Sharpening

[Speedy136]

After a heated discussion with my son who is a competent Photoshop user (he works for a paper and edits photo's and does the web site) he claims a good photo doesn't need sharpening before being put on the web. But on here I see many references to sharpening an image before uploading.
So should I sharpen or shouldn't I?
Please give me a good argument for sharpening mainly because it p*sses me off when he is right lol.

 

[DemiLion]

After a heated discussion with my son who is a competent Photoshop user (he works for a paper and edits photo's and does the web site) he claims a good photo doesn't need sharpening before being put on the web. But on here I see many references to sharpening an image before uploading.
So should I sharpen or shouldn't I?
Please give me a good argument for sharpening mainly because it p*sses me off when he is right lol.

The irony of that comment is that newsprint probably needs more sharpening than any other form of media.

A decent photo that the paper gets will have already been sharpened ( even for web use) before he gets his mitts on it.

 

[swanseamale47]

Try and find a copy of real world sharpening by Bruce Fraiser and Jeff Schewe, these guys wrote the book on sharpening.

 

[boliston]

After a heated discussion with my son who is a competent Photoshop user (he works for a paper and edits photo's and does the web site) he claims a good photo doesn't need sharpening before being put on the web. But on here I see many references to sharpening an image before uploading.
So should I sharpen or shouldn't I?
Please give me a good argument for sharpening mainly because it p*sses me off when he is right lol.

I think it comes down to whether you like the look of a sharpened photo or not - I think it's a bit of a "marmite" thing much like the case with other photographic effects - HDR, selective colour etc

 

[Kerioak]

What is a good photo? I usually shoot in raw so there is no sharpening applied when I transfer it onto the computer an even a touch makes a big difference, on the odd occasion I shoot jpg they look quite different.

Is he a photographer at all? What editing does he do? You can give pictures more punch, especially with curves but as with everything else, it all depends on your own point of view as everyone is different.

 

[decigallen]

I'm very surprised to hear he doesn't sharpen. I'd have thought it essential for a newspaper due to the type of printing. Something that he would be in charge of too as he will no doubt resize the images.

I sharpen sparingly but still do a light output sharpen to most images as my last editing step.

 

[swanseamale47]

A lot of newspaper photographers shoot jpeg with the sharpening upped, so they may not need it (time saver) but I'd say most normal shot will benifit from proper sharpening, if only to offset the blur caused by the anti alias filter.

 

[Speedy136]

A lot of newspaper photographers shoot jpeg with the sharpening upped, so they may not need it (time saver) but I'd say most normal shot will benifit from proper sharpening, if only to offset the blur caused by the anti alias filter.

I think you may have hit it on the head with shooting in jpeg, my son said that all images are jpeg and probably have sharpening turned up. All the photographers use top end Nikon prob D3x with the best glass so image quality is going to be good even before processing.

 

[Photodiva]

I think the issue boils down to whether an image used for print is subsequently resized for a web page. If its been downsized, it definitely needs some judicious sharpening applied as downsizing reduces clarity.