Using Contact Sheets in Adobe Lightroom

Transcription

1 Using Contact Sheets in Adobe Lightroom 1. This tutorial will show you how to use contact sheets in Lightroom. Begin by importing your photos into Lightroom and make sure you are in the Library. Review your photos to confirm that you have adjusted them as desired, the orientation is correct, and that they are in the desired order. 2. Click on the Loupe view to see a larger version of the photo. Click back on the Grid view icon to return to normal grid viewing of all photos.

2 3. Once you are back in Grid view, click on the Print module. 4. Select Contact Sheet/Grid rather than Picture Package.

3 5. In the Template Browser pane, you can select a preset contact sheet. In this case we are using 4x5 Contact Sheet.

4 6. You can make customizations by clicking on the grey arrow arrow beside of a topic (Layout Engine, Image Settings, Layout, Guides, Overlays, and Print Job) to view and select different options available to you. 7. To make your rulers are visible, click on Guides and then make sure that both Show Guides and Rulers are checked. You can also select or deselect the other opens in the Show Guides menu as desired. By looking at the rulers, you can see the page dimensions (8.5 by 11 in this case).

5 8. You can click on Page Setup to edit the contact sheet print size. 9. The options under Image Settings include Zoom to Fill, Rotate to Fit, Repeat One Photo per Page, and Stroke Border. Zoom to Fill will make the image sizes consistent, but crops off some of the photos. Rotate to Fit rotates images if necessary to produce the largest image that fits in each image cell. Repeat One Photo per Page repeats the selected in every image cell on the page in a Grid template layout. Stroke Border simply adds an adjustable border around the images.

6 10. The options under Layout include Ruler Units, Margins, Page Grid, Cell Spacing, Cell Size, and Keep Square. Ruler Units allows you to choose inches, centimeters, millimeters, points, or picas as the measurement unit for your page. The Margins option allows you to adjust the size of the top, bottom, right, and left margins on the contact sheet. Page Grid allows you to adjust the cell number on the page. The Cell Spacing option lets you adjust the amount of horizontal and vertical space between images. Cell Size lets you adjust the width and height of the cells. And finally, select the Keep Square checkbox to keep images proportional.

7 11. The options under Overlays include Identity Plate, Page Options, Photo Info, and Font Size.

8 Selecting Identity Plate allows you to add a watermark to your contact sheet. By clicking on the triangle in the Identity Plate text area (pictured above at the lower right side of the Lightroom text), you can edit the text. The Override Color checkbox allows you to change the color of the text. You can also adjust the opacity and scale of the watermark text. By checking the corresponding box, you can cause the text to Render behind image or Render on every image. Checking the box beside of Page Options will give you the choice of adding Page Numbers, Page Info, and Crop Marks to your contact sheet. Photo Info allows you to display information pertaining to the photos on the contact sheet. By clicking on Custom Settings, you can display the Caption, Custom Text, Date, Equipment, Exposure, Filename, Sequence, and Title for the images. To edit the details for those choices, click on the Edit link. The final item in the Overlays area is Font Size, which simply gives you the choice of resizing the font. 12. The options under Print Job vary depending on what you are printing to Printer or JPEG File.

9 In this case we are making a contact sheet for a class to be viewed on the computer rather than printed on paper, so we are printing to JEPG File. The options for the JPEG File print source are Draft Mode Printing, File Resolution, Print Sharpening, Media Type, JPEG Quality, Custom File Dimensions, and Color Management. Draft Mode Printing is used to print a quick draft of the contact sheet. Sharpening and color management controls aren t available using Draft Mode Printing. File Resolution allows you to edit the pixels per inch (ppi) of the images. Print Sharpening can be set to low, medium, or high. Media Type can be set to glossy or matte. The JPEG Quality slide bar lets you adjust the quality of the.jpg file. By selecting the checkbox next to Custom File Dimensions, you can edit the dimensions of the contact sheet. Color Management has two areas, Profile and Rendering Intent. We ll leave the Profile set to srgb, as it works well for computer monitors. Rendering Intent has two choices Perceptual and Relative. These two options determine how any out-of- gamut colors are handled. 13. After you have finished your customizations in Lightroom, review the contact sheets one more time before printing them. Click on the arrows below the contact sheet to scroll through multiple pages.

10 14. It is easy to move an image to a new location on a contact sheet. For example, you may want to move a particular image to a new location on the contact sheet for presentation purposes (in this case, the picture of the pink flower shown below). To move the image to a new location, go to Library module, select the image in the filmstrip, and drag it to a new location on the filmstrip. If you are having trouble dragging an image in the filmstrip, make sure that all of your images aren t selected by pressing Ctrl/Command +D. 15. When you are ready to print, go back to the Print module and make sure that All Filmstrip Photos is selected if you want to print all photos on the contact sheet. 16. Click on Print to File to create a.jpg of your contact sheet. You can then name your file and save it to your computer. It may take a few minutes to process the images and save the file.

11 17. Once you have customized settings for Lightroom, you have the option of saving the settings as a template if you want to reuse these settings in the future. Click on the plus sign next to the title in the Template Browser. Enter a name for your template, and click Create. This will save your template in the User Templates area of the Template Browser.