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Question

HELP: the preview in Lightroom is much better than the export. Help please?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 10, 2020
5 replies
2386 views

Hello, thanks for reading this post.
When I export (to dng, tiff, jpeg 100, or any) the picture is not as crisp and sharp as in the preview of Lightroom. I have tried a lot of possibilities when exporting, (with or without sharpening, and all kinds of presets) but nothing is as good as the real thing in LR Preview. So, can anyone help with this problem?
Please, see attached for the difference (Photoshop JPEG 100 left, Lightroom right).
Thanks a lot.

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Todd Shaner

Legend

"it appears that previews are not equal in every app (iMac, 2017, Retina) and a 1:1 zoom is different in apps, especially when using Apple Preview, InDesign and Photoshop."

There is a setting in Photoshop and other Mac apps for Retina display scaling. See this post with instructions on how to change it if different than Lightroom.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop/retina-display-ui-scaling-for-photoshop-2018/td-p/9463446?page=1

M

MyrchyxAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you, Todd, for another good tip. Interesting conversation there, btw. I will not use it, though, because I need to publish in different programmes. F.e. I sometimes publish on line with Google Photos, where I need the absolute true image and resolution.

Todd Shaner

Legend

"When I export (to dng, tiff, jpeg 100, or any) the picture is not as crisp and sharp as in the preview of Lightroom."

In your attached image file you show the export file viewed at 45% in another app. On the right you show the LR Develop module set to 2:1 Zoom so it matches close to the same size onscreen. The LR Develop module uses the less accurate, but faster nearest neighbor interpolation real-time to create its screen previews for all Zoom View less than 1:1 (2:1, 3:1, 4:1, etc.). Nearest Neighbor interpolation produces "artificially" sharper rendering due to stair-stepping artifacts.

The only "accurate" view in the Develop module is the 1:1 Zoom setting. The Library module and most other picture viewing apps use Bicubic interpolation for creating all of its screen previews, which is slower, but more accurate. I bet if you compare the same image in the LR Library module at 2:1 Zoom view it will look near identical to the left-side image in your attached file. When trying to determine what a resized export file will look like use the closest pyramid Zoom view setting in the Library module (16:1, 8:1, 4:1, 3:1, 2:1) and not Fit or Fill. The Fit and Fill Zoom views are less accurate even in the Library module because a 2nd interpolation is applied to resize the image. Enjoy!

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-interpolation.htm

M

MyrchyxAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you, Todd, and you must be an expert, for I have tried your suggestions in Bridge, Photoshop and in Lightroom. This is indeed the solution to my problem.

1. Size vs. resize;

2: 1:1 zoom

3. Nearest neighbor vs. bicubic.
Your bet was right and I am very much obliged. (I never resize).

Kind regards, Marc

Note: it appears that previews are not equal in every app (iMac, 2017, Retina) and a 1:1 zoom is different in apps, especially when using Apple Preview, InDesign and Photoshop.

Per Berntsen

Community Expert

You need to view the image in Lightroom, as well as the exported image at 1:1 (100%) view.

If you don't apply output sharpening on export, they should be practically identical, if you're exporting full size.

1:1 is the only magnification that shows you a true representation of the image, because one image pixel is represented by one screen pixel. Any other view will be inaccurate and misleading because the image has been scaled.

And different applications use different algorithms when scaling images (smoothing and sharpening), so two different applications at for instance 45% will not produce identical results.

M

MyrchyxAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you, Per. What you say is correct. But: I have tried all the export features from Lightroom AND in 1:1 zoom. Still, the results are different. One thing that you mention though that has my attention, is the scaling. Now, with my iMac (Retina, 2017) I seem to have different results with different apps with previews (my output, as it were). Be that as it is, with your kind and useful comment, I come to think that my expectations of scaling (let's say, to 50%) are wrong. A preview in Photoshop is not the look-a-like of a preview in other programmes. So thanks again and kind regards,

Marc

dj_paige

Legend

What is the size in pixels of the image in Lightroom? Are you re-sizing when exporting? If so, what are the settings?

M

MyrchyxAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi DJ, I am not resizing and I tried all the export features. The size of the images in Lightroom are all at 240 ppi at 100%. My problem is the difference between the preview and the actual output.

JP Hess

Inspiring

For one thing, you are comparing an 8-bit JPEG image against a raw image in Lightroom. There has to be some difference. What were your sharpening settings in the export dialog? You could try creating a virtual copy of the raw image and push the sharpening even more and export from the virtual copy to see if that provides greater satisfaction for you. Frankly, I think the JPEG looks pretty good. Did you try exporting a TIF file to compare?

M

MyrchyxAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you, Jim. Though in a way what you say is correct and has my attention, sharpening from Lightroom to export doen's solve it. I tried TIFF, JPEG, PSD, DNG and all the export features. And sharpening INside Lightroom makes it look unreal.
Kind regards from Marc

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