Sharpening for prints

[LCPete]

Hi guys I,m beginning to realise that I need to do extra sharpening for shots to be printed for example at Jessops
I use USM at 125% raduis 1 pixel and Threshhold at 3 or smart sharpen at 82% radius 1 pixel and remove lens blur in CS2 for veiwing on a monitor but they dont look as sharp when printed.

Can you reccomend sharpening settings for USM and smart sharpen ?

Also I do find prints come out a bit dark compared to a monitor but I lightened them by a third exp in DPP this looked better
Pete

 

[Mohain]

This is what I do:

Resize the image to the output size without resampling. Take a note of the new dpi (e.g. 350).

Divide the new dpi by 175 to give you the radius, in this case 2.

Set smart sharpen to 100% and radius 2. Check the 'more accurate' box. I leave it on gaussian blur as I cant really tell what the difference between the types are.

The 'radius' can be tweaked depending on the original but in most cases this is pretty good.

 

[subseasniper]

I noticed on the unsharp mask help section in CS3 that it states that any sharpening done with USM stands out more on a monitor than on a print.

 

[simonkit]

sharpening is very much dependant on the output and the type of image, landscape shot, facial portrait etc etc...it's a bit of a science...

personally I save myself the hassle & use the excellent CS3 plug-in "Photokit Sharpener"...maybe a bit expensive but worth every penny

http://www.pixelgenius.com/sharpener/index.html


simon

 

[LCPete]

Thanks very much I been photgraphing for a while but still trying to learn the art of photoshop

This is what I do:

Resize the image to the output size without resampling. Take a note of the new dpi (e.g. 350).

Divide the new dpi by 175 to give you the radius, in this case 2.

Set smart sharpen to 100% and radius 2. Check the 'more accurate' box. I leave it on gaussian blur as I cant really tell what the difference between the types are.

The 'radius' can be tweaked depending on the original but in most cases this is pretty good.

Thanks Mohain Ihavent tried resizing yet I'm learning this as I go along
but I,ve got Scott Kelby's book on CS2 and so will try some 9 by 6 prints

I noticed on the unsharp mask help section in CS3 that it states that any sharpening done with USM stands out more on a monitor than on a print.

Thanks subseasniper the images did look sharp on the monitor but not so good when printed

sharpening is very much dependant on the output and the type of image, landscape shot, facial portrait etc etc...it's a bit of a science...

personally I save myself the hassle & use the excellent CS3 plug-in "Photokit Sharpener"...maybe a bit expensive but worth every penny

http://www.pixelgenius.com/sharpener/index.html


simon

thanks Simon I do mainly nature stuff birds and insects so will experiment it's certainly tricky to get dead sharp pics of birds
Pete

 

[swanseamale47]

Check out PK sharpner or the FREE TLR sharpening actions both have a lot more options for a sharpening workflow. Wayne