Sharpening Techniques

Shaun Palmer

Shaun Palmer

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Shaun
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Morning all.

Just wondering what techniques and settings people use for sharpening in Lightroom and/or Photoshop.

Im guessing there will be different degrees of sharpening for different genres, and could be subjective for what style you are going for.

I shoot mainly landscape, but I also enjoy taking photos of my little boy and friends/family.

TIA

Shaun
 
I always mask the image in Lightroom between 80-90 and apply sharpening anywhere from 25-50. Export sharpening set to normal.
 
Shaun Palmer said:
Thanks, to be honest I've never touched the mask slider in Lightroom as I was unsure on what it did lol, what effect on sharpening does have?
Click to expand...

It's one of LR's best sharpening tools!

Masks part of the image so you only sharpen the edges of a portrait for example. if you hold down the alt key it shows you exactly where sharpening will be applied.
 
It depends on the files I'm working on, files from Bayer, X-trans and Foveon sensors all respond to sharpening rather differently - but regardless of the file type the Mask tool in LR always features in my sharpening workflow
 
Are you shooting in raw or jpg, as the latter will need less sharpening than the former. As Adam said, use masking so you only sharpen what needs sharpening. Don't sharpen, for example, the sky as it will end up appearing noisy. With landscapes I apply NR to the sky and sharpening to the foreground. I don't do people but wildlife is similar - I only sharpen the subject. I use PaintShop so the techniques and settings are different to LR/PS.
 
UaeExile said:
I always mask the image in Lightroom between 80-90 and apply sharpening anywhere from 25-50. Export sharpening set to normal.
Click to expand...
I never touch export sharpening tbh. What difference does using this make given the image has already been sharpened within LR?
 
If you use Fuji X cameras you need to set detail to 100% on import sharpening.
However it is best to do the majority of sharpening on export appropriate to the size and use intended.
always check sharpening at 100% view, to avoid any artefacts and over sharpened edges.
 
Ian W said:
I never touch export sharpening tbh. What difference does using this make given the image has already been sharpened within LR?
Click to expand...

An image output at a reduced size and pixel count for the web, needs a totally different amount of sharpening to say a large 40x30 print.
it makes a massive difference to the resulting quality of the viewed image. Generally the reduced size can benefit from much more sharpening than a larger size can, and before artefacts can be seen.

Both import and export sharpening are important, Import sharpening should be minimal.
 
Last edited:
Terrywoodenpic said:
An image output at a reduced size and pixel count for the web, needs a totally different amount of sharpening to say a large 40x30 print.
it makes a massive difference to the resulting quality of the viewed image. Generally the reduced size can benefit from much more sharpening than a larger size can, and before artefacts can be seen.

Both import and export sharpening are important, Import sharpening should be minimal.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I normally export at maximum size anyway, but it would be good to know what the consensus is for export sharpening should I reduce the image size.

I assume 'normal' wouldn't do any harm and be a good middle ground for exporting at anything lower than full resolution?
 
Ian W said:
Interesting. I normally export at maximum size anyway, but it would be good to know what the consensus is for export sharpening should I reduce the image size.

I assume 'normal' wouldn't do any harm and be a good middle ground for exporting at anything lower than full resolution?
Click to expand...

What is "Normal"?
Sharpening is specific to size.
This is especially true when sharpening for the web and makes a great deal of difference.
Why would you export at maximum size?
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
Why would you export at maximum size?
Click to expand...

Laziness generally. I guess I could reduce to 1000 along the longest edge to reduce to a level fine for Flickr/sharing on a forum.

By 'normal' I mean in LR's output settings (ie low, medium/normal, high).
 
Thanks for the replys everyone.


Jannyfox said:
Are you shooting in raw or jpg, as the latter will need less sharpening than the former. As Adam said, use masking so you only sharpen what needs sharpening. Don't sharpen, for example, the sky as it will end up appearing noisy. With landscapes I apply NR to the sky and sharpening to the foreground. I don't do people but wildlife is similar - I only sharpen the subject. I use PaintShop so the techniques and settings are different to LR/PS.
Click to expand...

Sorry I should of said, shooting in RAW
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
What is "Normal"?
Sharpening is specific to size.
This is especially true when sharpening for the web and makes a great deal of difference.
Why would you export at maximum size?
Click to expand...
No, on the LR export "normal" is an actual choice.
 
UaeExile said:
No, on the LR export "normal" is an actual choice.
Click to expand...

I almost never use lightroom to export as I use Ps for that. Sharpening then comes with more options.
I export to Ps,do any adjustments to size etc, sharpen then save for web.
 
I know 2 Adobe approved LR chaps and both recommend markedly different sharpening values, then of course it also depends what you're doing next - i.e. export from LR and print/web, or export and further PP in Photoshop before print/web

Some subjects look good with far more sharpening than others too

For me now Weddings/Portraits get sharpening in LR only even if further PP is done in Photoshop, everything else gets a lower pre-sharpening in LR as some of my fav further work adds sharpening anyway, or at least the appearance of it if not actually by applying a sharpening filter

If you sent the same files to several great PPers I'm sure you'd get different sharpening amounts applied and probably at different stages too, this is why it crops up as a question so often, there is no one way/ideal way to do it

It's a bit like "seasoning to taste" in a recipe :)

Dave
 
Ian W said:
Laziness generally. I guess I could reduce to 1000 along the longest edge to reduce to a level fine for Flickr/sharing on a forum.

By 'normal' I mean in LR's output settings (ie low, medium/normal, high).
Click to expand...
If you're not going to resize for web/forum/Flickr there's no point spending too long worrying about sharpening. The weak link in the chain will be the software resizing used by the host that you've no control over.
 
Alastair said:
If you're not going to resize for web/forum/Flickr there's no point spending too long worrying about sharpening. The weak link in the chain will be the software resizing used by the host that you've no control over.
Click to expand...

If you resize for web yourself to their size and sharpen they use it as is.
 
it looks long winded but really good
Intelligent high pass sharpening

Open your image and zoom to 100% (double click the magnifying tool).
Duplicate the background layer twice to give 3 layers in total.

NB This technique will not work with smart objects.

Rename the top one ‘High’ by double clicking the name in the layer.
Rename the middle one ‘Low’.

Switch off the top layer.
Filter>blur>surface blur.
Set the threshold so no halos are seen around the transition points.
Set the radius to give the desired amount of sharpening. I used 28. NB. The radius is generally twice the threshold. The image will look less sharp at this stage, but don’t panic!
NB. Surface blur has never really caught on as it requires lots of computer power. It will work ok if your computer is reasonably fast and you use 8-bit files. Try to avoid 16-bit files as it will be really slow, or even just give up, when using these larger images.
Click on High layer to make it active.
Image>Apply image
Use the following settings: Layer to Low, Blend to Subtract, Scale to 2 and Offset to 128. Make sure the invert button is NOT ticked. This should give you a grey, embossed layer similar to a high pass layer in overlay mode, but with much finer detail.
You can delete the Low layer now as it’s not needed.
Change the blending mode of the top layer to Linear light (strong), Vivid light (medium) or Overlay (to give a lower amount of sharpening)
Reduce the opacity to suit.

Done!
 
Last edited:
the ghost said:
it looks long winded but really good
Intelligent high pass sharpening

Open your image and zoom to 100% (double click the magnifying tool).
Duplicate the background layer twice to give 3 layers in total.

NB This technique will not work with smart objects.

Rename the top one ‘High’ by double clicking the name in the layer.
Rename the middle one ‘Low’.

Switch off the top layer.
Filter>blur>surface blur.
Set the threshold so no halos are seen around the transition points.
Set the radius to give the desired amount of sharpening. I used 28. NB. The radius is generally twice the threshold. The image will look less sharp at this stage, but don’t panic!
NB. Surface blur has never really caught on as it requires lots of computer power. It will work ok if your computer is reasonably fast and you use 8-bit files. Try to avoid 16-bit files as it will be really slow, or even just give up, when using these larger images.
Click on High layer to make it active.
Image>Apply image
Use the following settings: Layer to Low, Blend to Subtract, Scale to 2 and Offset to 128. Make sure the invert button is NOT ticked. This should give you a grey, embossed layer similar to a high pass layer in overlay mode, but with much finer detail.
You can delete the Low layer now as it’s not needed.
Change the blending mode of the top layer to Linear light (strong), Vivid light (medium) or Overlay (to give a lower amount of sharpening)
Reduce the opacity to suit.

Done!
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul I'll give this a go. I suppose I could always create an action so PS just runs this sequence when I need it.
 
did you try it Shaun and what you think about it ?
 
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