starter unsharp mask settings

whitewash

whitewash

Fishy Fingers
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ive had to reinstall everything on my pc and have lost all my settings for tattyshop, can someone tell me a goodplace to start on the unsharp mask setting.

thanks


jamie
 
If I'm sharpening for the web (800x600) I typically use radius 2.0 pix @ 28% .
 
I always start at 100% and radius 2.0 pixels for a hi res image
 
Use up >2px for screen and maybe a little more >3.3 for print.
%age is dependent on what you are sharping. As they say start at 100%
 
For web use I switch mode to lab colour, select the lightness channel,
then apply 100%, 0.2 radius, 0 threshold.

This small step is applied up to five times, (which reduces the chance of
introducing artifacts into the image) I then switch back to rgb.
 
On top of the above, I sometimes apply large radius sharpening.
This helps lift the subject from the background, (also known as, "Making it pop").

The setting I use for this are:
100%, 20-30 Radius, 0 Threshold.

This doesn't work for every image, so you will have to experiment.
 
For a high res image I use 150%/1 radius/0 Threshold

There are many ways to sharpen though. Look at "LAB sharpening" (do a google search) and also look at the "High Pass Sharpening" method too.
 
Thought I'd read somewhere that LAB sharpening is actually destructive to the image :thinking:
 
I only use the Lab method for the web.
I am yet to find the ideal solution for printing my own large images.
 
I do like the effects you can get with USM (looks a lot better at A3 :))


Before :-

car2.jpg


After :-

car1.jpg
 
Mr THX said:
Thought I'd read somewhere that LAB sharpening is actually destructive to the image :thinking:
Click to expand...

When using the LAB method, I actually only sharpen the lightness channel so no colour is affected. Similar to the layer based sharpening Ron mentions using the luminosity channel.
 
Good rule of thumb USM settings for printing is:

Amount = 100%
Radius = DPI/200

e.g. A file at 300dpi would have it's radius set to 1.5 pixels.

This is a 'safe' setting for USM and you will usually find your print can take a little more but it's a great starting point.

This is apart from groovy local contrast tricks like what mrgubby has shown.

Mr THX said:
Thought I'd read somewhere that LAB sharpening is actually destructive to the image :thinking:
Click to expand...

Isn't all sharpening ultimately destructive to the image?
 
you can create a sharpening layer in CS2 as well IIRC
 
ppp said:
you can create a sharpening layer in CS2 as well IIRC
Click to expand...

Really? The high pass filter sharpening method is done by duplicating the image onto a new layer, setting a hard or soft light blending mode and applying the high pass filter. Is that what you are refering to?
 
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