STICKY:  Sharpening Tips & Tricks, Tutorials, and FAQ

Lots of great stiff here! Thanks for all the help! Happy New Years !!

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Pete wrote in post #5079709
Here's my creative sharpening tutorial that I knocked up last year.

http://www.the-aperture.com/EdgeMaskS​harpen.htm

Basically, it's a technique for targeting extreme sharpening at finely defined parts of your image.

This allows you to achive tack sharp results without affecting the fine, subtle detail.

Compare how sharp the detail is on the nut of this wheel with the subltly kept on the laquer finish.

http://www.the-aperture.com/EE/photos​/large/IMG_0788.jpg

I was trying this tonight and for some reason midway through (or so) my image gets an orange tint to it so the final image has the orange tint. Can't seem to fix it. Any ideas?

Figured it out. Had the alpha 1 layer visible still and did not select all the RGB channels.

Perry Ge wrote in post #5075028
Edit: I've learned a ton from this thread since I started it. I still do my capture sharpening in ACR, but I use the masking and detail sliders now by holding down the option/alt key - you get an amazing amount of control in ACR alone. I've also switched to smart sharpen on a separate layer (so I can make layer masks or reduce opacity) as my preferred output sharpening method over the high pass method. I no longer touch USM unless I'm using it for defogging.

Did you describe this anywhere in more detail?
I'm sorry if I missed it.

Vovan wrote in post #15751454
Did you describe this anywhere in more detail?
I'm sorry if I missed it.

How far along in the thread did you read? There are a lot of things covered, although he seems to have simplified his "basic" approach, plus he has "dropped" USM in favor of Smart Sharpening in Photoshop...

tonylong wrote in post #15751622
How far along in the thread did you read? There are a lot of things covered, although he seems to have simplified his "basic" approach, plus he has "dropped" USM in favor of Smart Sharpening in Photoshop...

I'm afraid I skimmed through the pages. That's why I said "if I missed it".
I was trying to clarify the choice of giving up USM in favor of Smart sharpening. Is it better then USM.

Sorry for so many questions - I'm trying to learn as much as I can

Vovan wrote in post #15751695
I'm afraid I skimmed through the pages. That's why I said "if I missed it".
I was trying to clarify the choice of giving up USM in favor of Smart sharpening. Is it better then USM.

Sorry for so many questions - I'm trying to learn as much as I can

Various discussions about sharpening techniques come up here a lot.

Check out this post by PixelMagic concerning USM/Smart Sharpening:

https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=15749466&p​ostcount=6

But there is also some real depth to the topic of sharpening in ACR/LR. I believe tzalman has a lot of info there -- if you are curious maybe start a thread or ask in this thread about wanting to understand more abouit ACR/LR sharpening! PixelMagic could also fill you in more on the USM/Smart Sharpening distinction if you PM him or ask in a thread!

tonylong wrote in post #15751734
Various discussions about sharpening techniques come up here a lot.

Check out this post by PixelMagic concerning USM/Smart Sharpening:

https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=15749466&p​ostcount=6

But there is also some real depth to the topic of sharpening in ACR/LR. I believe tzalman has a lot of info there -- if you are curious maybe start a thread or ask in this thread about wanting to understand more abouit ACR/LR sharpening! PixelMagic could also fill you in more on the USM/Smart Sharpening distinction if you PM him or ask in a thread!

Thank you so much!
Yes, I'd like to learn more about ACR sharpening and to see what experts are using to sharpen their images!

Vovan wrote in post #15752841
Thank you so much!
Yes, I'd like to learn more about ACR sharpening and to see what experts are using to sharpen their images!

I believe POTN user "tzalman" has done some research on this -- Elie, are you seeing this "conversation"?

Here are two good videos. Resizing goes hand in hand with sharpening. For my hobby shots I resize and sharpen using PS smart sharpening.

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

http://www.youtube.com …feature=player_​embedded#!

Also use your masking slider when you open on PS or use LR. It is an edge sharpener.

Hold down the option key for Mac (not sure about PC) and slid it. the screen will be all white. As you slide edges only start to show. It is these edges that get sharpened so you don't sharpen any back ground noise. I'm usually at 80.

If you want to even have more fun try this method. Can't be used with LR and impractical for mass edits with PS but wonderful for a dozen shots. Edge sharpening method as well and you can over-sharpen the image because you can feather back at the end. No two images are alike.

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

Here is a tutorial on it. It has an action that you can download. It stops you to resize the image and then continues. For sharpening it uses PS Smart Sharpening.

https://photography-on-the.net …t=really+smart+​sharpening

Thank you, digital paradise! I will check it all out!
From what I learned yesterday and today, seems like ACR+PS combo is a very powerful tool. I might end up getting it while I can still use my educational discount.

It al depends on what you are doing. PS is more for the designer and has all types of wonderful advanced editing power. LR is a catalogue based system more for the photographer and is much cheaper. For mass editing it shines. Many people do everything out of LR. It just not offer any advanced sharpening editing until you export the file/s and the is limited to High, Standard and Low. Very good sharpening but you don't get play with it.

If you can get a good price on your educational discount great. Once you get it and upgrade when the new releases come out you are on top of it. Another option is LR and sharpening plugins or stand alone software. As time goes I am starting to appreciate all under one roof as stand alone goes. Also an option may be elements where you can use actions, etc and costs much less than PS. I don't know much about it but may be enough for your needs. Again depends on your discount.

digital paradise wrote in post #15754583
It al depends on what you are doing. PS is more for the designer and has all types of wonderful advanced editing power. LR is a catalogue based system more for the photographer and is much cheaper. For mass editing it shines. Many people do everything out of LR. It just not offer any advanced sharpening editing until you export the file/s and the is limited to High, Standard and Low. Very good sharpening but you don't get play with it.

If you can get a good price on your educational discount great. Once you get it and upgrade when the new releases come out you are on top of it. Another option is LR and sharpening plugins or stand alone software. As time goes I am starting to appreciate all under one roof as stand alone goes. Also an option may be elements where you can use actions, etc and costs much less than PS. I don't know much about it but may be enough for your needs. Again depends on your discount.

Apparently, I can get PS advanced for just $170. I can also add LR for additional $70! For that price, I might as well get both!

At that price I would definitely go for both. When you get LR be careful first time you open it. It will ask you where you want to put your catalogue. If you don't provide instruction then it will pick a default location in your hard drive. Also if you are working in LR and want to do advanced editing on a particular image you can export into PS. When you press save it opens in LR again as a TIFF (next the original CR2) file which is the default that you can change.

The other thing about LR is because it is a catalogue based system you need to move files around within LR, not finder (MAC) or you will lose all the adjustment history. That is the difference between both. LR keeps the history forever while PS does not.

Well good luck. You will have a great base to start with and months of learning.