Lightroom Sharpening

rickp

Hey guys,
Does anyone know of a 3rd party app or plugin that adds USM sharpening to LR3 without launching PS? The whole point is not to leave LR to sharpen. I don't like the result of LR sharpening.

Thanks
R.

pathfinder

Photoshop, but you knew that right, Rick?

I think without the masking slider, sharpening in LR is very similar to USM though. But why would you prefer that to controlling sharpening with the Mask Slider?

I don't generally use plug ins via Lightroom due to the lack of real layers controls. I go out to Photoshop, and use my plug ins there, as I can refine their results so much easier with real masks, and real layers and blending modes. I would love to give up Photoshop too, but so far, that is not something I can do at this stage of image editing software.

rickp

Yeah I know that, what I was hoping was for to be able to do USM sharpening from inside LR, without launching PS.

I really don't like the sharpening tool in LR3, I just don't think it does that great of job.
OnOne just came out with a plugin for LR to be able to do layers, so I thought I would ask to see if there's a similar plugin for USM sharpening. This way I can add a some sharpening to an image and sync to others, increasing my workflow a bit. Right now if I really want to sharpen I'm doing each image in CS5. I know it's a stretch but what the hell, I figured I would ask anyway.

R.

arodney

LR has capture (in Develop) and output sharpening (Print) built in. Its based on a Photoshop plug-in, PhotoKit Sharpener by Pixel Genius (www.pixelgenius.com). No such plug-in is necessary in LR or ACR. Far better to use the provided tools correctly within the raw processing pipeline. See: http://lightroom-news.com/lightroom-11-update/sharpening/

pathfinder

Thank you for that link again, Andrew. I forgot to mention the heritage LR3 sharpening owes to Pixelgenius's Photokit Sharpener.

And I forgot to mention the Output sharpening offered in the Print panel as well, which I use all the time without giving it much of a thought - it just works that well.

I think what Rick is wanting is what some folks call local contrast enhancement, perhaps, rather than real USM sharpening. Low Amount, high Radius, very low Threshold - for example 24%, 50, 2.....

BradfordBenn

I have been using some of the NIK software tools in my LR workflow. Might that provide the tool using Viveza or Color EFX Pro? They have a trial version.

pathfinder

Brad, I thought Nik Sharpener Pro might be available in LR3, as Viveza and Color FX are. But my google http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Nik+Sharpener+Pro++LR+plug+in&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 does not seem to verify that. It does seem to be available in Aperture, but I did not see a reference to Lightroom 3 for Nik's Sharpener Pro.

Maybe someone else can tell us.

FatFrogFotography

You could try the Mogrify plugin http://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrmogrify2.php

Among offering lots of cool output options (like borders, watermarks and advanced resizing) for Exporting images from Lightroom, it offers advanced sharpening options which from memory are very similar to the sliders in the USM dialog in PS. I tend to use the sharpening within the Develop Module combined with some output sharpening depending on the destination of the images.

I am in no way affiliated with the product, just a very happy customer.

MarkR

pathfinder wrote: »

Brad, I thought Nik Sharpener Pro might be available in LR3, as Viveza and Color FX are. But my google http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Nik+Sharpener+Pro++LR+plug+in&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 does not seem to verify that. It does seem to be available in Aperture, but I did not see a reference to Lightroom 3 for Nik's Sharpener Pro.

Maybe someone else can tell us.

Nik Sharpener Pro is apparently available as a "plug-in" for Lightroom. 14 day trial. I don't use it so can't say much about it.

Also FocalBlade from The Plug-in Site is available as a "plug-in." I don't use it, so I can't say much about it. Watermarked trial.

As an aside, I'm not too keen on using the word "plug-in" for Lightroom-- it's really an external editor, self-contained. An actual plugin, to my mind, should work the way they do in Bibble-- nondestructively on the original RAW.

Topaz Detail can be used as a "plugin" through TopazLabs' free Fusion Express software. I do have experience with it and can highly recommend it for creative detail enhancement and sharpening. 30 day trial!

Topaz also makes a product called InFocus-- sometimes I like its results, most often I don't. I would hold off until version 2 or 3 unless it's really working well for you. (30 day trial.)

MarkR

rickp wrote: »

Hey guys,
Does anyone know of a 3rd party app or plugin that adds USM sharpening to LR3 without launching PS? The whole point is not to leave LR to sharpen. I don't like the result of LR sharpening.

Thanks
R.

The nature of Lightroom is that any plug-in you use is leaving Lightroom to call an external editor (Whether it's a Nik plugin or full-blown Photoshop) to work with a copy of your data which has been rendered in a TIF or PSD.

To my mind, if I'm going to have to round trip an image like that anyway, I'd rather do it in a full editor like Photoshop where I can use layers and masks to help curb my enthusiasms.

rickp

I agree with Mark. What I'm looking for is USM sharpening for LR. If I have to leave LR either with Nik or any other plugin I would rather just do it in CS5.

The whole point of this is to be able to add a base layer of sharpening to one image then sync to other similar images instead of doing each one individually. Does that makes sense??

R.

MarkR

rickp wrote: »

I agree with Mark. What I'm looking for is USM sharpening for LR. If I have to leave LR either with Nik or any other plugin I would rather just do it in CS5.

The whole point of this is to be able to add a base layer of sharpening to one image then sync to other similar images instead of doing each one individually. Does that makes sense??

R.

In that case, you're stuck with the sharpening built into LR until Adobe opens up their raw rendering pipeline to 3rd parties. (Anticipated date: the 3rd of Never.)

arodney

pathfinder wrote: »

I think what Rick is wanting is what some folks call local contrast enhancement, perhaps, rather than real USM sharpening.

That’s clarity (Midtone contrast) based on a technique of Mac Holbert previously of Nash Editions. You can of course do this locally with a brush (even negative clarity).

rickp

I think I am stuck!!!

Thanks anyway guys.

MarkR

You could always check out Bibble, which does allow plugins to access the raw pipeline. Only problem is, if the plugin you want isn't there, you'll have to code it yourself. (Or ask one of the plugin gurus to create it for you.)