Hi!
It sounds like you have a good grasp of the RAW conversion process. My main suggestion would be to use the Sharpness slider carefully. A setting between 75 and 100 is a lot of sharpening. Blow your image up to 100% or 200% when sharpening to see what it does to the edges and transition areas. I find that I usually can't go above 65 without causing damage and frequently end up in the 50s. You're also applying even more sharpening after conversion. Without a doubt, you're oversharpening. This will tend to significantly reduce the plasticity of the image in that the transition areas will be "notchy" or abrupt. I also think that if you get everything right with exposure, brightness, shadows, and contrast before you convert, you shouldn't often have to fuss with curves or limites. I sometimes add a minor tweak after processing, usually just as a final contrast adjustment with the rgb curve, but most of the time the RAW converter gets it right. Too much is frequently too much.
Paul, I have to agree with you. It is just that I was often pointed out that my images lack some sharpness and some contrast. It seems that I've over-accepted that advise.
I am going to start with the same procedure I am applying, but with much less sharpening, especially for image that would be printed. Then I will slowly build up my experience from these prints.
Boris
