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Sharpening images
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Hi,
Just wondering what the “rule” is on sharpening images..
I read somewhere that for print they should be sharpened to about 150%, 1.5pix (photoshop) – is this correct or is this a little excessive???
Some help on this matter would be greatly appreciated
N
There’s no “rule” as such because there are far too many variables involved. How much you sharpen depends on things like the image size, image resolution, noise, subject matter and output intent to name but a few.
I think the best thing is to experiment a little and find what works best for you. I tend to use a combination of pre-sharpening and output sharpening employing a number of different methods including Unsharp Mask, Edge Sharpening and High Pass Sharpening, often using layer masks as well in order to control which areas are sharpened and which aren’t.
There are some “standard” USM settings in one of Scott Kelby’s books which might give you a starting point (Amount/Radius/Threshold):
Basic Sharpening – 125/1/3
Soft Subjects – 150/1/10
Portraits – 75/2/3
Moderate Sharpening – 225/0.5/0
Maximum Sharpening – 65/4/3
All Purpose Sharpening – 85/1/4
Web Sharpening – 200-400/0.3/0Wow thorsten the sharpening pro is here :D
You seem in the know on sharpening, I generally experiment to see what suits the image, for most I’d use Radius of 2-6 and 75% +
Very basic :lol:I shapen everything at 500% radius 1.7 threshold 0
Does that not give you halos Steve?
stcstc wrote:
I shapen everything at 500% radius 1.7 threshold 0
Are you serious?? :shock:
Jeez Steve, thats alot… You must have a pretty nifty method as no doubt it works for you…
yes i am serious
the trick that everyone tends to miss in unsharp mask sharpening, is the end bit MASK
if you have the right mask you can sharpen as i said
what i do is use a duplicate layer with a mack to create a selection. then use opacity based on opacity
then use opacity based on opacity
The thick plottens!
Care to explain this move?
Oh how I long for some video tutorials… I’m a sharpening freak… and often feel that maybe I sharpen too much. I’d love to know what the best technique is… one solution to fit all.
nfl-fan wrote:
Oh how I long for some video tutorials… I’m a sharpening freak… and often feel that maybe I sharpen too much. I’d love to know what the best technique is… one solution to fit all.
Don’t know if there is any one solution John, just personal preferences, and greatly
dependant on whether you want entire image sharpening or just selective sharpening.
I rarely if ever use sharpening over an entire image and prefer instead to use calculations
for making selections to sharpen and masks for fine tuning. Each to their own I say…Rob.
For people like myself the sharpening probably isn’t the hardest bit.. it’s the selections and masks… knowing when and how to apply them.
I don’t know, when I look at my pictures, it looks like they don’t need too much sharpening, but I might be wrong. I apply max 50%, radius 1-2, thr 1 to my most blurry pictures and very little or none to the ones shot with my nikkor 105dc. Perhaps I should read a bit on this sharpening thing, looks like I am not following the trends.
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