Inspiring

Answered

Output Sharpening?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
March 29, 2017
4 replies
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If I've already adjusted my images in Lightroom and it's set to 72 ppi, what’s the purpose of the Output Sharpening settings?

output sharpening

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Correct answer Per Berntsen

Output sharpening is designed to compensate for loss of sharpness caused by resizing and/or printing.

You should first do capture sharpening in the Develop module, so that the image looks reasonably sharp at 1:1 magnification.

Then select appropriate output sharpening when exporting. In most cases, low or medium sharpening should be suitable.

Note that there is different output sharpening for screen and print.

Also note that the ppi number only affects printing. If the image is intended for screen viewing, the ppi is irrelevant, only pixel dimensions matter.

R

richardplondon

Community Expert

Perhaps the best practical argument for using output sharpening, IMO, is to consider:

the same working image (as processed, adjusted, externally worked on, whatever) might be output in multiple different ways at different times, including at different scales even when it's the same hardware and paper type, or to different pixel dimensions when it's digital.

The printer driver / export settings control the resolution etc, and an output device / paper profile can be imposed... for managing all the output specific aspects and output specific sharpening is part of that.

This all helps some "general purpose" detail processing as seen in Develop, be delivered towards a visually consistent result. The point of output sharpening is that it belongs to a given form of output; not to an image. It adapts itself to whatever makes this form of output different from others; most importantly, to calculate and compensate the particular scaling / resampling factor involved.

If your Develop sharpening is done with a particular output usage in mind, you are IMHO potentially missing a trick.

S

stephenb84371298

Participant

Purpose and effect of Output Sharpening still not clear and disappointing no simply help page on this for a quick check.

DdeGannes

Community Expert

At Stephen, this option is to provide options when a user is exporting for a specific task e.g. Web sharing, resizing, printing etc. It is an option it is up to the user to decide when to use or not.

See the following obtained from the LrC help menu.

To put things into perspective this is basically a user-to-user forum so the majority of responses you receive will be from other users like yourself.

If you need an opinion as to what to try for a specific task then simply provide details and other users will respond.

Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

The three step sharpening workflow, partially introduced in ACR/LR come originally from:

http://creativepro.com/out-of-gamut-thoughts-a-sharpening-workflow/

All explained by the fellow who came up with this workflow many years ago. Worth a read.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

Conrad_C

Community Expert

If you’re interested in the thinking behind output sharpening, here’s the 2003 article about it by the man who coined the term, the late Bruce Fraser, also a member of PixelGenius.

Thoughts on a Sharpening Workflow

Per Berntsen

Correct answer

Community Expert

Output sharpening is designed to compensate for loss of sharpness caused by resizing and/or printing.

You should first do capture sharpening in the Develop module, so that the image looks reasonably sharp at 1:1 magnification.

Then select appropriate output sharpening when exporting. In most cases, low or medium sharpening should be suitable.

Note that there is different output sharpening for screen and print.

Also note that the ppi number only affects printing. If the image is intended for screen viewing, the ppi is irrelevant, only pixel dimensions matter.