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Exporting in Lightroom 3

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Leopard Lupus:
I'm looking for some tips here.
Coming from a history of black and white darkroom printing, I am not very familiar with the features of LR exporting. Editing is fine, but for some reason my final pieces of work are not as sharp as they should be. I am mainly shooting with a 5D mk ll and 135mm f/2 L lens, in RAW.
What should I be setting my File Settings and Image Size to? I am making physical prints around the size of 8x10.
Thanks!

Orangutan:
Why are you exporting?  (I mean this as real question)  If you're doing your own printing, you can print directly from Lightroom.  If you're printing from some other program, which one?  Photoshop?  If so, don't export it at all: LR has an option to transfer the image directly to PS.

General answer to the question: don't reduce the size or data content of your image until the final step (i.e. the actual printing)  If you're not printing from LR, then you should export it full size, in a lossless format.  The optimum export format will depend on the program that's going to print.

Leopard Lupus:
I have been exporting from LR once my edits are done, then sending them to Mpix.com for physical printing. Should I still be exporting, or going through LR's "print" function? (Sorry, should have clarified where my prints are being done)
Thanks for the reply, Orangutan!

Orangutan:

--- Quote from: Leopard Lupus on December 23, 2011, 12:59:01 AM ---sending them to Mpix.com for physical printing
--- End quote ---

That makes it easy: check their web site or email them and ask what export process gives them the best results.  Make sure to tell them what you expect from the prints: are they vacation snaps?  Paying customer prints?  Art prints?  If they say JPEG for everything you might want to consider a different print company.  (JPEG is fine for small prints, but if it's an "art" print you'll get better sharpness and tone gradation from a lossless format)

You might want to wait for more responses here: I actually don't do a lot of printing, so other folks here might be able to speak from greater experience.

Leopard Lupus:
I sent them an email, thank you again!

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