How do you experienced photogs sharpen landscapes for web?

[boingy]

Was curious how some of you experienced photogs sharen your landscape shots for web? This question is geared more towards anyone that think they have a really good web sharpening workflow for landscape shots. I understand it's individualized depending on the shot, but need some ideas to take my sharpening to the next level.

I currently sharpen landscapes for web using LR3. I may give USM in CS5 a go and compare the differences. I also have Nik Sharpener Pro from the Nik Collection I have and will try that for comparison. All I need to do now is take a decent landscape shot!

This old thread from FM has some insight and will give that a go as well..
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/726816

If anyone want to share their workflow for landscape sharpening for web that would be appreciated! any links to some tutorials or advanced discussions is welcomes as well.

[argyle]

Some of the examples in that link look way oversharpened to my eyes. I use the "Photokit Sharpener" plug-in, a very easy to use tool. Sharpening is performed in three stages: (1) Capture Sharpen to counter the effects of the AA filter after the image has been imported into PS, (2) Creative Sharpener to make fine-tune adjustments to specific portions of the image (if needed...not always), and (3) Output Sharpening.

IMO, the Output Sharpening option is the most important and is only performed after the image has been re-sized, and is also based on the final use of the image (web, inkjet, contone, etc). All of the sharpening actions in this plug-in can be set to individual layers, allowing tweaks as necessary (you can also adjust the strength by using the opacity slider). Can't give you any numbers as they relate to amount, threshold, etc since every image will be different. Of course, it goes without saying that everything starts with a properly exposed, composed, and well-focused image.

LINK: Photokit Sharpener

My process is as follows:

1.) LR4 for basic exposure, shadow/highlight, WB adjustments, then export as 16-bit tiff to PS
2.) Capture Sharpen
3.) Adjustment layers as necessary
4.) Save edited image as a 16-bit tiff with layers intact
5.) Re-size from the master file and save as flattened tiff or jpeg file to suit the end use of the image
6.) Output Sharpen based on image size and final destination (web, print, etc)

[boingy]

Thanks for sharing your process argyle! I agree some of those examples in the link seem oversharpened as well. I already have a good understand of the sharpening process/stages, but I just want to take it to the next level instead of being lazy and doing what I can with LR. Maybe I'll take a look at that photokit sharpener and compare results...

[ejenner]

Originally Posted by argyle

S
5.) Re-size from the master file and save as flattened tiff or jpeg file to suit the end use of the image
6.) Output Sharpen based on image size and final destination (web, print, etc)

I think possibly this is the key that some people miss - downsize, then do a final sharpening. You might need to significantly reduce the radius of the final sharpening.

Thus is you are in LR working from raw, you will always save a .jpeg or .tiff and then sharpen again before posting/printing.

[Phrasikleia]

I do my final sharpening in Photoshop, after I'm done with Lightroom conversion and any other processes I want to apply in Photoshop. I resize the photo to the web size and then apply a Smart Sharpen filter to the image. I then create a History State of the fully sharpened image, back up to the state before sharpening, and then use the History Brush to sharpen the image selectively. I use different brush opacities to get different amounts of sharpening where needed. Sometimes I even have two sharpened history states to work from, one with more and one with less sharpening.

There is very little that I ever do to a photo that isn't selective. I rarely find global treatments to be satisfying.

[jcothron]

The Photo Kit Sharpener plugin software is the same sharpening available in Lightroom, Lightroom does a very good job of all phases of sharpening, although the creative sharpening could perhaps use some more tools.

[boingy]

Thanks for more replies, I forgot I had this thread, lol... I agree lightroom does a good job, but when I posted this I guess I had an itch to venture out with more advance sharpening techniques. I'm going to try some methods I've read up using CS for my capture and creative sharpening and then send back to LR3 for little tweeks if needed and output sharpening...

I just added you both on flickr. John you got some great shots on your flickr!

[jcothron]

Originally Posted by boingy

John you got some great shots on your flickr!

Thanks!

[argyle]

Originally Posted by jcothron

The Photo Kit Sharpener plugin software is the same sharpening available in Lightroom, Lightroom does a very good job of all phases of sharpening, although the creative sharpening could perhaps use some more tools.

That alone should tell you that what is in Lightroom is not the same as that of Photokit Sharpener. PK Sharpener has many other filters available as well. I'm not sure if Lightroom even has specific sharpening tools based on file output type and final resolution, as does PK Sharpener. But to each his own...

[jcothron]

Originally Posted by argyle

That alone should tell you that what is in Lightroom is not the same as that of Photokit Sharpener. PK Sharpener has many other filters available as well. I'm not sure if Lightroom even has specific sharpening tools based on file output type and final resolution, as does PK Sharpener. But to each his own...

The tools aren't the same for local adjustments, or look the same I'm sure. I'm referring to the way it sharpens. Jeff Schewe, part of he group that put Photokit together.. apparently got with Adobe according to him, hence the big improvement in sharpening/noise ability with Lr 3. If I understand what Jeff has said correctly... it handles output sharpening in the same way as well (ie bicubic smoother vs. sharper, etc.) A quick search over at luminous landscape should bring up all sorts of information on the topic if you're interested in looking into it.

[MCAsan]

The LR tools plus Nik Suite plugins.