Sharpness in lightroom 4

Hi guys,
I love all the new features and tweaks in lightroom 4 but I find the sharpness options very unsatisfying. I tried multiple combinations of sharpness, masking and detail but they introduce artifacts before I see some clarity in the photos. I found the Photoshop CS5 unsharp mask so much better than this "noise & artifacts bringing" sharpness algorithm.
With best regards, Alexandru

Can you post any samples where sharpening does not work?
My opinion is that shrpening is ok, but there some demosicing artifacts left over from the old days. Sharpening just amplifies them.
And the one thing I personally don't like in the sharpening per se is that the deep shadows and highlights are too "masked off"; the effect of sharpening is too weak in there. Of course, it's better than having artifacts/halos, but I'd like to have best of both worlds.

Similar Messages

Lack of sharpness in previews - Lightroom 2

I'm hoping the collective wisdom of this forum can help me sort through this issue that is causing me a lot of problems.
I am shooting NEFs. When I view my images in Lightroom 2 after import, there is a noticeable lack of sharpness to the images. Everything just looks slightly soft, even at a 1:1 preview. I am using the default detail setting of 25 for sharpness.
When I view these same images in another application like Photo Mechanic, the images are much sharper. I'm thinking that maybe this is due to PM using the embedded jpg while Lightroom does not. I'm not sure.
I am looking for suggestions on what settings people are using for optimal sharpness in Lightroom. I really like LR but right now I am finding hard to accurately evaluate my work.
Thanks,
Les

>I wish the developers could give us a switch to defeat this. PS displays, or at least hints at, sharpening when zoomed out.
They are quite set against it so I doubt it. Photoshop is really lying to you in many different ways when you judge sharpness at zoomed out levels. Of course, the only reason you see it in Photoshop is that it is a pixel editor. If you have rendered 1:1 previews, in Lightroom, you always see the effect of sharpening in the Library module when zoomed out as it is rendered from the preview image. In fact what you see there is the same when in Photoshop at power of two zoom levels (25%, 50%, etc.). So it is there, they just don't show it in Develop when you are zoomed out, where it would not tell you anything anyway.

Capture nx 2 sharpening and DNG profiles..

I recently have had an (albeit quick) fiddle with nx 2 and was wondering if anyone else had noticed what I have...
1. The sharpening in NX2 seems to yeild much nicer details and less "criss cross" artefacts.
2. The DNG profile for nikon (in my case D3) vivid does match pretty well, but has a purple tinge to it that is horribly exaggerated if you start to process the image at all. The NX rendering seems a lot more natural, or less forced.
Any advice appreciated. I would love to stay in Lightroom for everything, but looking at the files I may not.
Thanks.

ok, a little more playing and the colour noise reduction seems to play a very big part in the "poseriztion" sharpness that Lightroom is producing. If I set it to off or set lower than default (say to 10) it does help level the playing field a lot more with regards to the sharpening.

Exporting JPEGs out of Lightroom3 to be projected on a screen

I export JPEG files via a Lightroom 3 preset to an email attachment and then to be projected on a screen.
The color space setting I use is sRBG. Is this setting the same as sRBGIEC61966-2.1 used in CS5? When projected, my images are soft while they are tack sharp in Lightroom 3 or CS5. A fellow member of my camer club thought that the export setting could be the problem and that he always used sRGBIEC61966-2.1 from Photoshop CS5. Any suggestions to resolve this problem?
rbg

That's the correct color profile for typical computer displays.
If you are using LR's built-in "email" preset for export - then that's your problem. This preset makes for small email attachments, but poor image quality. It deliberately scales your image size down to 640 x 480, which is just 0.3 mega-pixels (same resolution as bad cell-phone cams). It also compresses image quality to only 50%. No wonder they look bad when blown up large!
You should find out what resolution their projector runs at (typical sizes are 800x600, 1024x768, or 1280x1024). Export your pictures at that size or larger, and choose at least 80% quality setting or higher.

Problems losing quality when going from develop module to library module ?? anyone have a fix

Problems losing quality when going to library module from develop module. Sharpness and color quality decrease

This is normal. There will be a difference as you are comparing Library Previews with the image in Develop which accesses the original file, although the difference is usually slight. Real results need to be judged from exporting after selecting the output sharpening e.g. for glossy paper, if printing or screen sharpening for web images or emailing.
The idea with sharpening is to apply capture sharpening so that the image in Develop looks just sharp but not over sharp. Lightroom then uses the correct algorithm for output sharpening based upon image size and quality settings etc.

Sharpness of Photos in Lightroom 5.3

Can anyone please provide an explanation as to why my pictures when edited in Lightroom 5.3 appear soft and seem to require too much sharpening for an acceptable screen view.    When pictures are subsequently made ready for printing from Lightoom 5.3, they then appear over-sharpened when previewed.          Lightroom 5.3 does not seem to show screen images at the same level of sharpness as the supplied RAW processing software supplied by Sony for my A7r camera.      Images loaded directly into Sony's own Raw processor (IMAGE DATA CONVERTER) look tack-sharp having been auto-edited with basic default presets within the programme.
I have invested in a high resolution monitor and this is kept regularly calibrated.       LR 5.3 knows it is dealing with RAW files from my Sony A7r because the Metadata transfers efficiently on import.
If I do any other photo work on my computer (WIN 8.1 64bit), all my pictures look acceptably sharp.     When loaded into LR 5.3, they always seem to require more sharpening to look the same.     Often the sharpness slider requires to be pushed to 100-120 in order for the picture to look correct........
Have I missed some important set-up procedure when installing LR 5.3?         How can I ensure that Sony RAW files look presentably sharp following basic standard preset importation (with the sharpness slider settling to about 25)
Some help with this vexing issue would be appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.

Your comments and those of others appreciated.
2 things to report since my last communication.
a)    I am now reasonably sure that the rendering of sharpened screen images within LR 5.3 do not display correctly when referenced with the amount of overall detail applied.       This is because images exported out of LR 5.3 and then viewed in a different photo viewer look so much better.
b)    By fortunate coincidence, I have now downloaded and installed LR 5.4 and my very first impression is that some improvement in the sharpening (detailing) facility has been incorporated.      I will work with this new version of the programme further before considering a further judgement.
Very best regards and thanks to all.
trshaner wrote:
Billtimepilot wrote:
Forgive my naivety but I feel I must make beg the question, 'why isn't the sharpening facility within LR 5.3 as efficient, effective and straightforward as it is in RAW processors such as SILKYPIX and SONY IMAGE DATA CONVERTER?           Within these programmes, the sharpening added to RAW files by basic default.......which I understand to be known as 'capture sharpening......is usually just right.
There could be a number of things going on that are affecting what you are seeing.The onscreen preview image inside the editing application may be using different scaling algorithms to make the image "fit" in the loupe window. If they are using the simpler and faster nearest-neighbor or bilinear algorithms they will appear sharper (i.e. LR Develop module preview), but on closer examination will also exhibit interpolation "jaggies." along straight edges. I also believe the editing applications you mentioned do not apply noise reduction to the preview image, which may also make the image look a bit sharper.
Run a quick test by applying Sharpening to a raw image at 1:1 view so that it appears cirtically sharp when viewed at 1:4 Zoom in the Library module. Next Export the image to 16bit TIFF, ProPhoto RGB profile with NO Image Sizing and NO Output Sharpening. Using the same raw file Export the image to 16bit TIFF, ProPhoto RGB profile, but with 1:4 Image Sizing (i.e. Long Edge = 1/4 raw file long edge in pixels) with Output Sharpening = Screen Standard. Next Compare the 1:4 resized TIFF export image at 1:1 view to the other two images at 1:4 view so they are equally sized. Let me know what you see.

Lightroom 4.1(64bit) loss of sharpness

Hi,
I have converted to jpg some .nef from my D800 with Lightroom 4.1 at max sharpening, 150, with Capture NX 2.3.4 with max sharpening set in picture style settings only and ViewNX2 2.5.1 with max sharpening set in picture style only. Have played with other settings in "details box" of LR4.1, radius, details and masking, but the result is about the same. Please, look at this two photos, converted with CaptureNX 2.3.4 and LR 4.1: at bottom the loss of details is noticeable(the palm, the street lamp). With ViewNX2 have the same result.
Fortunately, it does not happen with all the photos, but happens. Happens in particular with the dark photos and night shots. Please note, that it is not a matter of contrast.
Converted with LR 4.1, only sharpening and camera setting picture style:
http://i46.tinypic.com/11v6x68.jpg
CROP LR 4.1 100%
http://i48.tinypic.com/5zptlw.jpg
Converted with CaptureNX, only sharpening and camera settings picture style:
http://i47.tinypic.com/2exbtbs.jpg
CROP CaptureNX:
http://i49.tinypic.com/28guqz6.jpg
Converted with LR 4.1, only sharpening, camera setting picture style and contrast +30:
http://i49.tinypic.com/2qvfa7c.jpg
CROP LR 4.1 with contrast +30:
http://i50.tinypic.com/2wgg60z.jpg
Thanks for your time
Best Regards
Excuse me for my bad English

Hi Jeff,
already do it, but unfortunately the result is about the same rather, is the same.
I don't know why other minor software are better in sharpness.
Thanks anyway
Best Regards
Excuse me for my bad English

Lightroom Export Loosing Sharpness.

Hi, I would like to get to the bottom of this Lightroom issue.
Left is Lightroom, the right is 20k mb JPG export.
I have 30mb Raw/Nef images from my Nikon d7100.
Aftter editing in lightroom, applying sharpness and clarity (not overly though) as well as other tweaks, I'm more than happy, then on export to JPG set to 20,000mb and sharpened for screen, I am not hapy with the final image. Comparing it to the original preview in Lightroom it's lost colour, depth and sharpness and generally it's 'pop'.
I must be doing somethign wrong.
I was told it's about preview mode, and viewing at 1:1 and also on the export at the same res will sort this.
Please have a look at the final images, is this comaprrison even legit?
I can not simply let the quality on the lightroom preview go to waste.. Even on a simple screen grab the difference is noticable.
Left is Lightroom, the right is 20k mb JPG export.

Another example here.
8k MB image on left LR preview on right.
Unbelievable loss... I thought it was the original.
I would be better just screen grabbing my images to use. Something has to be wrong here?

I have lost the possibility to control sharpness. I've lost the window to look at for the sharpness and the buttons... I am using a Mac 10.9.5 and Lightroom 5.7.1

I have lost the possibility to control sharpness. I've lost the window to look at for the sharpness and the buttons... I am using a Mac 10.9.5 and Lightroom 5.7.1

Hi Jim, thank for the answer. It works thank you very much..
Kind regards.
Louis Dijksman
Op 24 jan. 2015, om 20:55 heeft JimHess <[email protected]> het volgende geschreven:
I have lost the possibility to control sharpness. I've lost the window to look at for the sharpness and the buttons... I am using a Mac 10.9.5 and Lightroom 5.7.1
created by JimHess in Photoshop Lightroom - View the full discussion
I am interpreting that to say that the detail panel is missing your develop module. If that is the case, right-click on one of the other panel headings and make sure there is a checkmark for detail.
If the reply above answers your question, please take a moment to mark this answer as correct by visiting: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7128302#7128302 and clicking ‘Correct’ below the answer
Replies to this message go to everyone subscribed to this thread, not directly to the person who posted the message. To post a reply, either reply to this email or visit the message page:
Please note that the Adobe Forums do not accept email attachments. If you want to embed an image in your message please visit the thread in the forum and click the camera icon: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7128302#7128302
To unsubscribe from this thread, please visit the message page at , click "Following" at the top right, & "Stop Following"
Start a new discussion in Photoshop Lightroom by email or at Adobe Community
For more information about maintaining your forum email notifications please go to https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1516624.

Lightroom Mobile Poor Sharpness

I have synced a few files to Lightroom Mobile and compared to viewing these on an iMac, they don't look that sharp. I am looking at them when I tap to zoom and comparing to the same zoom on my iMac. On the imac they are very sharp, but on the iPad they are not sharp at all. I want to use LR mobile to filter our my poor images. I am using a iPad 3 with Retina display.
Thanks
Richard

Yes, I have noticed the sharpness discrepancy as well. However, what is 100% zoom on Lr Mobile? If you 'pinch to zoom' you can view the photo at arbitrary image sizes. Then if you double tap the image will revert to the original size, double tapping again will zoom to the previous enlargement. So what is 100% zoom? The original image? Or the largest 'pinch to zoom'? Or somewhere in between? Does Lr Mobile respect all the Sharpening settings (that are only accurately visible at 100% zoom on the desktop)?

Moving exposure slider Lightroom 5 causes losing sharpness in pictures.

I'm working with (RAW files form 5dmk2) Lightroom 5 on OS X (i5 .2.6 gHz 16 GB RAM Intel HD Graphic 4000, NEC PA 271W display 27') . In Develop module moving exposure slider for a short moment causes loss of sharpnes in pictures, it's really annoying thing. In Lightroom 4 everything worked just fine. How can I fix this problem and keep working with LR5 ?

I'm working with (RAW files form 5dmk2) Lightroom 5 on OS X (i5 .2.6 gHz 16 GB RAM Intel HD Graphic 4000, NEC PA 271W display 27') . In Develop module moving exposure slider for a short moment causes loss of sharpnes in pictures, it's really annoying thing. In Lightroom 4 everything worked just fine. How can I fix this problem and keep working with LR5 ?

Images from Canon 5D Mark III not appearing super sharp in Photoshop CS6 or Lightroom 4

I have a brand new Macbook Pro with Retina Display and am running CS6, shooting with a Mark III in full resolution raw format. Focus is on in camera but when I open the images in Photoshop, they do not appear super sharp when zoomed in. Is this a display issue or a program issue or something else? In the past I can usually get the images so sharp that I can see every pore and hair.

I would try in other programs and see what they look like. Since it is same camera and PS, they should be as sharp as before. Maybe the screen, as it is the variable here?

My Lightroom won't export sharp. I have tried everything including creating a new catalog. Is there a bug?

Okay...so I am wondering if there is a bug. I have tried changing the settings as far as sharpening for screen/matte...etc...tried to start a new catalog. Same thing. I am scared to uninstall and reinstall because i already have it on two computers. I don't have the actual cd to download as I did it through the internet. Will it be able to install it again after uninstalling?

MAR07001 wrote:
Lr5.4
Thanks. Unfortunately, all nr/sharpening bugs are supposedly fixed @Lr5.4.
So if seemingly not fixed, it begs the question:
* Is it you? or is it Lightroom?
Does it work as expected in a previous version of Lightroom? (you double-check by downloading and installing a previous version of Lightroom..).
Consider posting a zip file containing:
* one-photo catalog with source file (export one photo as catalog).
* export preset (.lrtemplate file in Export Presets folder along with the rest of your presets/preferences..).
so others can try to reproduce.
If forum upload feature not working for you (it hasn't for me yet), you can use dropbox or yousendit.com.
Rob

Bridge CS3 Workspace Adobe Lightroom Web Gallery Creator

A while back I was looking around for an easy way to create sharp looking image galleries with minimal work, and I came across a workspace plug in for Bridge Cs3. If I remember correctly, it was labeled Adobe Lightroom Web Gallery something or another. Anyway, I recently formatted my computer and reinstalled everything, but for the life of me I can find no trace of that handy workspace plug in. Does anyone know where I can find it? It had a bunch of customizable flash galleries as well as a customizable html gallery as well. Any help would be appreciated!

Do you mean AMG( Adobe Media Gallery)? You could download from LAB.
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Adobe_Media_Gallery

Lightroom Bug: with GoPro Hero4 Silver Lens Profile, crop settings do not sync properly in Lightroom 5.7.1 when Constrain To Warp is checked

I was having a bit of difficultly in getting crop settings to properly sync in Lightroom 5.7.1 (running on OS X 10.10.1) when Constrain to Warp was checked. This appears to be a bug in the latest version(s) of Lightroom that include(s) the GoPro Hero4 Silver Lens Profile settings. I'm working with a lot of files from a GoPro Hero4 Silver camera shot in the time-lapse / interval timer mode. All of them are horizontal with the same resolution (and dimensions). I've tried various sequences to get this to work in terms of using Auto-Sync, resetting the settings on all images except one and then copy and pasting settings, etc, though the crop is not properly syncing regardless of what I do.
Here's are instructions of how to duplicate this issue (there are some extra details/steps here, though this should be clear enough to produce the same result):
     1. in the Develop settings for a single selected image, go to Lens Corrections, click to Enable Profile Corrections (in the Profile tab), and then pick the GoPro Hero4 Silver Edition (Adobe Profile) if it is not automatically chosen for you (if you are using files from a Hero4 Silver camera). After this, click on the Manual tab, and set the Scale setting to 76. (as you will see, you now have the full horizontal width of the image that was getting cropped off, though you do see white around the edges that have been warped/shaped to correct the fisheye distortion)
     2. Press the R key (or click on the Crop Overlay tool just below the histogram). Change the Aspect option to Custom. Click to unlock the lock next to it (this seems to re-lock after setting to custom even if it was locked before). Place a checkmark next to the Constrain To Warp option. (At this point, you'll see the image gets cropped back to an approximately 4:3 ratio and the full horizontal width is not included in the cropped area) Click the upper right most corner of the crop area and drag as much to the right and top as it lets you go. Do the same for the lower left corner, dragging it as far to the bottom left as you can go. (Now, you will see that your cropped area is the maximum rectangular width and height you can select without getting any of the excessive white area) Click the Close button (or press R again) to leave the crop overlay tool.
     3. Press G to go back to the grid of images. Make sure the image you just adjusted the settings for is the only one selected. Right click on it, go to Develop Settings, and click Copy Settings. Click Check All on the window that appears and then click Copy.
     4. De-select the image you were working on. Select multiple other images in the grid. Right click on one of these, go to Develop Settings, and click Paste Settings. (at this point, you will see their aspect ratio has become more panoramic than the 4:3 aspect ratio the images previously were)
     5. De-select these images. Select one of these image, and then press D to go to the Develop settings for this image. Press R to go to the Crop Overlay tool. Here you will see the bug where the crop was not properly copied over from the first image. The selected area is smaller than the full width and height available to crop.
It seems that the bug is that Lightroom is only copying the aspect ratio (and the other settings), but not the actual crop selection.
I just thought of a workaround that I've tested and can confirm works (and will also work in a slightly different workflow than above). In step 1 above, for the Model (and Profile), manually pick the "GoPro Hero4 Black Edition" or the "GoPro Hero3-Silver Edition". If using the "Hero3-Silver" setting, the Scale (also in step 1 above) need only be set to 79 (rather than 76 for the Hero4 profiles). By picking one of these Lens Profiles and doing everything else the same as the other steps above, the crop settings do copy and paste properly. This does also appear to work properly when selecting the "GoPro Hero3-White Edition" Lens Profile, with a Scale setting of 75, which yields a slightly more rectilinear image (with a wider aspect ratio -- almost, but not quite 16:9).
While this isn't too big of deal as it does work by picking one of the other lens profiles (and the Hero4 Black Edition profile appears to make the same exact correction to the image), this was incredibly frustrating last night to notice that some files had the proper horizontal field of view / crop and others didn't, and other users may experience this or not even notice their crop is not copied properly (as, depending on one's composition and image, it's not extremely obvious with such a wide view).
I hope this discovery helps someone else and provides feedback for Adobe to correct this issue in the next version of Lightroom 5.
On a separate, additional note for Adobe: Please allow the crop overlay tool to "crop" an image to a size that is larger than the original dimensions of the image. This would allow for one to retain maximum original sharpness in the center of the image when using the Lens Profile tool to correct, or "de-fish" a lens, without having to scale the image down with the Scale option on the Manual tab of the Lens Corrections settings. For example, when I do the above process selecting the Hero3-White Edition profile, my final image dimensions are 3840 by 2257 pixels, reducing the size of the image in the center by 25%. If the tool allowed one to crop/scale a larger image size, and I kept the Scale option of the Lens Corrections settings at 100 rather than 75, my final image dimensions would be 5120 by 3009 pixels (larger than the 4000 by 3000 pixel dimensions of the original image which the tool now limits me to). Yes, the edges would be a little softer but the center would retain the original detail. (this is essentially what the Calculate Optimal Size button found in the Hugin open source software does, when using it on a single image for lens transformations/corrections)

Can you zip up a few of your GoPro images, upload them to dropbox.com and post a share link, here, so others can experiment with them, or do you mean this issue is global to all camera models?

Sharpness in lightroom 4

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for