Exporting from Adobe Lightroom for Bookmaker (DPI, etc.)

[OWL]

Hi,

I've read all the threads on this that I found, as well as the help guide, and this may be something of a repeat question but I am still a little lost because there seem to be some contradictory answers. The help guide says several things:

1. Use a pixel res of about 180
2. Use pixel res of 300 for small pictures but not big ones
3. Use images taken at 7 megapixels or less

Some posts have recommeded 350 since the printer prints at 175 and 300 is an even multiple; other posts say that higher res images will pixelate when they are compressed for the book.

Well, ok. I shoot with a Rebel XTi (10 megapixels) and am wanting to use Bookmaker to create a portfolio. Since this is to be a sample of my work, I'm not necessarily trying to have the highest quality images as much as show my ability (or lack of it). Judging from the samples I've looked at, I'm sure that the finished product will be quite good.

I use Photoshop (CS3) and Lightroom (a little redundant, I know), and with LR it is very easy to export images in a wide variety of formats and at just about any screen pixel size. With LR, I can export .jpg files at 180ppi/1600x1200, or at 350ppi/1600x1200 - just about any dimension or pixel res. So it won't be hard for me to actually get the image the "right" size - I just want to make sure that I know what the "right" size is.

So my question is, what exactly is the best combination of resolution and dimension for getting the best image while keeping the filesize small and practical enough to upload and print? Will 350 ppi work well for every image or not? Many of these will be full-page images. (Incidentally, at this point I'm not planning to create a custom page in Photoshop; for now I'm just going to use the picture molds and watch the blue rectangle.)

Thanks very much!

- another Rob

[Cruiser]

I have a Nikon D200 (10.2 megapixel). I shoot raw so open PS CS3 ACR, tweek my pictures and then I open PS. I have ACR set for Adobe 1998 and 350 dpi so the photo opens at that size and resolution. If you shoot in JPEG, have it open as sRGB and 350 dpi. The pictures seems small but they work fine on all of the pages. Saved at 100%, they run about 2 to 3 mb. I always get a blue line when I put them in my book. If you find your pictures are cropped too much by the software, use the adjust button to get them to fit like you want. When I want to add captions, occasionally I use the captions in MyPublisher but not very often. I do them in PS. If I make a Deluxe or Classic album, my full bleed photos are sized in inches. They run about 5 to 6 mb. You can use the smaller files for full bleed but I find the 5 to 6 mb works great. MyPublisher says 7 mb prints fine. As long as you get the blue line around your pictures, your book should print fine.

I asked a lot of questions and got some really good answers. Some of the answers irusan gave me got me on the right track.

Here is a link to my North To Alaska 2006 Deluxe book. All the pictures were just as I told you above.

http://www.mypublisher.com/bookstore/book_viewer.py?order_id=M408370&sp=x

[OWL]

I shoot raw also (oops, forgot to mention that). Actually, the Canon shoots raw with a jpeg sidecar, but I prefer the raw. You've reminded me of something else, though - RGB. Lightroom will export (save as) in sRGB, AdobeRGB (1998), or ProPhoto RGB - for this purpose, is ProPhoto a better choice than 1998 or does it matter?

I'll probably do a Deluxe version; the larger image size is really appealing, so I'm glad to know that 7 meg files are ok.

Enjoyed the layout in the Alaska album - great shots; I think I'm ready to go north, now! Thanks for steering the newbie along, here! Irusan's posts on this (the ones I've read) have been very informative; just wanted to double check since there seemed to be some discrepancy between what he suggested and the Help section. Once I get the hang of it everything should be smooth sailing. Will give this a shot and then post back and let you know how it works out.

Thanks again,
Rob

[Cruiser]

MyPublisher's presses are closest to the Adobe 1998 from what they told me. One thing though when you use the large files...your computer might get very slow as you increase the number of pages. I'm working on page 65 now and my computer is becoming sluggish. Others on this forum have mentioned that too.

One last thought. Allow about 1/2" on the binding side of your picture or you will lose something you might want to keep. That happened to me on another book and the Cape Horn in my picture Rainbow Over Cape Horn got cut off.