Don’t think that the Print module in Lightroom can, or should, be used only to print your pictures on paper. It is also a great way to create custom layouts and export JPG files for social media or websites, and pictures to be sent to a print shop.
The possibility to create custom templates for specific uses, with many layout and design options, makes it a very versatile tool and it is surprising that most users never even consider using that module to export images.
If you haven’t seen it yet, watch my video tutorial on how to create your own Print templates.
Making a template is not a difficult task, but creating a lot of them for many different uses may be a little time-consuming, that’s why I have created this Print Templates Pack for you, containing 100+ templates for social media, web and print. And all of that for a very low price, or even for free if you support my work on Patreon.
The Print Templates Pack contains:
Those are just broad categories and each template can of course be used any way you want.
Installing them in your Lightroom Classic takes just a few seconds and they can all be adjusted depending on your needs. Below is the full list of the included templates, as well as a few relevant notes and advice.
Print Templates for social media
Each social network has its own specific requirements when it comes to images, but there two things are really important when publishing images: the aspect ratio of the image and the total dimensions in pixels.
The basic export options in Lightroom Classic are enough for simple uses, but doesn’t even offer the option to add a simple border to images. That, and much more can be done easily in the Print module and if you can apply a saved template to a picture in a single click.
Among the many layouts you can achieve is the much beloved staggered Instagram grid, alternating portrait and landscape orientation pictures that have white bands on the left/right or top/bottom (an optionally an extra border all around), so they fill a square image.
With the adequate template, no need for plugins, Photoshop or yet another app on your smartphone just for that!
To take another example, an image for Instagram post should be 1080px wide and up to 1350px tall, for a ratio of 4 x 5.
Images taller than the 4 x 5 aspect ratio will be cropped, while wider images will not use the maximum available “screen real estate”.
Pictures that have a width different than 1080px (no matter their aspect ratio) will be resized, which can in some cases cause visible degradation in image quality.
The width 1080px is currently the native width for Instagram, among others, while the current maximum width for Facebook images is 2048px, so both are included for most templates in my pack.
Social media templates included in my Print Templates Pack:
| orientation | aspect ratio | width |
|---|---|---|
| landscape | 3 x 2 4 x 3 5 x 4 16 x 9 16 x 10 | 1080px & 2048px |
| portrait | 2 x 3 4 x 5 5 x 7 | 1080px & 2048px |
| portrait | 3 x 4 | 1080px |
| square | 1 x 1 | 1080px & 2048px |
| portrait (story) | 9 x 16 | 1080px* |
| landscape (panorama)** | 2 x 1 3 x 1 | 1080px & 2048px |
* 1080 x 1920 pixels for stories is pretty much the only aspect ratio/size that is standard on all platforms, including Facebook.
** Panoramas don’t have the best aspect ratio for social media display (check out this tutorial for a way to make them look better on Instagram).
Print Templates for web
While you can, and most certainly do, choose a maximum resolution or size when you export files from Lightroom, the JPG files will have the same aspect ratios as the original pictures. Unless they have all been cropped using the same ratio (or taken with a single camera and not cropped at all), you might have files with distinct dimensions, which is not necessarily ideal for certain uses online. They could cause alignment issues or a photo grid might look odd due to the pictures having distinct sizes.
Besides cropping the pictures in the Develop module, the only way to export a set of images all with the exact same aspect ratio is with the Print module.
And since in that module you can just click and move a picture around to reframe it whenever there is some crop due to a difference between the picture itself and the “paper” aspect ratios, it’s easy to get the perfect look very quickly and almost automatically.
Web/video templates included in my Print Templates Pack:
| orientation | size |
|---|---|
| landscape | 1280 x 960 (web small) 1440 x 1080 (web medium) 1600 x 1200 (web large) 1280 x 720 (HD) 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) 2560 x 1440 (WQHD) 3840 x 2160 (4k) |
| portrait | 720 x 960 (web small) 960 x 1280 (web medium) 1080 x 1440 (web large) |
| square | 960 x 960 (web small) 1080 x 1080 (web medium) 1200 x 1200 (web large) |
| landscape (panorama) | 1440 x 720 (aspect 1 x 2) 1920 x 960 (aspect 1 x 2) 2160 x 1080 (aspect 1 x 2) 2400 x 1200 (aspect 1 x 2) 2160 x 720 (aspect 1 x 3) 2880 x 960 (aspect 1 x 3) 3240 x 1080 (aspect 1 x 3) 3600 x 1200 (aspect 1 x 3) |
Print Templates for print shop
It is obviously possible to print pictures directly from the print module, but my templates are configured to export JPG files that you can then send to a print shop. You could of course easily print pictures yourself, for that, select the adequate template, adjust the settings in the Print Job panel to “send to printer” and select the correct paper size.
The following are some of the most common paper sizes in 300ppi, which is what most print shops require. As all the other templates, these can quickly be modified to create another size, add stroke borders, etc.
Should you need custom-made templates, for example for a whole set of specific standard page sizes, such as ISO 216 (A3, A4, B3,…), feel free to contact me with your exact requirements and I’ll send you a quote.
Print shop templates included in my Print Templates Pack:
4 x 6 in (~10 x 15 cm)
5 x 7 in (~13 x 18 cm)
8 x 10 in (~20 x 25 cm)
11 x 14 in (~28 x 36 cm)
12 x 16 in (~30 x 40 cm)
panorama 5 x 15 in (~13 x 39 cm)
panorama 8 x 24 in (~20 x 60 cm)
panorama 12 x 36 in (~30 x 90 cm)
square 5 in (~13 cm)
square 10 in (~25 cm)
square 12 in (~30 cm)
square 16 in (~41 cm)
square 20 in (~51 cm)
For paper prints, the orientation does not matter and the picture will automatically be rotated to fill the image size. If there is some crop due to a difference between the picture and paper aspect ratios, you can simply click and move the picture around to reframe it, just as with any of the above templates.
Feel free to let me know if you have questions in the comments section below and I’ll be pleased to help you.