Output Sharpening

[tecboy]

Do you use Output Sharpening while exporting from Lightroom. Does it get destructive images?

 

[Big Mike]

Yes, I use it. I don't think it will 'hurt' the image per say, but you can 'over sharpen' an image.

It's actually a pretty complex bit of stuff going on there, but the LR interface has made it quite simple for us. You can choose three output options (Screen, Matte Paper & Glossy Paper) and three strengths. It's a little counter intuitive because you can't immediately see/compare the results, so you sort of have to trust that LR will do a good job of it. (or you could do it different ways and compare the results to form your own opinion).

The reason that you can't just see the difference, like most everything else in Lightroom, is that the other settings/changes are applied and taken into account first, then the output sharpening is applied. For example, the size that your image end up, will make a difference in how output sharpening is applied.

FYI, this part of Lightroom technology came from a company/group called 'Pixel Genius' and the sharpening routines that they created. Some well known, and very smart, people are/were part of that group.

 

[KmH]

One of the Pixel Genius guys wrote this book - Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)

Some more books written by Pixel Genius guys:
The Digital Negative: Raw Image Processing in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop
The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers
Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: A professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC

PixelGenius - People

 

[weepete]

Yep I use it, usually sharpen for screen and standard. From what I've read most seem to reccommend 3 stages, global, local and output shapening.

 

[The_Traveler]

Yep I use it, usually sharpen for screen and standard. From what I've read most seem to reccommend 3 stages, global, local and output shapening.

global - remove the blur due to the de-mosaicing
selective - sharpen the important areas to bring them to the viewer's attention
output - compensate for any re-sizing and for output mode (print or screen)