Tutorial: Resizing images for printing using Adobe Photoshop

Tutorial: Resizing images for printing using Adobe Photoshop

Following hot on the heels of the last tutorial (“How to size digital images for printing using Lightroom 5“), here’s one on doing the same thing, but using Adobe Photoshop.

Again, this was “inspired” by questions I have received at various camera club competition nights in which I have judged. Many club competitions have a digital (projected images) category and a print category. Sometimes, trying to work out how to prep a digital image for printing can be discombobulating, so I hope this video tutorial helps.

A few important points to note:

• Make sure your monitor is calibrated to the printer you’re using (consult your print lab if you need calibration information).
• I used Adobe Photoshop CC2014 in this tutorial but you should be able to achieve the same results using Photoshop Elements — the Image Size interface may vary a bit but the key concepts should be the same.
• Find out from your print lab the colour space they use. Most labs (including the mini-labs found at retail chains) use sRGB, though professional labs will use AdobeRGB (1998).
• In the video tutorial, I’ve left the “Resample” option as “Automatic” — which means Photoshop will work out how best to resample the image after it has been resized. If you’d rather take control of this, then I recommend selecting “Bicubic Smoother Gradients” for a cleaner look after resizing.
• You should look at sharpening your image AFTER you have resized for print and before you save it out; there are different approaches to sharpening, so find one that works for you.

Okey dokey — here is the video!