Now that I'm using NikSharpen, it's a whole new ballgame. This plug-in seems to "co-opt" PS's sharpening tools in a way that presents me with needle-sharp images without any haloing. It can sharpen globally or selectively. I use this procedure pretty much exclusively now, and I have all but abandoned Unsharp Mask, Smart Sharpen, Sharpen Edges, etc. I mean, why muck around with complicated time-consuming operations when it can be done faster and better some other way?

One "problem" however: it takes print size and viewing distance into consideration, so that means I must make copies of unsharpened/uncropped prints (taking up yet more space) for various size prints and also for images used exclusively on the web. So my workflow has become more complicated. But the finished images are worth it!

Leonard