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andyg29304265
andyg29304265
Participant
April 12, 2020
Question

Images in Lightroom are sharper than in Photoshop

  • April 12, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 1324 views

I start my workflow in Lightroom, the images look very sharp. When I right-click on image to Edit in Photoshop the images are somehow blurry or soft (lacking the sharpness from Lightroom). Check sample attached.

 

I've been having this issue since previous version of Lightroom and Photoshop. I installed trials for Lightroom Classic 2020 and Photoshop 2020 and the same issues are happening with latest versions.

 

Lightroom is set to use ProPhoto color space, same as Photoshop.

I have 2 monitors, but I'm opening Lightroom and Photoshop in same monitor, to avoid color profile switching.

 

Has anyone experienced something like this?

 

Thanks,

Andy

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

E
Erin329144470bm8
Participant
October 14, 2023

Hi! I am having a similar issue with the newest version of LR Classic 13. The images are WAY TOO sharp after import and I had shut off any kind of sharpening on import (which I had not known to do, but learned via an editor friend). Still this new version of LR is making the photos TOO sharp, they look fake.....I shoot RAW, do you have any ideas?

Per Berntsen
Community Expert
Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 12, 2020

What kind of file is the original?

If it is a none-raw file, and you choose Edit Original, edits you have done in Lightroom (like sharpening) will not be visible.

To include the edits, you would have to choose Edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments.

The image from Lightroom is both sharper and noisier than the one from Photoshop.

 

andyg29304265
andyg29304265Author
Participant
April 14, 2020

I've tried both options, raw and tiff (with Edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments), and I getting the same results, blurry and soft images in Photoshop.

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 14, 2020

If you're looking at the same file, then you cannot possibly be comparing at 100%. Then there has to be some on-screen scaling going on.

 

No pixels are altered when a file is sent from Lightroom to Photoshop, as long as any Lightroom adjustments are included. They always are in a raw file, without it there isn't any file to send. For PSD and TIFF as Per explained.

 

As long as those pixels are represented one to one on screen, 100%, 1:1, there cannot be any differences. It's the very same pixels, every one of them.

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 12, 2020

Compare at 100% or 1:1. This maps exactly one image pixel to exactly one screen pixel. Then they will be absolutely identical.

 

In other words, what you're seeing is on-screen scaling. Different algorithms (in different video drivers) will give different results.

    andyg29304265
    andyg29304265Author
    Participant
    April 12, 2020

    These are evaluated at 1:1, in the same monitor.

    I've exported both images as TIFF Uncompressed and the results are identical. But still I'm trying to understand why in Photoshop and Lightroom the images look different at same scale. Aren't Photoshop and Lightroom using the same core engine or API functions at low level to render the two images?

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