Sharpening

geebs2006

geebs2006

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Name
Steven
Edit My Images
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When sharpening images, what method do you use?

In Photoshop I normally go to:

Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask

and play with settings till I get something which is pleasing to the eye.

Is this the common approach or are there better ways?
 
Thanks to woody i also now use High Pass Filter

Duplicate layer

Filter -> Other -> High Pass

10 (is what i use)

Set layer to overlay
 
I need to batch over 100 at a time so I have several actions I use. :)

Basically, I have it automated and I play the action as a batch when I eventually convert to Jpeg and that's normally the last stage of processing.
 
i tend to : duplicate layer > highpass filter > overlay blending

this tends to focus on sharpening just the infocuss parts of the image a bit like brass rubbing picks out the raised parts & leaves the shallow parts alone, i think unsharp mask may try to sharpen everything. could be wrong :shrug:
 
Another way to sharpen is...
Create a duplicate layer then.
Filter..Other--high pass, choose a setting about 3 to 5 to start.
In the layers palette the little window says NORMAL click and hold then drag down to OVERLAY. The duplicate layer will now be gray. You could now use a layer mask to remove any unwanted highlighted areas using a black brush.
 
corbystock said:
i think unsharp mask may try to sharpen everything. could be wrong :shrug:
Click to expand...

Yea it does - I just use it as thats what we use at work (pre press - mainly on images for property ads etc) but having just played with the High pass method I quite like this :)
 
My Method:

Duplicate the image.
Convert to LAB (flatten if needed).
Bring up channels.
Select just lightness channel.
Smart sharpen filter (select amount 500 % and then bump up radius .1 at a time from .1 until you see the pixels pop, go back one .1)
Turn on all channels again.
Covert back to RGB
Drop sharpened layer back onto the original file
Close LAB image
Sharpening Done!
 
Do you still use these various methods when sharpening a photo that has everything in focus ie. a landscape, or
would you just use an unsharp mask in this case?
 
Johnny Thunder said:
Do you still use these various methods when sharpening a photo that has everything in focus ie. a landscape, or
would you just use an unsharp mask in this case?
Click to expand...

I always add sharpening to all of my images using method I listed above, I am sure it's each to their own, I have used all of the above, but have found that I get the best results when I use the above method, I have even used "contrast" to sharpen images which seems to have been left of the above methods.
 
I currently use Unsharp mask method, but will look at the methods mentioned above....
 
itsjosh said:
Thanks to woody i also now use High Pass Filter

Duplicate layer

Filter -> Other -> High Pass

10 (is what i use)

Set layer to overlay
Click to expand...

That last command "Set layer to overlay".

Can you say how that's done, please.
Using PSE7 and cannot find the last step.
 
I use PSP X2 and sometimes use the Unsharp Mask tool but it can at times be a bit fierce so I also follow this proceedure.

It takes a bit of tweaking every now and again though. :)

Cheers..,
 
I normaly use unsharp mask, but resently discovered the benifits of the high pass filter for portraits so trying to get to grips with this.
 
geebs2006 said:
When sharpening images, what method do you use?
In Photoshop I normally go to:
Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask
and play with settings till I get something which is pleasing to the eye.
Is this the common approach or are there better ways?
Click to expand...

i use that...and just about use the same settings for every shot...if it wont sharpen...after resizing i put it in the recycle bin..!!

i also use picasa and Photofiltre..but their settings are quite agressive and not so easy to control

cheers
 
itsjosh said:
Thanks to woody i also now use High Pass Filter

Duplicate layer

Filter -> Other -> High Pass

10 (is what i use)

Set layer to overlay
Click to expand...

How do you put the high pass layer on top of the other one?

Ta
 
for those using the high pass filter method, try desaturating just before you use the high pass filter and you will find the your contrasting lines will stand out better.

Still go through all the processes though.
 
mick123 said:
I usually use smart sharpen
Click to expand...

Me too. I can't be arsed farting about too long, and some of these methods sound very drawn out. No wonder people can spend 60+ mins on one image! :cuckoo:
 
68lbs said:
Me too. I can't be arsed farting about too long, and some of these methods sound very drawn out. No wonder people can spend 60+ mins on one image! :cuckoo:
Click to expand...

Not if you create an action / droplet to do it :cuckoo: :razz: only teasing.
 
I use the method in the tutorials that I detailed..
 
Sharpening
This has been covered quite a lot on this site and a lot of photography sites on the WWW.

Goto Image> Mode> Lab Colour.
Click on the Channels tab in the layers palette, then select the lightness channel.

Goto Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask.
Enter the following> Amount: 100> Radius: 0.2> Threshold: 0
Then click ok, apply this upto 5 times.
 
Can I ask a few really basic sharpening questions in this thread?

Slowly getting my head around the whole processing piece - and understand the basics - that all digital photos need some sharpening to be truly 'crisp' - and that there are lots of different methods to do this (am using photoshop)
But I think I was being a bit dim - when I did it there didn't seem to be much impact on the photos. (so gave up on it till now!). Then a post in this thread suggested that you should be doing this 'sharpening action' potentially several times...i.e. I should keep repeating whatever sharpening method I'm using - until such point as there is a noticeable improvement.

So I tried this - and to be honest my eyes have gone wierd trying to notice if the picture is improving or deteriorating with each susbsequent 'sharpen'. Also does it matter that I generally am viewing my photos at about 25-33% on my screen so I can see the whole picture??? Can you guys share any words of wisdom as to the point at which you decide that enough sharpening has been done... If you have pics to illustrate this even better...

Also I think image size matters on sharpening - I tend to work on the image sizes that download off the camera - as not yet really printing pictures or posting to the web. Do I sharpen my 'large' image for keeps on my pc. If I wanted to start posting pics on this site - do I resize to 'web sizes' and then do the sharpening????

Thanks...
 
The one thing about sharping is that there is no one fix for all photos
As I said I use High Pass filter some times I also use un-sharp mask and also LAB and sharpen the L channel only
As for settings it will depend on the photo and also the Res of the photo so for me there is no Batch fix all at once
 
funky_snowhead2 said:
Can I ask a few really basic sharpening questions in this thread?

Slowly getting my head around the whole processing piece - and understand the basics - that all digital photos need some sharpening to be truly 'crisp' - and that there are lots of different methods to do this (am using photoshop)
But I think I was being a bit dim - when I did it there didn't seem to be much impact on the photos. (so gave up on it till now!). Then a post in this thread suggested that you should be doing this 'sharpening action' potentially several times...i.e. I should keep repeating whatever sharpening method I'm using - until such point as there is a noticeable improvement.

So I tried this - and to be honest my eyes have gone wierd trying to notice if the picture is improving or deteriorating with each susbsequent 'sharpen'. Also does it matter that I generally am viewing my photos at about 25-33% on my screen so I can see the whole picture??? Can you guys share any words of wisdom as to the point at which you decide that enough sharpening has been done... If you have pics to illustrate this even better...

Also I think image size matters on sharpening - I tend to work on the image sizes that download off the camera - as not yet really printing pictures or posting to the web. Do I sharpen my 'large' image for keeps on my pc. If I wanted to start posting pics on this site - do I resize to 'web sizes' and then do the sharpening????

Thanks...
Click to expand...
Sharping should be the last thing you do to any photo also look at it 100% and NEVER over do it, it can mess a photo up as for repeating it not in my book once is all it should take by which ever method you use
 
If you are using the 'High Pass' method of sharpening I think it is best to use a reallly small radius (usually about 1.5 pixels) then set the blend mode to 'soft light'. then duplicate this layer until you get the deisred sharpness..... if you use a large raduis you risk 'haloing' in the image, and using overlay is just too harsh.

:-)
 
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