Sharpening

gad-westy

gad-westy

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Graham
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Anybody able to quickly explain or link to info on the basics of what sharpening does and how to apply it? I have played around with the sliders on Aperture 3 and other software and I don't always notice much difference but I understand that it is an important element to PP especially when shooting RAW. I feel like I may be missing out.
 
I sharpen in camera RAW (Clarity) but not a lot. Then I save it as a TIFF, and sharpen as the last job, resize for posting to 800x600 save as a jpeg and apply an unsharp mask settings: 120% 0.4 pixels and 5 levels. That seems to work for me. If its for printing, I'll sharpen the picture and then apply the unsharp mask.
 
Thanks for the reply String. Being honest, I don't fully understand what you're saying. Are these Photoshop settings? What I'm really after is the fundamentals, i.e. what does sharpening actually do and when should it be used.
 
Yup. I find ALL raw files need sharpening. Sharpening er......... makes the photograph sharper. Sorry but thats about it really. Open Photoshop, browse in Bridge, select your RAW file. Make the changes you want, select clarity, and slide that slightly to the right and you should see some improvement in the clarity of the image. Adjust whatever you feel you need to in Camera RAW like white balance, contrast hue and saturation, until you have the picture looking like what you expected. Select "open image" which will then bring you into photoshop with the image open. Now you can select sharpen from the filters menu and sharpen it.

You can save it as a Tiff file with a file name you will recognise it from, and then select unsharp mask also from the filters menu and apply the settings I suggested.

This should give you a better image and much more like what you expect from the camera. RAW files are exactly what it says on the tin, no sharpening, no adjustments to saturation, hue, sharpness, nothing. The only thing you will get is the "As shot" setting in white balance. You can select a number of presets like daylight, cloudy, incandesant bulb etc, but you can alter that as you need/ want to.

Pick an image and have a play with it, it's a good way to find out what you can do.

Hope that helps you a little :)
 
Many thanks gents, I'll try and absorb all this once I'm sat in front of my computer at home with PS open.
 
I sharpen in ps at the size intended for web use at 300%, 0.5, 5 and then edit > fade unsharp mask by 50% on the luminousty channel. It's the best compromise I've managed to come across.

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Sharpening makes lines no so smooth between colours and edges. Human eye loves it but when its not too much. Also keep in mind when you are sharpening you are also sharpening a noise ;)
 
Sharpening is essential, so experiment with it until you find something that works for you.

It basically adds in a line to separate colurs/pixels and this then to the eye gives a more distinct edge.
 
sharpening,once youve experienced using it becomes an essential part of photo manipulation that you will not ignore.i cannot afford any pricey software so use FREE Photoscape software,its sharpening tool gives you a choice of 1 to 10 and what you see is an immediate change which is easily reversed.practice makes perfect but i wouldnt be without a sharpening tool
 
Hi. Over-sharpening is worse than under in my view. Avoid haloes at all costs. Often when sharpening a pic for print, the effect will look excessive on screen. Its a matter of experience. One recommendation is to convert to a smart object in PS, use Unsharp Mark, 100-150% amount, 0.5 radius for screen, 2-3 radius for print, threshold 0 (or 5 if sharpening a portrait). For landscapes, amount 200%, radius 4. Just guidelines.
 
Hi

It is essential to deal with all forms of noise before attempting sharpening or you will sharpen the noise.

Graham
 
I believe that aperture 3 sharpens pics automatically according to the camera preset. Is this correct.
 
stumeech said:
I sharpen in ps at the size intended for web use at 300%, 0.5, 5 and then edit > fade unsharp mask by 50% on the luminousty channel. It's the best compromise I've managed to come across.

Sent from my HTC Desire using TP Forums
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Agree, whatever amount you use do it last and do it on a duplicate layer or if on a single layer after applying filter choose fade *filter* - change blend mode to 'luminosity'. This will reduce the effects of haloing.

Adjust images for on screen viewing after any resizing is done. For print you sharpen a lot more, they will appear oversharpened on screen. Either do some trials to give you an idea or use something like NIK softwares sharpening plug in, you put in type of printing, size of print etc. It will work out amount of sharpening needed for the type of media and the average viewing distance of a print that size etc.

Very nice software but you can do it by trial and error if you don't want to use something like that. Take an image and sharpen different amounts in wide sections on the image then compare, kind of like you would do a test strip in a darkroom with exposing the print. You can do this type of thing with other changes like overall brightness to give you a general guide to how the on screen image will appear when printed.

Save your sample images with different amounts of sharpening on the computer and the print outs. Either write the settings on the sections with the type tool or with a texta on the prints so you know what settings gave you that result. After a while you won't need to look at your test pics for comparison, and just know by looking at your image on screen.
 
The best way for sharpning is to understand that sharpning must be acourdding to the output: monitor, print in paper Matte or glossy, **** size, **** DPI, the best thing, Photo Kit sharpnner http://www.pixelgenius.com/sharpener/


and read the user manual and you will understand what you need to know about sharpning.
 
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