Nik Sharpener, just before or after JPEG conversion in Lightroom?

[PATB]

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Just purchased the Nik collection as posted by Andy (thanks!); couldn't resist the "deal".

 

I use Lightroom 4 on an iMac. I do not have a printer so send files out to be printed. Usually, I just let Lightroom 4 do the output sharpening when I export to jpeg to a printing service (the printing service only accepts jpeg).

 

For digital black and white, I am thinking of using Silver Efex, then using the Nik Sharpener for output sharpening. I will then export the resulting (sharpened) tiff file to jpeg, without any output sharpening by lightroom. Is this correct? Or should I use the Nik Sharpener on the resulting jpeg, i.e., after the export?

 

Thanks in advance for any information.

 

---Pat

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[sanyasi]

As I suggested in another post two days ago, this video from the Nik site is very much worth your while if you plan to use Sharpener Pro. Webinars. I need to watch it again.

 

But in response to your specific question, the instructor recommends that if you are going to use Sharpener Pro, you should zero out the sharpening controls in Lightroom or ACR. You should then do your RAW pre sharpening in Sharpener Pro. Otherwise you are sharpening the original file twice, which is a bad idea. So either do it in Lightroom or Sharpener Pro, but not both.

 

The video explains three sharpening steps in the sharpening workflow. The first is Raw pre sharpening. Everybody should do this, or at least make a conscious decision not to do it. Notably, he pointed out the Lecia M camera files generally require less Raw pre sharpening than files from other cameras.

 

The second level of sharpening is creative sharpening, which has a lot to do with highlighting contrast in selected parts of the photograph, but there are other aspects to it.

 

The third is output sharpening for the particular mode of display (screen, inkjet print, etc.)

 

The major focus of the video is on selective sharpening in each of these steps. He focuses on a photograph involving an alligator, and shows how to sharpen the head, but not to sharpen the out of focus background--basically through masking.

 

The instructor says that LR is very good at inkjet output sharpening, so if you are printing through LR you may not need to use Sharpener Pro for output sharpening. Although, he points out that you lose a lot of control.