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Photoshop: Automate print settings

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The Photoshop print window has so many options that it’s easy to get lost. Thanks to specific actions, you can choose a printer, profile, print size, and the driver’s print settings with one mouse click.

Photoshop has very sophisticated printing functions but does not have easy-to-implement print presets like Lightroom. To save the software’s print settings, you have to create custom actions.

Thanks to its adjustment masks, Photoshop remains essential for photo retouching, even if Lightroom has dramatically improved image development. However, Photoshop offers less immediacy in organising and processing images. Lightroom presets are easier to implement. For printing, the approaches of the two software are different. Photoshop only takes one image at a time, while Lightroom can batch print. Photoshop offers more varied colour management settings because the software is designed for photography and printing.

Photoshop’s print settings have more varied colour management than Lightroom, especially for rendering intents.

Printing from Photoshop rather than Lightroom

The Lightroom Print module makes it easy to create presets for page layout, print driver settings, and preselection of the most used ICC profiles. When an image is opened in Photoshop from Lightroom (right-click, edit in Photoshop), all changes made in Photoshop are updated in Lightroom. You can, therefore, print the image from Lightroom. At the same time, it is still open in Photoshop, provided you save it beforehand to be sure to print the latest version of the edited image. Alternatively, printing with Photoshop is a practice that many professionals appreciate.

An action to quickly access the appropriate settings

Although Photoshop’s print settings are more sophisticated than those of Lightroom, the application does not offer presets that are as easy to implement as in Lightroom. When you need an ICC profile in Photoshop, you must endure an endless list that includes shooting profiles, screen calibration profiles, RGB and CMYK printing profiles, etc. It is impossible to save a targeted selection of profiles, like a “short list.” But there is a remedy. An action can integrate Photoshop’s print settings and memorise several settings.

Photoshop does not allow you to create a “short list” of ICC profiles, like Lightroom, which can be time-consuming when selecting the desired profile.

Recording steps

An action is developed by listing several steps. Then, the steps are applied to a reference image to create the action. You must generate as many actions as possible in different print settings (print size, printer, and paper type). But most of the time, we print with a limited selection of papers and formats. A few actions will suffice.

To organise actions by theme, all actions concerning printing are gathered in a specific set (this is how Photoshop names the action folders). The actions window is made visible by the Window > Actions menu. A Print folder has been added. A new action will record the print settings in A3+ format in Landscape orientation. The role of each action must be identified by its name, for example, an Epson 3880 printer using Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper (PLPP).

In the case of printing an image, the first step is to determine the size of the image and its resolution. Take the example of an action created with a 6000 x 4000-pixel file for an image size of 45 cm long on a sheet of A3+ paper (13 x 19 inches, or 329 x 483 mm). The resolution of the file is then 338 ppi. Photoshop will memorise this resolution.

The first step is to adjust the size of the image without resampling.

Colour management is the next essential step.

Let Photoshop manage the colours and choose the print profile. The rendering intent will default to Relative Colorimetric with Black Point Compensation or Perceptual. This parameter will be adjusted depending on the presence or absence of out-of-gamut colours.
By clicking on Print Settings, the driver window opens. The screenshots are from a Mac. You can easily transpose this to a PC version, the goal being to select the usual settings that correspond to the settings adapted to the printer and the paper used.
The paper size is chosen in the main window of the driver, here Super A3 (A3+).
In the printer driver, you access the printer configuration menu via Printer Options. This is where you choose the media type and print quality.
The settings are saved by clicking on Finish.
Then, close the action recording by clicking on the square button.

Readjust the image size

If Photoshop memorises the resolution, it cannot, however, memorise an image size in cm (or mm or inches) for images of a different size than the one used to create the action unless you combine a resolution resampling with a size adjustment in cm. The action was made from a 6000 x 4000-pixel file with a 3000 x 2000-pixel file, so Photoshop’s print settings will not memorise the 45 cm length, but the resolution will be 338 ppi. Therefore, the Photoshop print window will display an image 22.5 cm long. You will, thus, need to adjust the length to 45 cm in the print settings.

Applied to an image of a different definition than the 6000 x 4000 pixels long, in this case, 3000 x 2000 pixels, the action means that only the resolution of 338 ppi is preserved.
To obtain an image width of 45 cm, simply change the dimensions of the Width box.

To Resample Systematically or Not to Resample?

The issue of image size needing to be taken into account can be solved by systematically resampling before printing. For example, it can be decided that any image to be printed at 45 cm must first be resampled to a fixed resolution, such as 300 ppi. However, this requires creating copies of the master files as a precaution to avoid accidentally resampling the originals. We prefer to manually adjust the final image size in Photoshop’s print settings without resampling. The printer driver will automatically adjust the file resolution to the printer’s native resolution. For low-resolution images (less than 150 ppi), upsampling beforehand with the latest AI-powered software, such as Topaz Gigapixel AI or Photo AI, is beneficial.

Discover the photography courses at Spéos

Spéos offers various training courses ranging from simple one-week photography workshops (initiation and advanced level) to 3-year courses. The long courses to become professional photographers allow you not only to master all the photographic techniques and its vocabulary (blurs, hyperfocus, sharpness zone, depth of field, backlighting, focal length, shutter release, autofocus, wide-angle, rule of thirds, etc.), but also all the stages of shooting and image processing.

Visiting the school allows you to discover the premises, the studios and the equipment, and is undoubtedly the best way to familiarize yourself with your future way of working. This is why, in addition to the open days, Spéos offers throughout the year personalized visits by appointment to come and discover the school with a member of the team.

Text and photos: Philippe Bachelier, teacher of Printing techniques at Spéos

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