In the Web module, you can choose from one of the five layouts (in the Engine panel) included with Lightroom. Or, check out a couple of other options out there:
- http://lightroom-blog.com/2008/05/gallery-resources.html
- SlideShow Pro (http://slideshowpro.net) is a third-party engine that creates a few popular galleries. It costs a few bucks but the results are really impressive and it integrates seamlessly with Lightroom. To view a sample gallery, visit http://www.chrisorwig.com/show.