I’ve used Lightroom since it’s first public beta. Over the years I’ve added different presets, mostly in the Develop Module. (How many B&W presets do I really need!!??) I’ve also incorporated additional editing software. Various iterations of On1 products ,The Nik collection (Efex Pro, Viveza,Dfine Etc.) and recently added Perfect Exposure. I was reminded that I have the NIK Collection ( It’s Freeee. ) after seeing this blog post How to Sharpen Your Photos using Lightroom and Nik Efex by Pete Demarco I had a picture I could practice on. A Mother Duck and ducklings were out feeding in the morning recently. There was some nice early morning light giving them a bit of backlit effect. However, I was not happy with my results. They were just too soft. I’ve got a low end zoom lens so it wasn’t a surprise but it was disappointing. Enter the Output Sharpener. After adjusting the settings per Pete’s recommendation. I got this result:
On the left is the result using Output sharpening. Compared to the right Mom’s feathers are just a little better. Where it’s more noticeable is the chicks fur and the water droplets on their bodies. I outputted this from LR without any additional sharpening. Now I need to practice with the other parts of the Collection!