Output Sharpening for Web - LR4 Only

Hello fellow photogs & gurus:

I've been reading the great info in the sharpening thread above but I'm more interested in hearing from you about the capabilities/workflow of only using Lightroom 4. I know that Photoshop, which I also have, has extremely powerful capabilities and that I can apply sharpening after resizing. (Resizing affects the amount of sharpening.) But I want to avoid using Photoshop as much as possible as it is quite time consuming, to me at least. I do very little printing and most photos end up for web viewing.

So normally my workflow would be:
1. Import into LR4
2. Do the sharpening on the image
3. Export, resize and set output sharpening

How well do you guys find using only LR4 for output sharpening? How much output sharpening do you guys use? Do you find there's a tremendous difference between different hosting sites like Facebook, Flickr, 500px and Google+ and what they do to your pictures? Do you downsize below each of these sites max resolution prior to upload or let the sites handle them?

Thanks in advance!

I am too hoping to use PS less for mass edits. A dozen or so edits is not too bad so I still use Ps for final output. I did some tests and found it was not too bad. I was going to try it again and have not gotten to it so I'll work on an image and post the results.

I left the develop sharpening to the default of 25 for all images.

Resized in LR output and applied screen sharpening - Standard

I think output sharpening is pretty subjective and also image-based. I do pay attention to sharpening when I'm in Lightroom, whatever "input sharpening" and sharpening during development that suits the image and then occasional "selective sharpening" using the local adjustment brush.

For outputting for the Web, my "normal" output, I've viewing the image in Lighroom at a "normal" view size and I typically just Export using the Standard Screen output sharpening.

For Web images I admit I'm not as hyper-critical about image sharpening as I would be about, say, doing a larger print than, say, an 8x10.

So, for example, when I look at the great bird pics above by DP I really don't see anything about any one of them that gets me thinking "Hmm, not sharp enough". The image itself is sharp!

Now if DP wanted to print it as an 8x10 or larger, then that would be a time to assess whether it would benefit by a "special touch". Because it's a visually striking image, you don't want to go too far, but when you view it with larger printing in mind, well, like I said, that's subjective and image-based.

Thanks DP, wonderful examples. I can see from this pic that the high sharpening seems a little bit better to me and the PS one is even better. But that's not to say the LR4 output isn't great in and of itself.

I agree, printing would require a special touch, as it should for each and every image and the printing medium, viewing distances etc. I guess my current experience is that I'm trying to see if there's some thing more I can do with web sized images.

Well, if the "High" output sharpening looks a little better to you, then that can be a point of reference, sure! Do you at this point use Lightroom, or are you just trying to figure out whether you want to get it?

I am using Lightroom, so I'm trying to get the maximum out of it. As well as being able to upload them in a "good" quality to certain hosting sites.

Thanks. I should have adjusted the exposure a bit but it was just a test. I just started using LR. In fact still have 13 days on the trial. I just remembered that I did use LR output sharpening for the web images and resizing from a charity I shot about a month ago. Over 500 images and it saved me a pile of time. No one even pays attention to or cares about that. They just want the images posted.

When working on one image at a time I will still use PS and apply my own techniques but when it comes to mass edits I'll use LR and more than likely use the High setting.