Preparing photo for print

[TekART]

I have made edits to photo and I want to have a (Photo) print made (outsource). I am noticing A difference in the output jpeg photo on different devices (iPad, iMac, iPhone), which is not unexpected, but the differences are enough to make me worry about what I am going to see when I get the prints back.

What is the recommended workflow in Pixelmator Pro (iMac) to ensure I will get what I see (relatively speaking) on the screen? I see Softproof Colors as an option, is this were I need to be and are there ways to add printer profiles?

BTW, this is a nocturnal image so it is really dark.

BBTW, I am ‘somewhat’ new the print end of the game. Most of my career has focused on screen delivery.

[Andrius]

Hey there, Soft Proof Colors is indeed what you should be checking with to get an idea of what the image will look like printed. I'm not sure if the Apple Support page has instruction on installing profiles, but I found some here that should work:

https://www.redrivercatalog.com/profile ... n-osx.html

After soft proofing, you can choose File > Export > JPEG (or TIFF) and you should find that same profile in the Color Profile pop-up menu. Exporting the image with the associated profile should ensure you get a consistent result when printing. Will you be printing this with a printer at home or at a print shop? The reason I ask is print shops often have their own requirements for file types/etc. so you'd need to keep that in mind.

[TekART]

Awesome, thanks Andrius. I’ll be sending this one out to a printing company so I will attempt to get their printer info and profiles.

[Andrius]

Great stuff — do let me know if you hit any snags! In fact, let me know if everything goes great and your print looks fantastic. That's kind of the expected scenario but it's always nice to hear.

[Warric Leo]

Depending on the paper form and printer, how it appears when written full.

What I do is have paper profiles that I have loaded into Photoshop from my printer so I can "soft proof" the image. This simulates on paper what it is going to look like. Of course, to make it right, your display has to be calibrated, but seeing the difference between soft proof and non-soft proof lets you know what will happen when written. I like to print on matt, and that sometimes softens the contrast, so in Photoshop I bump that up a bit.

Sharpness. I'm not adding any. My pictures are pretty sharp as they are and I don't want any objects to be viewed. I'd recommend that you do a test print to see how it works out. Your photos may be different. Having a single print completed shouldn't cost much.

Reading reviews here about color printers. As for the white signature border, it's often a matt one that comes under the glass in a frame and places on top of the picture. Thus, an 8x10 print would be 8x10 sized and 8x10.0 printed out. Then you get a frame sized appropriately, with an 8x10 matte frame

If you don't frame it, you'll have to create an 8x10-sized canvas with a blank border around the painting.

Each time, I will also add, resize/crop your images to the exact size you want to print. To resize the full-sized file, don't leave it up to the printer.