How to Use InDesign to Combine Lightroom Book Pages into Spreads for Banti Album Proofing

Adobe Lightroom exports photo album pages as single images rather than full spreads, but you can easily combine these pages into spreads using Adobe InDesign. Follow these steps to set up your spreads in InDesign and export them as JPEG files that are optimized for Banti Album Proofing.

What You’ll Need:

• Adobe Lightroom (Classic)
• Adobe InDesign (preferably the latest version)

Step 1: Export Pages from Lightroom

1. Organize Pages: In Lightroom, order your pages as they’ll appear in the album.
2. Export Settings: Go to File > Export and configure the settings:
   • File Format: JPEG.
   • Image Quality: 80-100% for clear images.
   • Resolution: 300 pixels per inch (ppi).
   • File Naming: Name each file sequentially (e.g., “Page_1,” “Page_2”) for easy importing.
3. Export: Save the pages to a designated folder.

Step 2: Set Up a New Document in InDesign

1. Open InDesign: Create a new document by going to File > New > Document.
2. Document Setup:
   • Intent: Choose Print.
   • Page Size: Set the page dimensions to match your album size (e.g., for an 8x10 album, set the page size to 8x10 inches).
   • Orientation: Choose Landscape or Portrait.
3. Page Layout:
   • Facing Pages: Enable Facing Pages to work with spreads.
   • Margins and Bleed: Set a bleed of 0.125 inches if your design extends to the page edges.

Step 3: Import and Place Pages as Spreads

1. Open Pages Panel: Go to Window > Pages.
2. Place Images:
   • Click on the first page in the Pages panel.
   • Go to File > Place, select the corresponding image file (e.g., “Page_1.jpg”), and place it on the left side of the spread.
   • Repeat for the next page, placing it on the right side.
3. Fit to Frame: Right-click each image and select Fitting > Fit Content to Frame to ensure the image fills the page area.

Step 4: Export Spreads as JPEGs

1. Export Settings:
   • Go to File > Export and choose the location to save your files.
   • Select JPEG as the file format.
2. JPEG Export Options:
   • Export: Under Export As, select Spreads to export each two-page spread as a single JPEG file.
   • Resolution: Set Resolution to 72 ppi. This will keep the dimensions under 1200 pixels wide (as InDesign scales 8x10 spreads to fit within this limit).
   • Quality: Choose High (80%) to balance image quality and file size.
   • Color Space: Choose sRGB for consistent online display quality.
3. Export: Click Export to save each spread as a JPEG.

Step 5: Review and Upload to Banti Album Proofing

1. Check Dimensions: Confirm that each spread is at about 1200 pixels wide. Larger files are fine. They'll just longer to upload and process. If you need resize them, use an image editor like Photoshop to fine-tune.
2. Upload: Log in to your Banti Album Proofing (bantialbumproofing.com/login) account and upload your spreads.

Tips for Best Results

• File Naming: Use consistent naming for easy placement and sequence verification. For Banti, it's best if you use names with at least three characters (i.e. 001.jpg, 002.jpg, etc)
• Quality Control: After exporting, review JPEGs to ensure all spreads look as intended.
• Sizing Consistency: Using 72 ppi resolution should keep all spreads close to the 1200px requirement, but always double-check for consistency.

With this workflow, you’ll have beautiful, cohesive spreads ready for Banti Album Proofing, perfect for showcasing your work to clients.