STICKY:  Sharpening Tips & Tricks, Tutorials, and FAQ

Mahgnillig wrote in post #12510426
I'm pretty much a complete newbie at properly editing my photos (my previous attempts over the years have involved me using Photoshop to downsize jpegs for web viewing and use the "sharpen" button). Like a lot of newbies, I've been disappointed at the quality of my photos compared to those that I see posted on this site, so I figured it was time to work out what I have been doing wrong.

I spent all morning studying this thread and it's totally paid off! I purposely chose a photo with a lot of lines in it so I could try the edge mask technique posted by Pete: http://www.the-aperture.com/EdgeMaskS​harpen.htm. I started out in DPP just tweaking the levels and adding level 3 sharpening. This is the first photo. Then I changed a few bits a bobs in Photoshop (a bit of colour and perspective tweaking). Next I went through Pete's tutorial on edge masking. Finally I resized the picture for web viewing and used the high pass filter method Perry posted on the first page. The picture went through a total of 3 levels of sharpening, and the result is amazing! It was definitely time-consuming (but I'll get faster at it as I remember the steps rather than having to refer back to the tutorial), but totally worth the time. Thanks for the awesome thread everyone

Yeah... that link is awesome!!!! A real eye opener for sharpening in PS.

I remember seeing that link and couldn't find it... thanks for reviving it. I tried it the other day and it works like a charm!!

Cheers,

Andrew K

Just for clarification
Do I sharpen, resize, export then resharpen or should I instead resize, export, then do all my sharpening? Im using LR 3 by the way.

LR3 has output sharpening as well as "input" sharpening.

The output sharpening is based on the output / size.

here is my current process...

Import into LR3
Process for colour, noise and Input sharpness in LR3
Export to a "Photoshop" folder with DNG format
Import into Photoshop for resize (1920 longest side)/ watermarking / Noise reduction / sharpness on output (using Nik Plugins)
Save to JPEG full quality (12)
Import back to LR for tracking
Output to Facebook (if i feel like it)
Output to my website (http://widowmaker.is-a-geek.com)
Output to my Flickr

this means that my LR is the central "Hub" to my image processing

Guys and Gals,
I am new to this thread and have a question about sharpening. Here is my normal workflow. I use PS cs5
1. Shoot in RAW
2. Open in ACR apply sharpening using Clarity Slider +15-ish
3. Open in PS5, adjust color, Unsharp Mask if necessary. Save as PSD file \.
4. Resize as needed I do 8x10,5x7 and 4x6 for my clients, ie. seniors, family pictures, etc...

So my question is after Saving as psd file do you resize in PSD format then flatten, save as , then do the next resize OR do you use USM after you resize each picture. I normally dont use USM on each crop resize... Is this normal for everybody else?? Thanks in advance!!

Lots of great stiff here! Thanks for all the help!

I create a lot of web sized images that I enter in contests, etc. My goal since 2005 was finding ways to sharpen and handle mass downsampling and come up with what I will call clarity. I have used all kinds of methods but I must say that Adobe has made huge improvements in those areas.

Here are a few videos I found and created actions based on both. I included both because I think these two things go hand in hand.

Question. I shoot with a Canon and use DPP. I preset sharpening to 3 which DPP recognizes. I guess that would count as pre sharpening because if I pre sharpen using PS the artifacts and halos are brutal?

http://www.youtube.com …ure=player_embe​dded#at=20


http://www.youtube.com …4mV3NsLmXw&feat​ure=relmfu

I must confess - I cheat and use the Nik plugin Sharpener Pro 3.0. It works very well.
Bruce

digital paradise wrote in post #12948303
Question. I shoot with a Canon and use DPP. I preset sharpening to 3 which DPP recognizes. I guess that would count as pre sharpening because if I pre sharpen using PS the artifacts and halos are brutal?

See top of pg. 14 here for my discussion/visual explanation of the effects of "pre-sharpening" and various sharpening in PS...

I hope it helps....

Not sure if this method has already been posted but this my prefered method for resizing and sharpening for the web. It seemed to me that resizing from full-size RAW to 800*600 (for example) jpeg in PS was too much of a jump in size and sharpness was lost. So - I resize in steps, sharpening as I go:

1: Original image, apply an unsharp mask: Amount: 50%, Radius: 1px, Threshold: 0
2: Reize to about half the original size (e.g. 2,500 pixels wide)
3: Unsharp mask again: Amount: 100%, Radius: 0.6px, Threshold:0
4: Resize to final required size (e.g. 800px wide)
5: Unsharp mask: Amount: (as much as you want – go to 400% and pull down until acceptable) Radius: 0.2 pixels, Threshold: 0

Hope this helps someone.

Here's another good method to resize for web (probably already posted in this thread):
Manyk SRS

I started to play around with this. I really like it. It uses smart sharpen in the smart objects approach (similar to the video in post 397) and adds a mask feature similar to Lab or Hi Pass for edge sharpening. The only thing that is missing is converting the mode to luminosity as stated in the sharpening video )post 397). Perhaps it does not require it using this method.

When you get to the levels adjustment you have a lot of control over what is being sharpened.

http://www.earthboundl​ight.com …search=edge+mas​k&bool=and

Are these methods needed when you use a hosting site, such in my case Zenfolio, that does not have an upload file size limit and which allows you to post various size images to the web from 60x60 upto the original file size?

Also, LR3 has a sharpening tab that allows for final output sharpening; web, print and another one (can't remember) and ask whether you want low, medium or high sharpening. How does this figure into the game?

Curious Al

Thanks

loydall wrote in post #13074787
Not sure if this method has already been posted but this my prefered method for resizing and sharpening for the web. It seemed to me that resizing from full-size RAW to 800*600 (for example) jpeg in PS was too much of a jump in size and sharpness was lost. So - I resize in steps, sharpening as I go:

1: Original image, apply an unsharp mask: Amount: 50%, Radius: 1px, Threshold: 0
2: Reize to about half the original size (e.g. 2,500 pixels wide)
3: Unsharp mask again: Amount: 100%, Radius: 0.6px, Threshold:0
4: Resize to final required size (e.g. 800px wide)
5: Unsharp mask: Amount: (as much as you want – go to 400% and pull down until acceptable) Radius: 0.2 pixels, Threshold: 0

Hope this helps someone.

René Damkot wrote in post #13074832
Here's another good method to resize for web (probably already posted in this thread):
Manyk SRS

Well - I don't know about sites that apply their own scaling and resampling but if you build your own site you can upload whatver size you want but - you still want control over how it will display. If you upload a full-size image and then link to it, the user's browser will normally sale it to fit in the browser so it's not ideal. I always like to know exactly how my image will display on my site so I resize to the correct size myself and like to have full control over the sharpening. Also - I export as JPEG at a very high quality with very little compression - e.g. 98% quality.

Methodical wrote in post #13074981
Are these methods needed when you use a hosting site, such in my case Zenfolio, that does not have an upload file size limit and which allows you to post various size images to the web from 60x60 upto the original file size?

Why would you want to upload larger then anyone can display?
The resizing used by the site will determine how your images look.

Methodical wrote in post #13074981
Also, LR3 has a sharpening tab that allows for final output sharpening; web, print and another one (can't remember) and ask whether you want low, medium or high sharpening. How does this figure into the game?

That's output sharpening: It's based on settings used (duh) and size.

For web, I use "screen", either "normal" or "high".