Pre Sharpening

Can someone explain the term pre sharpening to me?

As far as I can tell, its basically having a defined sharpening setting in lightroom, so an image is sharpened, then when you edit the image or adjust you sharpen is a second time and export also..

I've read about two pass sharpening? How do you do this in lightroom..
When I sharpen the image thats it isn't it, how do I then sharpen again..can someone explain for a newbie.. with a simplified work flow..

Thanks

This is from Nik's website for Sharpener Pro.

RAW Presharpener
The updated RAW Presharpener feature retains and enhances sharp details within images without amplifying noise and artifacts. RAW Presharpener compensates for the potential loss of clarity and detail caused through digital capture or digital noise reduction techniques.

Output Sharpener
Designed to sharpen based on proven loss of detail caused by different output methods and devices, the Output Sharpener filter provides the optimum controls for creating perfectly sharpened images for such devices as display, inkjet, continuous tone, half tone, and hybrid print devices.

Do I need that to pre sharpen?

I'd like to just use lightroom if possible and the steps to sharpen as they say in two pass..?

I have never heard the term 'pre-sharpen'. Maybe you mean a sharpening preset which applies a predetermined setting of the four Detail panel sliders. Two sharpening presets are supplied with the application, one low radius for detailed landscape-like images and the other high radius for portraits, and you can make your own presets of your preferred sharpening settings.

There are three kinds of sharpening in Lightroom: Global sharpening applied to the entire image is set in the Detail panel. Its nature can be changed drastically according to the positions of the sliders - for instance, 0 Detail is straight USM, 100 is deconvolution (Smart) sharpening and any number in between is a blend of the two, or high masking makes for edge sharpening. Second, there is local sharpening applied to a restricted area with the Brush or the Digital GND (it uses whatever settings are being applied globally to reenforce or attenuate them). Finally there is Output Sharpening that is set in the Export or Print dialogs and which is interactive with the resizing set in those dialogs.

The common term we see being used for what you are calling "pre-sharpening" is "input sharpening". This refers to a fine-detail level of sharpening either applied by your camera when creating a jpeg or that you can apply to a Raw file using in your case Lightroom (viewing the image at 100%) to compensate for the anti-aliasing filter covering the lens by boosting the contrast of fine detail.

How you apply this and what you do from there depends on your preference and the particulars of the image. For images such as scenic/landscape shots, a generous portion this global sharpening may be all you want, although Lightroom does have the "output sharpening" in the Export and Print functions you can play with for different uses.

And, like Elie mentioned, the local Brush in Lightroom can be set to increase sharpening or alternatively to soften parts of an image -- it can do a very nice job!

And then, many shooters, such as high-level portrait photogs, routinely bring a shot into an app such as Photoshop or use a plug-in to work over image sharpening before outputting an image. It gives them more control over the final stages and the actual image size to be displayed or printed.

I have Nik's Complete collection. It came with ''Nik Shaprpener Pro 3.0" which contains 2 sharpening programs............an​d output sharper which I use all the time!!............and a "RAW Pre-Sharpener" which I have never ever used 1 time. I played around with it when I first got the programs, and I was only able to apply it to TIFF's or JPEG's inside PS, never firgured out how to apply it to the actual RAW files, since it is called "RAW Pre Sharpener", my workflow seemed fine with out, so I moved on and never use it

IMHO, I see that as purely marketing and nothing else. People see "Pre-Sharpening" and think, wow I can't do that with my PP Software maybe I'll buy it and give it a try. When in reality it is as Tony described. Pre-sharpening is that which is applied to your Jpeg via the camera, or in your Raw Processor, such as DPP, ACR or Lightroom. "Input Sharpening". Then you have multiple sharpening tools as well as other methods of sharpening that can be accomplished in PS that you can apply instead of or in addition too input sharpening if you feel the need. Then finally you have output sharpening which is done when exporting or printing your photos, or when resizing.

IMHO, I can't see spending hundreds of dollars for software only to spend more money for more software to do something for you that can be done with the original software already.
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