Lightroom 3 Print Improvements
With Lightroom 3 Beta having just been released, the first thing that most people will do – as I did – is to look and see if the features that you’ve always wanted in the program have been added.
One of the areas that Lightroom 2 fell a little short on in my book was the Print module. I wanted to be able to print with a colored background without having to import a background to use as a Identity Plate to achieve the effect and I wanted to be able to assemble a single printed sheet incorporating multiple images but I didn’t want them to have to always be the same size.
Ok, so the good news is I am a very happy gal! Both these problems are fixed in the new Lightroom 3 Beta. In fact, the new print module in Lightroom 3 Beta totally rocks.
Over the next few weeks I plan to post on some of the new features in the Lightroom 3 Beta but today I just want to show off the new Custom Picture Package tool.
Get the beta!
If you haven’t used Lightroom before or if you are interested in looking at the new Lightroom 3 Beta, visit http://labs.adobe.com to download the free Lightroom 3 Beta. As always you should never trust vital stuff and day to day work to a beta version of any software – it’s there to work with and experiment with but you can’t expect it to be 100% reliable.
Ok, technical stuff out of the way, let’s get into the Print module in Lightroom 3 Beta.
Step 1
Start with a selection of images – this can be a folder of images or a collection. Click the Print module and select Custom Package. Click the Page Size button and select your printer and page size – even if you will print to a JPEG file you still need to do this – Ok, so it’s not perfect!.
Step 2
Get ready for the most exciting change to Lightroom in my book at least. Grab an image from the filmstrip and drag and drop it onto the grid. Keep the grid visible for now as it makes it easier to line everything up.
When you drag and drop the image in position, you can resize it as desired.
Step 3
If you want the container to match the image aspect ratio click the Lock to Photo Aspect Ratio checkbox. If not, deselect it and you can size the image to any dimension you like – so you can create a portrait shape image from a Landscape one, for example.
Step 4
You can now drag and drop a second image into the display and size it to any dimension.
If your image is larger than the container, hold the Control key (Command on the Mac) and drag the image inside the container to find the best position for it.
Step 5
Continue and add the images that you want into your display.
If you prefer to use fixed size containers, you can click to add specific size containers using the options in the left hand panel. You can then drag images from the filmstrip to fill them.
Step 6
To change the background color, select the Page Background Color option and choose a color to use. If you choose anything other than solid black, you’ll still see the grid lines on the screen but these won’t print and you can turn them off if they’re in the way.
Step 7
Click the Identity Plate and you can add your own identity plate as you could with other versions.
When you’re done, from the Print To options, select to print to a printer or to a JPEG File and you can then print by clicking the Print/Print to File button.
Step 8
Before you leave the module, click the + symbol to the right of the Template Browser entry on the left panel and type a name for your template so it is saved and you can reuse it again in future.
While it’s still not perfect, the Print module in Lightroom now has support for features that were not achievable with Lightroom 2 without complex workarounds and which will be appreciated by avid Lightroom users everywhere.
11 Responses to “Lightroom 3 Print Improvements” - Add Yours
November 13th, 2009 at 12:49 am
While I don’t disagree that the gui is great and far more useful and usable – I found the Jpeg export to be extremely soft even when boosted in both develop and export sharpening. Now I haven’t used the print module to actually PRINT something, I tend to send things out to a lab; but the images I see in the Beta when I do that don’t look good enough to send out.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:17 am
From what I have seen there are vast print improvements in Lightroom 3 as you pointed out with this great article.
My only problem is I do all my printing through a lab and can’t seem to find a way to export these great print layouts as JPEG files unless I maybe print as PDF then convert to jpeg in Photoshop but then I might as well just do the whole thing in Photoshop. Does anyone know an easier way to export print templates to jpeg (with a colour profile) in Lightroom on a mac?
November 13th, 2009 at 4:06 am
hy i’m from romania,please help me raise money for the “nikon AF-S 18-105 f/3.5-5.6G vr” i can not afford to buy it. I have a Nikon D40 and love to have the 18-105 on it. please help me by clicking on the ADVERTISING at http://cipriangheorghe.8k.ro/index2.html (also here is my portfolio) One click means a lot to me. THANKS
November 13th, 2009 at 5:21 am
I’m working on a wedding album now on LR3 Beta. Its going great!
November 13th, 2009 at 9:00 am
hiya – if you click on ‘print to’ under ‘print job’ you can pick jpeg file – sort out your resolution and sharpening then click on print to file – this will open a window location to save the jpeg to
November 13th, 2009 at 10:54 am
cip,
While your intentions may be genuine, asking others to click on your Google advertising links is really unethical. Each time someone clicks on a link, it costs the advertiser of that link. I’d strongly recommend you check out Google’s rules for using pay-per-click as it addresses the issue of abusing the privilege. Not saying you are, just saying–as gently as I can–that it’s not appropriate.
I do wish you the best though in your efforts to procure the lens you got your heart set on. With that said though, given the limited resources you have, don’t look past the offerings from Sigma and Tokina. They got pretty good glass for a LOT less money.
Best of luck to you!
November 13th, 2009 at 11:26 am
No offense to you Ms. Bradley, and I commend you for taking the time to write this article, but why did you pick such boring, lifeless photographs as pieces of your demo? What’s the point of being able to use the feature of a program if you can’t put it to GOOD use?
November 14th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Probably because as she said, don’t trust your best to a beta.
November 15th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Wow Lightroom really is coming on strong.
But I can’t help wondering if it’s blurring the boundaries with Photoshop?
I still can’t really see any advantage in upgrading from 1.41 except for new ACR algorithms for new camera models.
Are you guys still using Photoshop or do you think Lightroom now has enough functionality not to need it anymore?
Pat
a href=”http://www.patbweddingphotography.com/weddings/” title=”Suffolk Wedding Photography”>Suffolk Wedding Photography
November 15th, 2009 at 6:54 am
To SWP: Really?! Those local edits in LR 2.x are a life-saver! The graduated filters have fixed so many shots where I did not have enough control of the light for me, it’s worth every penny. Not going through Photoshop for that saves a lot of time and harddisk space.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I’ll be interested in reading responses to Pat’s question. I have a friend who now uses LR for all development work on his images but not for printing. He goes to Photoshop for that. I use it to print and organize. I suspect the truth lies in that “personal preference” fog but will be interested to hear what others are thinking and doing.
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