How can I ensure I'm saving the highest resolution in Lightroom?

[stephsleeps]

For the longest time I've just exported my photos as "Full Size" whenever saving an edited photo from Lightroom.
I have sent a paying client photos of what I saved as full size export but they are asking if I have even higher resolution.

I'm not sure if they are confused b/c of the DPI information or how they're downloading off google drive or if I am saving incorrectly.

I attached a screencap of info when I click on show inspector.

 

[JBrunner]

Hi, are these commercial clients or regular folks looking to make prints? Is 5858x3905 your sensor size? (excluding crop for aspect ratio)

 

[stephsleeps]

Hi, are these commercial clients or regular folks looking to make prints? Is 5858x3905 your sensor size? (excluding crop for aspect ratio)

Hi, this is a band and I think they may possibly be using these for an album cover so possibly printing. I have never had printing issues saving this way, and photos were shot on with multiple formats but for these ones an A7. " The a7 utilizes a 24.3 megapixel full-frame, 35.8 x 23.9mm CMOS sensor"

 

[JBrunner]

One suggestion, send them the files using WeTransfer instead of Google drive, then they will get exactly what you upload. Also, plenty of people can't parse the fact that the same file can be displayed at different DPI, when in fact it takes DPI at dimension to denote resolution. They think lower DPI is bd and higher DPI is better despite the fact that the pixel count doesn't change, just the size of the image does. 300 DPI at whatever size for print is normally something to aspire to, but 240 is adequate. At 300 DPI the long side of your file is 20 inches. What are they trying to do? With a little more info I can give more accurate advice.

 

[JBrunner]

Hi, this is a band and I think they may possibly be using these for an album cover so possibly printing. I have never had printing issues saving this way, and photos were shot on with multiple formats but for these ones an A7. " The a7 utilizes a 24.3 megapixel full-frame, 35.8 x 23.9mm CMOS sensor"

Ok, so you are near full res for your camera. I think Google might be screwing things up or they (your clients) just don't get it. If they are using a graphic designer though, give them PSD files or TIFF. JPG throws quality away when it compresses. The files will be larger (the dimension doesn't change though) because their is no compression that is throwing information away. Friends don't let friends use JPEG.

 

[JBrunner]

Also, if you need to uprez the Lanczos algorithm in RAW Therapee (its free) is hard to beat (beats the snot out of Adobe, and I like my Adobe stuff). You could uprez by another thousand or so pixels in the long dimension and totally get away with it. RAW Therapee is super powerful, but also cryptic to use. There are videos on YouTube that can help you figure it out.

Lightroom>ouput full res as TIFF> uprez in RAW Therapee>output as TIFF

 

[wiltw]

For the longest time I've just exported my photos as "Full Size" whenever saving an edited photo from Lightroom.
I have sent a paying client photos of what I saved as full size export but they are asking if I have even higher resolution.

I'm not sure if they are confused b/c of the DPI information or how they're downloading off google drive or if I am saving incorrectly.

I attached a screencap of info when I click on show inspector.

View attachment 267698

You CAN tell Lightroom to export a larger pixel count than the native count of your camera, if you have shot RAW.
Your camera's 5859 horizontal pixel count would ordinarily print 19.5" long x 13" at 300 ppi.
So tell LR to Export a larger JPG file that is 39" x 26" at 300 ppi, and it will export a JPG with 11716 Hpixels x 7810 Vpixels, for example.

I did that to print a canvas 20" x 60" from my Canon S120 P&S

 

[JBrunner]

You CAN tell Lightroom to export a larger pixel count than the native count of your camera, if you have shot RAW.
Your camera's 5859 horizontal pixel count would ordinarily print 19.5" long x 13" at 300 ppi.
So tell LR to Export a larger JPG file that is 39" x 26" at 300 ppi, and it will export a JPG with 11716 Hpixels x 7810 Vpixels, for example.

I did that to print a canvas 20" x 60" from my Canon S120 P&S

This is also true, and it uses the Adobe algorithm. I get better results with RAW Therapee, but what wiltw suggests is way easier. I'd try what he suggests first and see if that can meet your needs. And yeah, always shoot RAW.

 

[stephsleeps]

You CAN tell Lightroom to export a larger pixel count than the native count of your camera, if you have shot RAW.
Your camera's 5859 horizontal pixel count would ordinarily print 19.5" long x 13" at 300 ppi.
So tell LR to Export a larger JPG file that is 39" x 26" at 300 ppi, and it will export a JPG with 11716 Hpixels x 7810 Vpixels, for example.

I did that to print a canvas 20" x 60" from my Canon S120 P&S

This is what the settings look like. I can choose Full Size which looks like this:
or Custom: Seems like i can only adjust long side. Also when I adjusted to 300 PPI it was very pixelated so I changed it to what looked best which was 4,000? Idk I'm so confused truthfully.

 

[stephsleeps]

Ok, so you are near full res for your camera. I think Google might be screwing things up or they (your clients) just don't get it. If they are using a graphic designer though, give them PSD files or TIFF. JPG throws quality away when it compresses. The files will be larger (the dimension doesn't change though) because their is no compression that is throwing information away. Friends don't let friends use JPEG.

Yes. I sent them as JPG with the idea in mind that they still have to choose their favorite picks since my intention is to go further into editing after they choose. I just wanted to know in advance before I send again.

 

[JBrunner]

Always shoot RAW

Yes. I sent them as JPG with the idea in mind that they still have to choose their favorite picks since my intention is to go further into editing after they choose. I just wanted to know in advance before I send again.

Ok cool. Your file is plenty usable at 16x20@300dpi. That's way bigger than an album cover. An old school LP is only 12x12. Unless google is messing with what you send them or they are downloading wrong somehow I can't imagine what they are expecting or why. Welcome to Photrio BTW.

 

[Wallendo]

With digital images, the dpi and print size settings are really just metadata. You can change them to any size your client wants.
It may be helpful to call on the phone to ask what their concerns are for this image, With a horizontal resolution of 5858, this image is too large to be completely displayed on a 5K display, much less a standard computer or laptop monitor. It is therefore unlikely that your clients are really noticing any problems with your image (other than possible jpg artifacts).
Once you find out what your client wants, it should be easy to adjust the dpi and/or print size settings to something your client wants. If it is a file size issue, send then 48-bit uncompressed TIFF files - that should really please them.

 

[Chan Tran]

Just change the EXIF data to 300dpi or higher (it doesn't make any difference but just sent that to your client). You image is about 24MP and if your client want more I don't think you have it to give them and unlikely any use of your image would require more than 24MP.

 

[wiltw]

This is what the settings look like. I can choose Full Size which looks like this: View attachment 267699
or Custom: View attachment 267700 Seems like i can only adjust long side. Also when I adjusted to 300 PPI it was very pixelated so I changed it to what looked best which was 4,000? Idk I'm so confused truthfully.

The Lightroom Export dialog allows you to specify the print dimensions, and the ppi density...it will export the number of pixels in order to make a print of that size and density, regardless of the pixel count of the original RAW data. For example, if you specified at time of Export that you wanted a 30" x 20" print at 400ppi, it would output a JPG with12000 x 8000 pixels.
I surmise you messed up during the Export dialog.

All too often, the client or the lab does not really understand what they are talking about, so they ask for a combination of parameters which really makes no sense as a request...their needs can be met fully with different parameters than they were asking for!
For example, a lab might want 300 pixels per inch of print, and they fail to understand that YOU do not need that pixel density because your image would never be viewed from closer than 50' away...and the human eye cannot perceive pixel density of 300 ppi from that distance.