Lightroom sharpening.

Hi there

Does anyone use Lightroom for sharpening on a regular basis (as opposed to sharpening in Photoshop)?

What are the pros and cons?

I leave it at 25 default, then use Photoshop for my "real" sharpening. I find Lightroom's default to be a nice basis to kind of overcome the RAW, but if I crank it up I think it sucks.

I only use it during printing (if I didn't export to CS2 to do other things, but then I would probably print from CS2). When I used Bridge/ACR/CS2 I set my ACR defaults for sharpening to "Preview Only" so the settings were not applied when I opened the file in CS2. The next time I open LR I plan to create a preset with my generic starting points and use that preset during import (which for some reason I just have forgotten to do). I plan to set sharpening to 0. I can't wait for a better sharpening tool for LR.

I leave it on the default of 25 too...it doesn't seem to have great deal of effect, so I do the sharpening in CS2.....its the one thing I'd really like them to add.

I use LR at 20, then finish in PS. The 20 setting brings that minor softness of the RAW file back into the groove.

It sounds like I'm not alone in thinking that the sharpening feature in lR leave a little to be desired. Basically I have mine set to 25, but if I need it to increase it much more it seems to make an awfull job of it. IMHO.

Hopefully V1.1 will have a better degree of control.

TJ

Thanks for the comments guys. It seems that you all confirm my belief that sharpening (and printing for that matter) is still best done in CS2.

Roy Mathers wrote in post #3074265
Thanks for the comments guys. It seems that you all confirm my belief that sharpening (and printing for that matter) is still best done in CS2.

For now, anyway.

Roy Mathers wrote in post #3074265
Thanks for the comments guys. It seems that you all confirm my belief that sharpening (and printing for that matter) is still best done in CS2.

I am sure you know why. There are far and wide volumes of documents and text telling of the nature of sharpening only the edges within pictures, including using the same techniques to avoid sharpening noise. LR appears to try and sharpen everything, must like that in Adobe Camera Raw. That being the case, unless USM type sliders, high pass sharpening replicas, are incorporated into LRs sharpening, it won't begin to even compare to a good edge mask in PS with a bit of high pass sharpening.

Just a thought.

According to an Inside Lightroom blog, the sharpening algorithm is smarter than plain USM. I use it for capture sharpening and Photoshop (Elements) for final output sharpening.

I set the sharpening in lightroom to 0. Instead, I've created a droplet, which I placed in the Export actions folder in lightroom. I created Scott Kelby's lab sharpening tips in Photoshop CS2, and saved this droplet in lightroom. So when I export my photos, I just click my lab sharpening droplet in the bottom of the export window. Works great!

widowmaker wrote in post #3078515
I set the sharpening in lightroom to 0. Instead, I've created a droplet, which I placed in the Export actions folder in lightroom. I created Scott Kelby's lab sharpening tips in Photoshop CS2, and saved this droplet in lightroom. So when I export my photos, I just click my lab sharpening droplet in the bottom of the export window. Works great!

Would you mind explaining that in a little more detail (I have Scotts book which should help)

TJ

I generally leave sharpening to the last process. Inevitably this means sharpening in CS2.

Unless you do EVERYTHING in LR and never touch Photoshop after conversion, there's no point letting LR do all your sharpening anyway, regardless of how good it gets, since sharpening is best left as the final step before output.

LR would have to support actions, plugins, cloning (not just that crappy healing tool), brushes, and a helluva lot more before I would even consider abandoning Photoshop.

TJ, I will give it a go. In Kelby's book, the whole process of creating the lab sharpening action, is located on page 374-379. After you have created the action, you will have to make this action a droplet. Go to File-Automate-Create Droplet (in Photoshop CS2, NOT lightroom). In the "destination" option, browse your computer, until you find where lightroom is located. Then find the folder within lightroom, which is called "Export actions". Open this folder, and save the droplet in there, named "lab sharpening". And that's it. The next time you want to export a photo from lightroom, adding the lab sharpening technique, just go to the export window, and select "lab sharpening" in the bottom dialog, asking you what to do once your photo is exported.
I hope this made some sense, english is not my native language.......