Capture sharpening in Lightroom

[dv8or]

I specialise in fashion images and as a result lots of skin which needs retouching. I am trying to adapt my workflow to make retouching easier. I was wondering what others do with regards to the default capture sharpening in Lightroom - whether to keep it on or turn it off?  I have tried PK sharpener capture sharpening which seems more aggressive than Lightroom and results in crunchiness and halo's early on in the process. I would like to use their output sharpening but need to get my workflow right and would appreciate any pointers.
Marc
You can see some of my work here to get an idea of what I do....www.marcrogoff.com

[madmanchan]

I would recommend you dig into the capture sharpening options in Lightroom. Here's an article to get you started:

http://photoshopnews.com/2007/05/31/about-camera-raw-41/

The issue you're likely running into is insufficient use of the masking slider. For portraits it is common to use a setting of 50 and higher. You will also likely want to use a somewhat larger radius value to avoid sharpening tiny details like skin pores, though exactly what you sharpen in your portraits is really up to you to decide.

[Ben Rubinstein]

Another neat trick I used on the last wedding with a subject who had nastily rough skin (female), I used the Local Adjustment Brush with the clarity set to minus (subtle soft focus effect) on the face then painted the eyes and mouth back out (to normal). Worked a treat. Faster also than a lot of these PS tricks for masking edges on the face for softening. I really do love ACR...

[dv8or]

Thanks Eric - appreciate the link - I suspect that the masking will help things a bit owever judging just how much sharpening for capture is proving really difficult. Also, judging how much for Print equally is challenging.....
Marc

I would recommend you dig into the capture sharpening options in Lightroom. Here's an article to get you started:

http://photoshopnews.com/2007/05/31/about-camera-raw-41/

The issue you're likely running into is insufficient use of the masking slider. For portraits it is common to use a setting of 50 and higher. You will also likely want to use a somewhat larger radius value to avoid sharpening tiny details like skin pores, though exactly what you sharpen in your portraits is really up to you to decide.

[dv8or]

Cheers Ben - I have used the clarity brush for some low end work and it is a nice quick fix but not good for high end work - particularly my work which is Fashion.
Marc

Another neat trick I used on the last wedding with a subject who had nastily rough skin (female), I used the Local Adjustment Brush with the clarity set to minus (subtle soft focus effect) on the face then painted the eyes and mouth back out (to normal). Worked a treat. Faster also than a lot of these PS tricks for masking edges on the face for softening. I really do love ACR...