Why all Digital images need SHARPENING

[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.