How to prepare photos for print: size, colour and paper
A photo that looks perfect on screen can disappoint on paper: darker than expected, a little soft, or with someone's head cut off by the crop. None of this is bad luck. A screen glows with its own light, while paper only reflects the light in the room, and print sizes have fixed shapes that rarely match your camera's. This guide walks through the steps that matter, in the order you would do them: check the pixels, crop to the print shape, tame your screen, export in the right colour space, sharpen, choose paper and make a test print.
Pixels needed at 300 PPI (approximate)
1Check you have enough pixels
Print resolution is measured in pixels per inch (PPI): how many image pixels are spread across each inch of paper. Around 300 PPI is the usual target for prints held in the hand, such as 4 × 6 in or 8 × 10 in, because at reading distance the eye cannot pick out finer detail. The simple sum is print size in inches × 300 = pixels needed on that side.
Large prints are viewed from further away, so they need fewer pixels per inch. As a rule of thumb, a poster seen from 6–10 ft looks fine at 150 PPI, and a billboard far less. A modern 24-megapixel file (6000 × 4000 px) makes a sharp 13 × 20 in print at 300 PPI and a perfectly good 26 × 40 in print at 150 PPI.
The PPI number stored in the file (often 72) does not matter on its own; only the pixel count and the print size do.
- Look up the pixel dimensions of your photo (in the file info or your editor's Image Size dialog).
- Divide each side by the print size in inches to see the PPI you will get.
- Aim for about 300 PPI for small prints and accept 150–200 PPI for large prints viewed from a distance.
- If you are short, print smaller or let the lab or a good upscaling tool enlarge it, then check a test print.
2Crop to the print's shape
Most cameras make 3:2 images, many phones 4:3, and print sizes come in their own ratios: 4 × 6 in is 3:2, but 5 × 7 in, 8 × 10 in and 11 × 14 in are all different. If the shapes do not match, the lab will either crop for you, sometimes cutting feet or heads, or leave white bars.
Cropping yourself keeps the decision in your hands. Do it on a copy, so the full frame stays available for other sizes.
- Pick the print size first, then set your editor's crop tool to that exact ratio (for example 4:5 for 8 × 10 in).
- Move the crop box so the subject and its breathing room survive, and keep a little margin near the edges in case the lab trims slightly.
- Turn off the lab's automatic 'fill' or 'fit' option, or check its preview, so it does not recrop your work.
- Save each crop as a separate file named with its size, such as 'harbour_8x10.jpg'.
3Lower your screen brightness
The most common complaint about prints is that they come out too dark. The usual cause is the screen, not the printer: phones and laptops are often set very bright, so you edit the photo darker to look right, and paper cannot match that glow.
A calibrated screen set to a moderate brightness gives a much fairer preview. A hardware calibrator (a small sensor that hangs on the screen) is the reliable way; without one, simply turning the brightness down helps a great deal.
- Edit in a room with steady, moderate light, not in the dark with the screen at full brightness.
- If you have a calibrator, set a target of roughly 80–120 cd/m² for print work and a white point around 6500 K (approximate starting values).
- Without a calibrator, lower the screen to about half brightness and turn off automatic brightness and night or warm modes.
- Check the histogram as well as your eyes: if the shadows are crowded on the left, the print will likely look heavy.
4Export in sRGB
A colour space defines the range of colours a file can describe. sRGB is the standard for screens and the web, and most consumer labs and online print services expect it. Wider spaces such as Adobe RGB can hold more colours, but if a lab ignores the profile, the print comes out dull and flat.
Unless your lab specifically asks for Adobe RGB or offers its own printer profiles, sRGB is the safe choice.
- Read your lab's file guidelines; most ask for sRGB JPEG files.
- In your editor's export dialog, set the colour space to sRGB and make sure the profile is embedded.
- Export as a high-quality JPEG (quality around 90–100) or as TIFF if the lab accepts it.
- If you print at home on a photo printer, follow the printer's instructions and use the paper profile it supplies.
5Sharpen for the paper
Ink spreads slightly as it soaks into paper, so a print looks a little softer than the same image on screen. Print sharpening adds back that edge contrast. It is a separate step from the sharpening you do for screens, and it is done last, at the final print size.
Because paper softens the effect, print sharpening should look slightly too strong on screen at 100% zoom. Matte paper softens more than glossy, so it needs a bit more.
- Resize the image to the final print size before sharpening.
- Use your editor's output sharpening option for 'matte' or 'glossy' paper if it has one, set to standard strength.
- With a manual tool such as unsharp mask, start with a small radius (around 1 px at 300 PPI) and a moderate amount.
- Avoid bright halos around edges on screen; if you see them at 50% zoom, back off.
6Choose the paper: glossy or matte
Glossy paper gives deep blacks, rich colour and crisp detail, but it reflects lights and shows fingerprints. Matte paper has no shine, so it is easy to view under any lamp and behind glass, but its blacks are lighter and colours a little softer. Lustre or semi-gloss sits in between and is a popular all-round choice.
There is no correct answer; it depends on the photo and where it will hang.
- Choose glossy for bright, colourful and high-contrast photos you will hold or keep in an album.
- Choose matte for portraits, soft landscapes, black and white, and prints that will hang near windows or lamps.
- Try lustre or semi-gloss if you are unsure; it hides fingerprints and still gives good contrast.
- If the print goes behind glass, matte or lustre reduces double reflections.
7Use soft proofing (briefly)
Soft proofing is a preview mode in editors such as Lightroom and Photoshop that simulates on screen how the photo will look on a particular paper and printer, using that paper's profile. It shows which colours fall outside what the paper can reproduce and how much the blacks will lift on matte paper.
It is optional for lab prints in sRGB, but useful for home printing or fine-art papers.
- Download the ICC profile for your printer and paper from the manufacturer or lab, if one is offered.
- Turn on soft proofing in your editor, choose that profile and compare it with the normal view.
- Make small adjustments (often a little extra brightness or saturation) on a proof copy, not on the master file.
8Make a test print first
A test print is the cheapest way to find problems before you order a large or expensive print. A small print, or a strip of the most important area at full size, shows brightness, colour and sharpness on real paper.
Look at it in normal daylight or a neutral room light, not under a warm bedside lamp, and at the distance the final print will be viewed from.
- Order or print a 4 × 6 in version, or a crop of a key area at full size.
- Compare it with your screen and note whether it is darker, warmer or softer.
- Adjust the file (or your screen brightness) and test again if the difference is large.
- Once you are happy, keep the final settings in a note so the next order matches.
Before you send it to print
- Enough pixels for the size (about 300 PPI, or 150 PPI for big prints)
- Cropped to the exact print ratio
- Screen brightness lowered or calibrated
- Exported in sRGB with the profile embedded
- High-quality JPEG or TIFF
- Sharpened at the final size for the paper
- Paper chosen: glossy, lustre or matte
- Small test print checked in neutral light
