lightroom-export to print?

[AgentX]

So I just started scanning film, and I'm using Lightroom.

A 35mm scan on my Coolscan, 16 bit b/w, is giving me a 20.1 MB .tiff file. I do some adjustments and a lot of spotting in LR2, then export as a .tiff again. Now it's much larger--60 mb or so.

I'm assuming it's the accumulated adjustments that are making the file larger...? Can I re-set the adjusted image to be the default original, hopefully dumping all the adjustment date and recovering a more manageable file size?

Or are my assumptions wrong...if so, how should I be exporting these so I can email/ftp them to a print service?

Thanks--sorry for my ignorance with this stuff.

 

[willie_901]

Practically all print services use RGB or sRGB jpegs. It is always best to contact the print service and see what sort of file specs they recommend/require. I don't believe printer are able use all of the information content in a .tiff file.

I suspect your LR tiffs are large because your output dimensions are too large. In the Export window set the print size and the set the ppi from 240 or 300. I use 100 jpeg quality. Don't use the Print module unless you plan to print to an attached printer or want to save images as PDFs.

 

[ReeRay]

Export as an 8 bit file - more than enough for printing

 

[ChrisN]

I think when LR exports it might convert the file to RGB, instead of the grayscale file you probably started with. That might account for the increase. I notice this myself - I scan in 16-bit grayscale, import to LR, do basic adjustments, then export as tiff to Photoshop CS2 for spotting and the harder dustbusting. At that point I notice my files are RGB. I have to convert back to grayscale before saving.

 

[AgentX]

Williw: Bair Fine Art Editions asks specifically for .tiff; I believe they say a high-quality .jpg is also acceptable, but I'm really trying to get the best image for my money for what they charge. Since I don't have any idea what the results from either file would look like, I was trying to play it safe. Any input...?

And why would my exported .tiffs be larger than my imported .tiffs in any case?

Also, Bair seems to want a record of your changes/manipulations and be able to navigate back to your original file. Is there even a way to do this with Lightroom? I vaguely understand that photoshop's layers allow this...

ChrisN, all lightroom offers me are color profiles in the export options...how can I get a grayscale profile? EDIT: Discovered the adobe help and lightroom forums, and found the Mogrify plug-in which should do the trick.

Thanks to all for your assistance.

 

[willie_901]

If Bair Fine Art wants tiffs, I would send them tiffs.

Your tiff could be larger because the export settings are adding pixels and upsizing the photos. As ChrisN points out, if you started with gray scale images, the LR would make three channel color images even though there is no color information. In this case ask Bair Fine Arts if they want color images or true monochrome images.

 

[AgentX]

So after some back-and-forth with Heath from Bair, I sent him a D70 SLR .jpg taken in-camera (around 3 mb) and a 35mm scan from my LS-40, which I converted from a .tiff to a best-quality .jpg of about 6 mb. Heath said we could go 24-30 inches long with the DSLR shot and 30-40 inches with the scan! He had no problems with the manipulations I'd made to the files, as they were pretty basic.

I think I'll start with some moderately-sized prints and see how it looks...I want something that looks like a classic photogravure, not a poster...

Has anyone had prints made by them in the past? This is my first experience with inkjet...