Lightroom workflow for web pictures

[andrejan]

I am struggling to get sharp looking pictures for web galleries using Lightroom, and I'm wondering if it's just my way of working or not.

In PSE (6.0) my workflow for photo's I want to publish on the internet is:
- Open in the RAW converter, and do some basic Post Processing (when needed)
- Further PP in PSE.
- Resize to max width/height of 800 pixels.
- PP when it is still needed
- Apply Unsharp Mask
- When satisfied about the result, save as JPG

Most pictures just need some saturation, contrast, exposure changes and sharpness. Lightroom is perfect for this.

But in Lightroom there are two ways to apply sharpness:
1) In develop mode you can apply sharpening, but that is *before* resizing. The effect on the resized picture can be totally different.
2) Resizing is done when saving (Exporting) the picture. At the same time you can choose to sharpen the picture using the "Output Sharpening" option, but you don't have much control over the sharpening. You'll only see the effect after saving the jpg file.

I really like Lightroom, and I use it for cataloging my pictures, but I still revert to PSE when I want to create pictures for the web. It should be possible to get the same result with LR as I get with PSE, so I'm wondering if it's just my way of working or thinking that's wrong. Maybe it's just that I learned to apply the Unsharp Mask at the very end of PP.

A long story, but basically my question is: In LR, what is the right workflow for processing raw pictures I want to publish on the web, in a resolution of max. 800 pixels (width or height).

Andre

[Mr. Pickles]

In LR2, I have been doing what you tried and have had no problems. I do the sharpening in the "full image" like you mentioned. I actually use more sharpening than the LR default for my images. When I export, and resize, I use the output sharpening too. My web size images look fine. I think you need to try different settings and see. In LR1, the sharpening was as good as it is in LR2, which is now actually LR2.4

[andrejan]

Then it's just my way of thinking that's holding me back, I guess.
I have to forget about my PSE workflow and apply all adjustments including sharpening, until the picture looks good, and resize while saving. I will practice a bit more.

Thanks,
Andre