Photoshop Elements - sharpen in Raw or jpeg

[arclight]

Been using PSE7 for about 2 months now.
I shoot in RAW, edit (sharpen last) then save as highest quality jpeg.

I read in PSE7 for Dummies last night that it recommends saving sharpening until the jpeg stage, but no reason was given.
Perhaps there is a logic in doing so post compression. I don't know.

Scott Kelby is an advocate of sharpening in RAW.

Any ideas?

 

[swanseamale47]

Theres a lot of debate about sharpening, some people op for a 3 stage workflow
1 Capture sharpening, (a light sharpen) this is to compensate for the slight softening of the AA filter (what Kelbys talking about)
2 Creative sharpening, this is maybe sharpening part of the image, say the eyes in a portrait or something, the amount of sharpening will vary with subject, usually done later in the workflow.
3 Output sharpening, this depends on whether it's for print or web and size (done last after resizing)
Whether you choose to do all this or not is up to you, many people will only use one or two steps. I mostly do 1 and 3, but will sometimes do all 3 if I think an image needs it.
Check out PK sharpener IMHO miles better than photoshops sharpening.
Wayne

 

[AndyB]

I agree with Wayne. RAW usually needs a little bit of sharpenning and by doing it there you retain quality (if you dont push your luck). But by the time you've done your processing etc and possibly resized the image it benefits from sharpenning as the last action.

Whichever way you do it I think most would agree that too little is far better than too much.

 

[arclight]

Thanks folks.

 

[stelkise]

Just like to add a wee note here, I submit the odd image or 2 to a specialised automotive stock site and they suggest "no sharpening" post capture, as their clients tend to do that themselves. Maybe worth considering, depending on final objective for image use, as it does affect the workflow slightly, especially if preferences within the software have been set.

 

[AndyB]

Stelkise I am presuming you are talking about someone like CVi who takeimages from their photographers and process them for the client. In which case you're right but they simply take JPGs which are probably sharpened in camera already. They then proceed to crop and resize them, adjust levels etc with the result that the end image looks fairly crappy and would have looked beter if left alone

 

[jakeblu]

I think Alamy stipulate no shapening to submitted images, or at least they used to.

Steve

 

[Dangermouse]

I use cs3 and alter the curves very little and as for sharpening I leave well alone, the only time I have to sharpen is for photobucket which mainly end up on here because the process does soften the shots a tad buts thats photobuckets software

 

[mrgubby]

If you sharpen at the RAW stage you're using the ACR tool otherwise you're using the USM tool in PSE. I don't know the merits of either algorithm but as they come from the same company :shrug:

I always sharpen as the last process with the settings dependant on the target size ie printing or web

 

[Craikeybaby]

When shooting in RAW I do a light input sharpen (Lightroom, but ACR is he same) then I sharpen again at the output stage, depending on the size/use of the image.