 BetterPhoto Member |
when to sharpen an image I have conflicting info concerning sharpening images. Do you sharpen in photoshop or can your photo lab sharpen at the print stage? Also, is there a ratio between print size and sharpening? Thanks, Ginny
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Justin G. |
A sharp negative (or RAW file) will yield a sharp photo. .justin.
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
Well, are you shooting RAW or JPEG? in JPEN your camera will apply sharpening automatically. Im RAW YOU have to! I sharpen ALL my images even if just a little. I use Photshop and love the "Un-sharp mask option. its awsome! most print labs will "color correct" for you but I dont think they sharpen. Craig-
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A C |
I sharpen images myself since it's hard to trust others to do it the way I like. Even color correcting is tricky because although you don't know how a lab's printer will look compared to your screen you also don't know if the person doing the correcting really knows what their doing unless youv'e had some experience. Sorry, I'm just venting a little because I had a 16x20 done and it looked horrible!
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Philip Pankov |
It’s better to sharpen yourself, always as the last step in your workflow. Regards, Philip Pankov
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Michael H. Cothran |
ALL images need to be sharpened to some degree in post editing. Regardless of how sharp your film image or RAW file is, it needs some degree of Unsharp Masking for maximum impact. Unsharp Masking is like penicillin - the right amount will cure you, and too much will kill you. How much to use is impossible to say. Look at your image at 100% magnification, and choose a spot where there is sharp contrast between two edges. Too much sharpening will posterize the edges, or give you an unwanted white or black halo. When you see this happen, dial back some. And you are correct in that smaller size files require less sharpening than larger files. The reason is the difference in pixel count. On a 50 MB file, which is what my images begin life as, I add 200% sharpening, 1.5 gamma, and 2 threshold as the unsharp mask settings, AFTER all work is completed. When all the work is completed, I resize. And with each resizing, I add another 50%/1.5/2 sharpening. You can see the effects in my images at my website - www.mhcphoto.net, or in my gallery here at BP. Michael H. Cothran
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