Using Photoshop to Sharpen photos

[ben4633]

Im still pretty new at using photoshop. I would like to know how you guys are sharpening photos. I am using photoshop 7.0. I have been using the unsharpen mask, and using the 3 slides to try to sharpen my pic, but very little visible results. Please, tell me the correct way to use these slides or if there is an easier way to sharpen photos I would love to hear them. Also, is there anything else that you do to all your photos in photoshop other than sharpening, like auto contrast, auto levels etc. Any information would be helpful, Thanks

[Livinthalife]

Unsharp mask is it. You shouldn't see dramatic results as that would tell you two things
A your sharpening too much
or
B The shot is too soft.

Photoshop should be like applying makeup to a women, Enhance the pics beauty, not completely revamp it.

Try stopping down your lens (F8 or so) and your camera should naturally produce sharper images. Also what lens are you using? That could also be the problem, most people don't have sharp images becasue of PS, it's mostly the lens. :)

[SgWRX]

i'm not sure about version 7, but there are actions called TLR Sharpening actions that might give you a good idea as to how sharp something should be. They have "capture" sharpening which is apparently what you need to initially work with after getting the RAW file onto your PC, then "creative" sharpening which i think is some type of personal taste deal and finally "output" sharpening which is for printing. i do nothing but the output sharpening when i go the photoshop route for developing raw files and needing to sharpen them. google TLR Sharpening and see if they are available for version 7. you can at least learn what the different levels of sharpening the "pro's" go for to help you decide what is too much and what is too little when sharpening.

[lostdoggy]

It depends on if you used in camera sharpening or not!!!

A good starting point is 150/0.9/0

[Transit]

Every image that comes out of a Canon needs to be sharpened to counter the effect of the anit-aliasing Canon builds in to counter moire.



does this vary with differant models ?
I have turned off all the colour settings .
Spose thats the best I can do to get least modified image in an A700

Pete

[4x4rock]

I usually start with 100/.8 and see.

[galahad]

I usually use the Unsharp Filter with 200 to 250 /1/3 settings.