Lightroom 2 print sharpening

[theophilus]

I went through my normal workflow (sharpening in photoshop using smart sharpen), and then wen back to Lightroom 2 beta.

I chose print sharpening "high" for glossy, I'm using Ilford Gallery smooth Pearl.

A 13x19 print came out really oversharpened on my epson 3800.

How do I need to adjust my workflow to use the output sharpening algorithms in Lightroom 2?  Do I need to remove the sharpening step from my photoshop workflow?  I.e., should a basic capture sharpening in Lightroom + the print sharpening be enough?

I haven't used Photokit before so I'm not quite sure of the ultimate difference between creative sharpening and output sharpening.

I am hoping for some guidance here as I don't particularly want to do too much more trial and error printing (wastes ink).

[francois]

Tommy,
I would suggest that you do capture sharpening in Lightroom. This is only to regain sharpness lost during capture. If you don't have Michael's LR, Camera to Print or Camera RAW tutorials, then you read Martin Evening's tutorial.
Creative sharpening is a way to emphasized some areas of your image by adding sharpening (in addition to capture sharpening). This is also valid for bluring some parts of the image. This is a step that the current Lightroom version can't do. In version 2.0, clarity (which can be considered as some kind of creative sharpening) can be applied to specific areas.

As for output sharpening, I found that medium (in LR Beta 2) work fine on Ilford GFG paper on Epson printers.

[theophilus]

I tried again:

1) capture sharpening in lightroom (25/1/25)

2) export TIFF to photoshop (no sharpening)

3) print TIFF with output sharpening on Medium, Glossy

Still way oversharpened.  It is a mountain against blue sky/clouds and I get a mix of jaggies and thick black outline on the mountain.

[NikoJorj]

I'm not quite sure of the ultimate difference between creative sharpening and output sharpening.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Then you might read [a href=\"http://www.creativepro.com/article/out-of-gamut-thoughts-on-a-sharpening-workflow]http://www.creativepro.com/article/out-of-...pening-workflow[/url] (if not already).
Doing twice the same step is a bit like applying twice a color profile : not that good...

My 2c's for your second test : didn't you apply anything like local contrast enhancing in PS? That could explain the oversharpened look, which shouldn't be that obvious overwise (I often prefer low to medium, depending on the content, but wouldn't call it way over the top).
Btw, what's your image resolution? If you see jaggies, it may be simply too low (below 150dpi?).

[theophilus]

It's a 5D file at 11x17, which is a little less than 300 dpi I believe.

I used the clarity tool in Lightroom.

In Photoshop just did some masks and levels/curves.

[Pelao]

I suggest that for your prints you do not apply any sharpening in LR - since you have Photokit sharpener, just use that on an appropriate output sharpening setting.

[jmwscot]

Sorry you are having a problem with print sharpening. I am using the 3800 with LR 2.0. I find that the low setting on glossy is right for the Ilford smooth pearl and Epson Premium Semigloss. Ensure that you don't have the "Finest Detail" setting switched on in the Epson print driver (I am sure you know this but it's for getting sharp edges on vector based text and graphics).

I assume of course you are using raw files and not Jpegs sharpened in camera. If you are using the default capture sharpening of 25 1.0 25 0 you should have no problems.  I find that, printing A4 and A3, with the raw files from my 1Ds MkII I can go up to 60 0.7 55 0 for a landscape and 45 1.0 20 70 for a med close up portrait. With output sharpening at low the results don't look oversharpened. I also have Photokit sharpener which I use if round tripping in Photoshop but would of course not apply any capture or output print sharpening in Lightroom in that instance.

I have noticed that there is a tendency to jaggies on edges like thick wires against skies if capture sharpening in Lr is on the high side. Unsharp mask in Photoshop did the same thing. However I didn't get this effect with Photokit which does give a different sharpening result. Generally though the new sharpening in Lightroom is excellent and I use it exclusively.

Hope I have been some help.

[digitaldog]

The sharpening routines in LR beta are still being tweaked.