Sharpen in DPP or Elements?

Home · Register · Search · Software · Hosting · Software · Join Upload & Sell

FM Actions & Plugins support
Workflow Guidelines

FM Forums \| Post-processing & Printing \| Join Upload & Sell
end

jstntym
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #1 · Sharpen in DPP or Elements?

I'm just starting to develop my workflow and looking for some advice. Do you recommend doing any sharpening in DPP before transferring the TIFF file to Elements or just use sharpening techniques using Elements? I have Elements9. Just recently switched over to mainly RAW and trying to digest the vast amounts of info related to using RAW files. I'm glad to have made the switch though, immense amount of flexibility in editing files. This round of trials I've set my in-camera sharpening to zero and I'm currently using standard picture style. I've read through a lot of information regarding sharp and un-sharp editing and haven't yet made a determination which works best for me. I've just recently started to read about using layers in Elements so I've got a lot to digest.

I've did several searches and have yet to turn up anything definitive as to when to best sharpen my images, in DPP or Elements. I import my RAW file into DPP where I start my edits.

Feb 05, 2013 at 06:20 PM

Alan321
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #2 · Sharpen in DPP or Elements?

Which program do you use to look at your raw file images ? That's where at least some sharpening will be required.

Do you want to avoid conversion to tif in most cases ? Then do it all in DPP (but go lightly on the NR - it used to be very savage on fine data) and only export to tif for Elements in cases of special needs.

Unsharp mask sharpening will be superior to the standard sharpness slider in DPP. That's why they eventually gave us the unsharp mask, but the downside is that it requires more effort from us to control several settings instead of just one. However, it is generally worth that extra effort.

I am not familiar with Elements but DPP can show you the effects of sharpening at 100% image magnification and also other magnifications. For a long time very few programs worked that way but the likes of Lightroom and Aperture now do it.

Also, what you do in DPP avoids the need for creating a new image file that can be much larger than the raw files. Like Lr it stores the edit parameters and does the changes on the fly as required. If it ever writes a new raw file it is only to store those parameters or a new preview - the raw data itself never gets changed and other programs still see the raw file as being raw.

- Alan

Feb 06, 2013 at 12:39 PM

jstntym
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · Sharpen in DPP or Elements?

Thanks so much for the reply Alan, I really appreciate you taking the time..I use DPP to view and lightly edit the RAW file. Now that I've purchased the title "Understanding DPP" by Andrew Gibson I can do further editing on the fly with a clearer understanding as to the functions. In the section on converting files to jpeg and tiff, he made the reference to any further edits required with additional software to include Elements. I think some of the selection tools allows for a bit more flexibility if needed. I do however plan on exercising more of the tools in DPP to include the use of the sharp/unsharp tools. I might find as you suggested that DPP may be an all in one for me with the exception of light edits in Elements. I've yet to really dig into DPP and find out what works best for me. There's just so much info out on the web about sharpening and color management, and I'm basically just getting started...Again, thanks for the reply!

Feb 06, 2013 at 06:27 PM

end
FM Forums \| Post-processing & Printing \| Join Upload & Sell end