Photoshop/Camera RAW editing.

[c22w1]

There seem to be numerous ways to imrove sharpness and reduce noice in Photoshop CS6 and/or camera RAW. What is the prefered method you use for best results?
Everytime I reduce noise and increase sharpness I can rarely get it to look right.
Thanks

 

[bettskeith]

I might be completely wrong but I wouldn't have thought there was a hard and fast way to fix the problem as it will all depend on the original image and amount of noise recorded. Personally I try to keep the ISO as low as possible to reduce the noise on the original image and then make minor adjustments to the Luminance noise reduction filter if required.

 

[buzzlightweight]

I might be completely wrong but I wouldn't have thought there was a hard and fast way to fix the problem as it will all depend on the original image and amount of noise recorded. Personally I try to keep the ISO as low as possible to reduce the noise on the original image and then make minor adjustments to the Luminance noise reduction filter if required.

very true, prevention is best. if like most of us you do need use PS or LR the best advice i can give is to....

1) make sure you shoot in raw
2) use ACR to bring out colours, crop, levels and lastly noise reduction if needed.
3) use PS to do all other editing and then once all of your editing is done, only once all is done then you use the smart sharpen tool in filters.

I cant emphasise enough that you have to have finished all editing before using this filter.

There is no science to using this filter just start high and work your way lower.

For local sharpening use the sharpen tool, found in the blur tool on the left hand side, start at 15% and adjust as needed.

You can even do it non destructively by creating a new layer and making sure sample all layers is selected.

i hope that help, buzz

 

[Sukhi]

From what ive read / seen, the census is basically that you cant polish a turd,

 

[Phil V]

This is a subjective question, are we talking about improving or salvaging images.

To get sharp images, make sure your technique is spot on. Likewise for noise, the only images where noise is unacceptable are from underexposed files.

Once you have reasonably sharp and exposed images, a small amount of NR and sharpening will do a good job. But the same tools can't really rescue a bad shot.

 

[magicaxeman]

I personally use the sharpening tool in ACR in preference to any other.

Start with the radius set to 1 then hold down the alt key so the image changes to b&w then move the slider to the right until your happy with the results, then place the cursor over the "detail" slider and hit the alt key, you dont want too much detail so I usually move the slider to the left a little.
Finally place the cursor over the masking slider and again hold down the alt key and adjust to taste (helps throw backgrounds out).

If you need to do any noise reduction heres the place to do it as well, use the luminance slider to adjust the level of luminance noise reduction and the detail slider to adjust the level of detail, follow suit with the colour noise reduction as well if needed.

I try to make small adjustments in the sharpening section as over sharpened images can look worse than slightly soft ones in my opinion.

Don't forget contrast adjustment as well, it can affect apparent sharpness and as I often shoot through glass for bird shots it always needs a boost to counter the effect of shooting through glass.

Ps, you can use ACR on jpg's too if you view them in adobe bridge or lightroom then right click and choose open with ACR, works a treat for small adjustments and in my mind is better than using the tools in CS

 

[boyfalldown]

I personally use the sharpening tool in ACR in preference to any other.

Start with the radius set to 1 then hold down the alt key so the image changes to b&w then move the slider to the right until your happy with the results, then place the cursor over the "detail" slider and hit the alt key, you dont want too much detail so I usually move the slider to the left a little.
Finally place the cursor over the masking slider and again hold down the alt key and adjust to taste (helps throw backgrounds out).

If you need to do any noise reduction heres the place to do it as well, use the luminance slider to adjust the level of luminance noise reduction and the detail slider to adjust the level of detail, follow suit with the colour noise reduction as well if needed.

I try to make small adjustments in the sharpening section as over sharpened images can look worse than slightly soft ones in my opinion.

Don't forget contrast adjustment as well, it can affect apparent sharpness and as I often shoot through glass for bird shots it always needs a boost to counter the effect of shooting through glass.

Ps, you can use ACR on jpg's too if you view them in adobe bridge or lightroom then right click and choose open with ACR, works a treat for small adjustments and in my mind is better than using the tools in CS

The tool in ACR works in exactly the same way as the USM in photoshop. Sharpening should be your last step

 

[magicaxeman]

The tool in ACR works in exactly the same way as the USM in photoshop. Sharpening should be your last step

It normally is, I only really use CS for cropping & b&W conversion these days, the rest if needed is done in ACR