How many people use the "sharpen for screen" option in LR?

I used to never use it, since I sharpen all of my pictures to my liking in post, but I used it recently a few times just to see the difference, and couldn't tell much. Why or why don't you use it?

I use it cause it was on by default. My understanding is that in the final export since it is being resized you might need to resharpen it and this is what is going on here, nothing drastic.

If by in post, you mean the detail panel in LR or in pre sharpener in NIK, that's actually input sharpening. Depending on what you're doing with the image, most could benefit from output sharpening on export to screen image or printing.
I definitely see an increase in local contrast in my files exported for web use and most of my clients prefer it, so I use it.

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #17467497
I used to never use it, since I sharpen all of my pictures to my liking in post, but I used it recently a few times just to see the difference, and couldn't tell much. Why or why don't you use it?

There are three types of sharpening; input sharpening, artistic sharpening and output sharpening.

Input sharpening is recommended by most digital camera manufacturers because the cameras have an anti aliasing filter over the sensor that causes some softness in RAW files straight out of camera. I think most PP software applies some sharpening by default to handle this.

Artistic sharpening - you may want more or less sharpening on the image for artistic reasons, or you may want to apply localised sharpening to just certain areas (eyes, for example). This is the sharpening you do yourself in post.

Export sharpening is recommended because images are often resized during export and this can impact on the sharpness of the final image. Lightroom's export sharpening is specifically designed to take into account the final size of the exported image, which is why it can only be done during export.

At least that is the theory. I have never done a comparison test with multiple images at multiple sizes with different export sharpening settings so I don't know if it actually makes a difference.

I sharpen on export, BUT sometimes it produces some awful results like jagged lines. Sometimes I export twice, once with and once without sharpening and compare images to look for over-processed artifacts.

When it comes to output sharpening in LR it also helps to ensure that all of your settings are appropriate for the final destination. The obvious ones are in the output sharpening panel in the various ways that you can export. What is not so obvious is that LR also looks at the output resolution setting that is applied. So if your are exporting for screen then you really should be setting an output PPI value commensurate with the type of dispaly you expect to be used. So for general web use I would normally set the output PPI value to 100, although I beleive that anything under about 150 will do. The only time I will export for screen with the output PPI set higher (200 PPI) is when I know that the image will be viewed only on a high res retina type display.

The value for PPI inserted in the EXIF data is still irrelevant for the actual display of the image file on screen once it has been created, but it affects the processing applied to the image on export.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #17468481
When it comes to output sharpening in LR it also helps to ensure that all of your settings are appropriate for the final destination. The obvious ones are in the output sharpening panel in the various ways that you can export. What is not so obvious is that LR also looks at the output resolution setting that is applied. So if your are exporting for screen then you really should be setting an output PPI value commensurate with the type of dispaly you expect to be used. So for general web use I would normally set the output PPI value to 100, although I beleive that anything under about 150 will do. The only time I will export for screen with the output PPI set higher (200 PPI) is when I know that the image will be viewed only on a high res retina type display.

The value for PPI inserted in the EXIF data is still irrelevant for the actual display of the image file on screen once it has been created, but it affects the processing applied to the image on export.

Alan

Interesting. I think I need to do some experimenting here.

Thanks for all the responses so far. Many of you are much smarter than me, and I'm not sure what all the terminology means lol. But keep the responses coming. I have been using the sharpen for screen (set on normal) more and more, and am pleased with the results.

I don't use it, but after looking at this thread I'll give it a try to see if I can tell a difference.

Spats139 wrote in post #17476211
I don't use it, but after looking at this thread I'll give it a try to see if I can tell a difference.

I tend to find it makes the most difference when resizing on export. I can always tell when it's turned off.

Alan

Not that I've been using it for a while, I'm liking the results.