Simple Question on Image Sharpening and Image Size

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rabaroo

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Edit My Images
Yes
while working in Lightroom 2 the other day, I noticed a warning triangle in the sharpening option that tells me the results would only be visible at 1:1 view - which is true... at normal screen view the changes are unrecognisable, but at 1:1 they are there....

my question therefore is that given I mainly view my pics via Picasa3 Photo Viewer, when my processing is complete shoudl I export at a size that my monitor can display at 1:1, otherwise whats the point of sharpening as its not very visible?

currently i open lightroom, do my tweaks and export as a fullsize JPEG (12MB) and I dont need a 4000x3000 image for most purposes....

does that make sense? is it the correct thing to do?
 
You should always do the sharpening as the final step in your workflow, after you've resized. If you have two separate versions of an image, say 1000px for on-screen viewing and 4000px for print, then you should sharpen them separately.
 
If you are using Lightroom 2 it is easy, you export for the purpose you are using the image for, this option is in the export dialogue.

If I am Exporting for web/Flickr etc I resize to 800px longest size and select sharpen for screen. For print I don't resize and select sharpen for glossy/matte paper depending on what I'm using...
 
StewartR said:
You should always do the sharpening as the final step in your workflow, after you've resized. If you have two separate versions of an image, say 1000px for on-screen viewing and 4000px for print, then you should sharpen them separately.
Click to expand...

Ok so thats got me told about what I should be doing - if I explain my "workflow" then maybe that will help you see how what your saying is a bit of a circular step for me:

1) Take Pic in RAW
2) Import to Lightroom as RAW
3) Make amendments
4) Export as JPEG

From what you are saing I'd need some more steps as follows:
4*) resize JPEG for required use format
5) re-import JPEG into Lightroom
6) Sharpen
7) Re-Re-export the picture now sharpened and sized picture as a JPEG so that non lightroom programs can view the correctly scaled and sharpened version, e.g. Picasa3

Does that sound like the "logical" process for what I need to be doing??? - Will selecting Lightrooms "sharpen for screen" give similar results to my own sharpening in the Develop Module???
 
Just export from Lightroom at the sizes you need and set the sharpening for the output type - screen for screen/web/etc. or gloss/matte for prints. LR sharpening is the last stage so it will be fine. The only time you might want to turn it off is when you plan to do further edits outside of LR.
 
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