Why all Digital images need SHARPENING

[OldGold]

Rick, the high pass/hard light method you described works fantastically, almost a little stunned at how well it works!

[arthurking83]

I also read and used that post that Andrew(I@M) has posted.. and found it useful.. but with one caveat(on the D300 images!)
Using the pixel radius of 2 produces to much 'halo' effect, and the marked difference I see if I use 1.9pixels as the radius amount is more pleasing and natural looking.

I have yet to try it on a few of my D70s images to see if this value is dependent on the sensor(as each sensor type will be affected differently)

NOTE: Andrew's(and my) post is with respect to Capture NX only, and is not related in any way to other software's use of each value!

[I @ M]

Arthur, I have been playing around with shots from the D50 and the D200, with both bodies the occasional shot that looks very sharp to start with is clearly outlined against the grey overlay at 1 px and those shots typically end up needing a lot less % sharpening than the shots that start showing edges and colour at 2 and 3 px.
Its all good though, the more I use it the better it becomes.

[GriMo]

Rick, the high pass/hard light method you described works fantastically, almost a little stunned at how well it works!

Agree with you 100%. Up until now i have constantly been unhappy with the sharpness of my PP images. Did not seem to matter what i did they were always over/under. This method works perfectly for me.

Thanks Rick, I will try some of the others suggested but i would say it is hard to beat (for me anyway).

[saltwaterbloke]

this has been a excellent thread,very interestin for me as I have never really played wif me photos in photoshop elements..........I never knew that they all had to b sharpened,I'm gonna reread it all again n have a lash at it,thanks everyone

[saratoga]

I have used Ricks method and the big advantage to this is the ability to apply a mask to the new layer.....hence you can selectively sharpen parts of your image!

I have been experimenting with sharpening in LAB on the lightness channel and that also gives good results.

One very important point I have learnt lately is to always sharpen at the output resolution. Resize the image first to the size you need.....and then sharpen. Ie.....if you have been working on an image straight out of your camera and you want to use this for the web at say 800pixels......then resize it down to 800 before doing your sharpening! Same with layout for print......workout the end size and then sharpen at that size.

This means that it probably is best to do all your post processing on an image and then leave it unsharpened. You may require the file for different uses.....print..web etc....a copy of the file should then be prepared for each specific use and sharpened accordingly.

[TEITZY]

Ok I'll share some of my experiences with the D300 & CNX.

I've found that I can't beat the in-camera sharpening settings for achieving the best detail while reducing haloing on high contrast edges. I use the Standard colour mode and have sharpening set to +5 which is fine so long as you nail the focus. The closest I could get to +5 using CNX was a 45-10-6 sharpen and while edges were noticeably sharper the fine detail with the +5 setting was superior. In fact higher levels of sharpening in CNX actually destroyed fine detail (looks like hIgh ISO NR smearing to me) and also create artifacts that you don't see with the in-camera settings.

For resizing for the web I've been using a 100-1-10 setting in CNX but I may try just using a high pass sharpen instead (something like 2px with opacity set to 50% overlay).

Cheers
Leigh

[Kym]

I've found that I can't beat the in-camera sharpening settings for achieving the best detail while reducing haloing on high contrast edges.

Is that for JPEG only? What about RAW?
I find must do my sharpening in PS after all other PP and generally use the High Pass action from above.

Given that most recommend the following workflow...
1. Noise reduction (Noise Ninja etc) if needed
2. Levels and other PP
3. Resize
4. Sharpen and publish
I'm not quite following what you are saying.

[arthurking83]

Hey Leigh.

I vary any USM on my images so much that I can't seem to find a standard setting to stick with.

The only setting I do stick to is a 20-4-3 on the final resized jpg.

I also use the in camera sharpening instead of USM in PP too and find that 4-6 is a good setting.

Also, since I'd found that High Pass tool, I prefer to use that rather than USM anyhow, and just vary the size of that pixel number.... anywhere from 1 to about 7(that I once used)

BUT the visible difference in using High Pass is not so obvious if you view the entire image on the screen... you need to be viewing at 50-100% to see the effect correctly.

USM introduces too much noise/grain into the OOF areas, so I really hate using it!

[MrJorge]

Hmmm I read this thread yonks ago and I'm glad it's been reborn a bit. I've been finding myself questioning my usage of USM a bit as I've been getting a bit unhappy with the results.

Have had a quick play with using USM in Lightness Channel and it seems to be a bit better. Might retry the High Pass technique and hopefully set it up as an action.

[Nicholas N]

Here is a great system that trumps them all.....


The first method I will use is an Edge Sharpening technique. This is how it works.

1. Create a duplicate layer of my background. And set Layer mode to Luminosity.

2. Select all of the layer

Select > All (Ctrl A)

3. Copy

Edit > Copy (Ctrl C)

4. Select the channel palette and press the ‘Create New Channel’ button which is at the bottom of the palette, to the left of the ‘delete bin’ icon. You will see the screen go black as you create this new channel. Now paste your image into the channel.

Edit > Paste (Ctrl V)

Now deselect the image

Select > Deselect (Ctrl D)

5. Now I want to find the edges. These are the only parts of the image I want to sharpen.

Filter > Stylize > Find Edges

6. Now the edges might not be quite as defined as I require so I am going to adjust the levels of the image.

Image > Adjustments > Levels (Ctrl L)

I am going to move the left slider up to a value of 75. Remember that the black areas of the image will be sharpened at 100% down to 0% in the white areas. Click OK on your level box when you are happy. I tend to find that a value of 75 works well.

7. Now I want to create a selection from this Alpha channel that I can use for sharpening. To do this press the circular icon at the bottom of the channel palette. Now you will see a selection on your screen. I want to invert this selection as I want to sharpen inside the selection, not outside, as it is currently set. To do this I simply select

Select > Invert (Shift+Ctrl I)

8. Now delete that Alpha channel you have created by pressing the Bin icon, found at the bottom right of the channel palette. The Alpha channel goes and leaves you with a good selection on your image to apply sharpening into. Now just apply some USM.

Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp mask

Now remove the selection
Select > Deselect (Ctrl D)

Look at the results. If there are any areas that are oversharp select your rubber and simply rub out the sharpening applied there. When you are finished merge the two layers back together.

Layer > Flatten Image

Repeat this process until you feel the image is sharp enough


.......


This is the most awesome method I have found and it works on all types of images.

Once you save it as an action its quick and easy.

[clm738]

Hi Guys,
I am trying to do raw processing in CS3 and I am having trouble working out the best way to sharpen my photos.
Could you please help me out here as to the best method for sharpening.
Thanks

[lindenneill]

Well i think we need to know what level of knowledge you have with cs3 before we answer. Then we will know how in depth we have to go with instructions.

There are a few different methods and most should have tutorials online if you do a google search. Each one seems to suit certain types of photos and sometimes ill try a couple of them on different layers so that i can directly compare the effect they are giving.

The main methods I use are

Smart Sharpen under the sharpen tab in photoshop
High pass filter under "Other" in the filter tabe in photoshop

Sometimes even a combination of both. They both give a different effect to the image.
Both of these methods should have tutorials online to follow. Below is a website with alot of helpful tutorials. Ive linked the one related to sharpening.

http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/s...1/sharpen1.htm

[lindenneill]

The link above is focused on the unsharp mask filter in photoshop.

Below is a good tutorial on high pass filter. Where it says to use overlay blending method i prefer to use the soft light option

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/p...pen-high-pass/

All of these methods are done outside of camera raw as well. I dont like adding sharpening to the raw conversion process. Mose people reccomend that its done as the last step in the editing process because of the noise it adds to the image.

[N*A*M]

LAB mode gives me the cleanest results, regardless of sharpening algorithm

[Kym]

Mod note: Thread merged.

Refer NTP: http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...ss_photographs

[lindenneill]

Nam do you apply sharpening to the whole image or just the lightness channel when in LAB mode.?

[ving]

interesting read, thanks sir!

i use high pass myslef

[ricktas]

Hi Guys,
I am trying to do raw processing in CS3 and I am having trouble working out the best way to sharpen my photos.
Could you please help me out here as to the best method for sharpening.
Thanks

Do NOT sharpen your RAW files. Sharpening should be the last thing in your workflow, before saving the file. Convert your RAW file into TIF/PSD etc, work on it in photoshop, do all your other adjustments, and only then Sharpen.

[Shelley]

useful information - thanks everyone - sharpening process is something i am not so good at, yet if not done effectively can let your image down.