"f/1.4 and be there"

PortrayingLife wrote:

Barry Pearson wrote:

Tord S Eriksson wrote:

kriztian wrote:

It was my reaction to. Very nice pictures but I believe they don´t have to be as sharp as they are. They will look very good anyway. I like the first mushroom pic and the berries best.

Agree with you. totally!
Excellent mushrooms!

There is a consensus that I over-sharpened some (perhaps all?) of the photos.
I'm going up a steep learning curve on using my (relatively new) laptop!

Here are a few of them with only the Lightroom sharpening I used before.
No additional Photoshop sharpening; but I have again downsized to 75%.

Comments, including harsh criticism, welcome.
I need to learn how to get this right!

Fine-tune the image as you have always done, but go light using the Clarity slider, if at all.

Downsize for publication.

After downsizing, examine the image for 'noise' artifacts.

Next, target the 'problem' areas with LR Classic's ADJUSTMENT BRUSH tool, Auto Mask enabled. Make sure areas and edges you wish to remain sharp are NOT included in the resulting mask by fine-tuning the mask with the tool's Erase option. Once you have the refinement area identified to you liking, use the Texture slider & Density slider to address the 'noise' to your satisfaction. (Texture tends to smudge. Density determines how much reads through.) Which setting combination is most pleasing... that's your call.

Works for me might work for you.

Cheers... M

Thanks! Very helpful.
I've allowed myself to get a bit out of touch with some of the more advanced features if Lightroom.

I've bookmarked your post. I'll probably start by not using clarity.
Then play around with your other options.