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Inspiring
July 31, 2024
Question

What should be my process for .tif to .jpg in its final size?

  • July 31, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 785 views

Hi,

 

I have a .tif and I need to resize the image and save as a .jpg. Should I resize in photoshop (and re-sharpen to counter any softness caused by the re-sizing) then import into Lightroom and export using output sharpening OR can I import the wrong-sized tif into Lightroom and just export the tif as a jpg with the altered dimensions and output sharpening in one go? — Im not concerned about the time factor, just if the quality will be affected. thanks

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3 replies

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 31, 2024

The quality should be fine from either application. If you want to see if Lightroom Classic will do a good enough job, do an export test and look at it. If none of the output sharpening settings are quite right, then in the Develop module, try adjusting the Detail panel Sharpening settings. If specific parts of the image need more sharpening, apply Sharpening through a mask.

 

The only reason to use Photoshop is to use the more advanced sharpening techniques that can’t be done in Lightroom Classic, like the ones where you have to build a group of layers and masks with blending modes to get exactly what you want (e.g. frequency separation or the High Pass technique). But many images don’t need all of that.

HmmokthenAuthor
Inspiring
July 31, 2024

thanks, i use smart sharpen in the original-size tif

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 31, 2024

If you’re using Smart Sharpen in Photoshop, then the Lightroom Classic Sharpening controls in the Detail panel might work just as well. Both are more modern features that try to focus sharpening on luminance and edges, which is better than the older Unsharp Mask command in Photoshop.

GoldingD
Legend
July 31, 2024

I assume that you have some form of publishing in mind. That you want a JPEG to publish. That brings u a question, where do you want to publish:

 

  • To your printer
  • To A print service (Bay Photo, MPIX, WhiteWall, etc)
  • To the cloud (DropBox, iCloud, Creative Cloud, etc)
  • To a social site (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Toc, Twitter, etc)
  • To a web site of your own
  • To A photo share service (Behance, Fhotomerchant, Flickr, Instagram, Photbucket, Pixpa, Smugmug, etc)
  • Other

     

 

HmmokthenAuthor
Inspiring
July 31, 2024

a pro printer, exporting at 300ppi. thanks

Community Expert
July 31, 2024

My advice would be, import the image in original form and then have LrC perform any alterations and then export processing all in one go (output sharpening being integral to that).

 

There is no benefit IMO in having PS save an intermediate, output-specific file. To the contrary, it is best IMO to regard everything imported within LrC as output-neutral. Whenever you may in future want differently sized or specified output, or differently cropped or straightened, you can just export accordingly. Only the specifically needed resampling will have then happened, and only happening to that eventual output, without cumulatively affecting your photo.

HmmokthenAuthor
Inspiring
July 31, 2024

thanks, I always thought you were meant to sharpen after re-sizing. So you are saying that by exporting as a different size from LR and using the "output sharpening" settings (keeping in mind the file is a TIF not a RAW), I will be fine and the resizing at export will not soften my image?

Community Expert
August 3, 2024

Output sharpening takes proper account of the relationship between starting pixel dimensions and output dimensions, and does so on the fly. If you like, it builds into each resize an appropriate level of compensation for resize softening, intelligently. 

 

So, the character of sharpening that you see previewed in the Develop module (as judged at 1:1 zoom on screen) can be replicated, or slightly enhanced, or not, for export.

 

You would need to confirm which output sharpening setting you like the results of aesthetically, by trial and error. But then that same setting will in my experience always deliver a perceptually constant relationship between how sharpened the edits on your originals 'look' inside the Catalog, and how sharpened output made from that 'looks'. Even despite these originals perhaps varying in their resolution as cropped, AND even though your outputs may happen to varying pixel dimensions too.

 

There is no need to dedicate the edited image seen in Develop for any particular output specification. Different outputs will bring different practical requirements, but that can be addressed in the respective Export (or Print) settings.

 

Sometimes a version of an image must be dedicated for particular output nonetheless - not so much in terms of output sharpening, but perhaps a different crop or some special visual editing. In that case I would recommend either a virtual copy, or else (which practically amounts to the same) using SoftProof to generate a virtual proofing copy. For screen viewing purposes, in my opinion soft proofing is not necessary. You should in any case be using a hardware calibrated display that gives you a reliable consistent impression of your edited image, and that should prove sufficient.