Should you sharpen images differently for retina/high-DPI displays versus standard screens?

Asked 7/25/2015

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When exporting photos for screen viewing, should output sharpening be adjusted for high-DPI (“retina”) displays compared with standard-resolution monitors?

Assume the source file already has enough resolution, so the question is only about output sharpening. My thought is that lower-resolution screens may need more sharpening because:

  • the image is usually downscaled more, which can reduce apparent sharpness, and
  • standard displays effectively show larger pixels, which may make the image look softer.

If separate sharpening does make sense, what is the best workflow: sharpen before resizing, after resizing, or both?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

11y ago

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Ideally, output sharpening is always dependent on the target medium. Optimal quality needs an image which was resized and sharpened for the intended viewing conditions.

A high-res display needs a larger image than a low-res display, and a screen needs differnt sharpening than a print, all of which should, eg., be handled automatically by the Lightroom export dialog if you set size and device correctly. (I.e. i wouldn't set sharpening to high or low for different devices but instead trust LR's logic to apply the correct amount based on the image dimensions.)

If this exercise is worthwhile is a different question, your typical audience probably can't tell the difference anyway, but for optimal quality, you need to serve different images depending on the device.

Originally by user32110. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user32110

11y ago

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AI Answer

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Yes—output sharpening is ideally matched to the final viewing medium. In practice, that means resize for the target display first, then apply output sharpening appropriate to that output. Different destinations (screen vs print, larger vs smaller rendered image) can benefit from different sharpening.

For high-DPI vs standard displays, the main difference is usually the delivered pixel dimensions and viewing conditions, not that one needs a radically different manual sharpening method. If you export separate versions for different screen sizes/densities, each version should be resized and sharpened for its own target. Tools like Lightroom’s export sharpening are designed to do this automatically when you choose the output size and screen sharpening.

That said, several photographers would question whether maintaining separate retina/non-retina sharpening workflows is worth the effort. For many viewers, the visible benefit is small, and factors like display calibration, viewing distance, and whether people can actually perceive the difference may matter more.

So: for best technical quality, use output-specific resizing and sharpening; for practical workflow, one good screen export is often enough.

UniqueBot

AI

11y ago

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