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Archive 2013 · D800E Sharpening Workflow

  
 
jmcaverly
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · D800E Sharpening Workflow


Can anyone share their typical sharpening workflow for RAW or even .jpg files from the D800E? I have been using the camera for a few months and have been shooting with the camera Picture Controls set to both Standard and to a Custom Function with the sharpening at 7. Depending on what type of file I shoot, I have been applying different sharpening and I have not dialed in on a specific workflow yet. Just wondering how others handle sharpening, especially with RAW files. I have read some articles that suggest not sharpening the RAW files at all in Adobe Camera RAW and to only sharpen in PS. Others suggest a little bit of sharpening in Adobe Camera RAW and also sharpening again in PS. Any suggestions or discussion would be appreciated.

Here are a few examples: The High Key photo of my daughter was taken with the camera Picture Control set at a CF with sharpening bumped up to 7 in camera.

The RAW sharpening settings were:
Amount 50
Radius 0.8
Detail 15
Masking 50

I then sharpened again in PS with Smart Sharpening set to Amount 400 and the Radius at 0.8.

Barn photo: Picture Control set to the same CF as above;

RAW sharpening settings were:
Amount 80
Radius 0.6
Detail 9
Masking 35

No additional sharpening in PS.

Thanks,

Jeff





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Oct 13, 2013 at 10:22 AM
ckcarr
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · D800E Sharpening Workflow


Well, you're way off from any setting I end up with, but not to say what's right or wrong. And I don't see anything wrong with either one of your images (I think you are showing off your pretty daughter!).

However, in-camera RAW settings are largely irrelevant to ACR and Photoshop. They are carried over to Nikon Capture NX2 though. You can set and save your most common ACR raw settings for each camera body within ACR though, which might give you a good starting point.

When I sharpen, and am still learning, my workflow is following steps recommended in some Photoshop books I've read.

Under ACR:
I first set image size to either 100% or 200% (depending on image). Some books say just use 50% with the higher resolution cameras.

Then adjust color slider and color detail if needed to remove any odd pixel color noise. Usually this does not need to be done, but sometimes it does.

Adjust luminance slider to remove and smooth any luminance noise - weirdness in the sky or other areas.

Hold down the [ALT] key while tweaking the Mask slider to isolate what I want sharpened.

Typically I leave the Radius at 1.0 (default) or set to .9

Hold down [ALT] key again and adjust detail to something I think I like.

Hold down [ALT] key again and adjust Amount looking at edges in higher contrast parts of the image.

Then fine tune by repeating the above.

I'm only doing a landscape or animal though, one image at a time.
Someone else may offer more relevant advice for portraits, which are typically much softer...

When I open in Adobe CS6 I only tweak final sharpening a tiny bit, as most I do in ACR. And since I originally opened the file as a "Smart Object" I can go back in to ACR and fine tune if I've totally botched up (double click the thumbnail).

I've also noticed that my D7100 needs adjustment of luminance more than the D800e. Each body is different.

I'm sure many will disagree with me, but everyone does things differently.

Now, if you sharpen in Nikon Capture NX2, everything is different. And it can sharpen to painful levels.

The hard thing in sharpening is really understanding what each slider isolates and adjusts.



Edited on Oct 13, 2013 at 04:25 PM · View previous versions



Oct 13, 2013 at 11:03 AM
jmcaverly
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · D800E Sharpening Workflow


ckcarr wrote:
Well, you're way off from any setting I end up with, but not to say what's right or wrong. And I don't see anything wrong with either one of your images.

However, in camera RAW settings are largely irrelevant to ACR and Photoshop. They are carried over to Nikon Capture NX2 though. You can set and save your most common ACR raw settings for each camera body within ACR though, which might give you a good starting point.

When I sharpen, and am still learning, my workflow is following steps recommended in some Photoshop books I've read.

Under ACR:
I first set image size
...Show more

Thanks for the input, I appreciate your response. I am pretty new to processing RAW files. I have shot a lot of sports with my D3 over the years and have primarily shot .jpg files. Looking forward to getting a good grasp of sharpening in RAW.

Jeff



Oct 13, 2013 at 11:27 AM
Mark_L
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · D800E Sharpening Workflow


Tbh lightroom sharpening seems to be overcomplicated (it switches to deconvulsion at certain detail levels) and I've never been satisfied with the output sharpening. Photokit plugin for photoshop is the only one I trust for sharp prints.


Oct 13, 2013 at 04:18 PM
Dustin Garrett
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · D800E Sharpening Workflow


I had this bookmarked for when my D800 shows up, no idea if this will help or not, but I'll post it anyways:

http://www.luminescentphoto.com/blog/2012/06/29/get-sharp-with-the-nikon-d800/



Oct 13, 2013 at 09:15 PM
jmcaverly
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · D800E Sharpening Workflow


geezfools wrote:
I had this bookmarked for when my D800 shows up, no idea if this will help or not, but I'll post it anyways:

http://www.luminescentphoto.com/blog/2012/06/29/get-sharp-with-the-nikon-d800/


Thanks for the link. I will give this a thorough read. I have been reading one of Martin Evenings books today and it looks like this article has some of the same workflows.

Jeff



Oct 13, 2013 at 09:27 PM
Alan321
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · D800E Sharpening Workflow


What amazes me is the amount of capture sharpening that d800e images can take despite the high resolution - amounts of about 40-60. I guess that's because I am looking at the images at 100% (pixel for pixel) but I don't know enough about the software to trust the 50% scaling for assessing capture sharpness.

I'm pretty sure. however, that the pixel density of the monitor is making an impact. My laptop has 132ppi but an Apple retina screen would have 220ppi and would seem to be a lot sharper just because a 1:1 image display appears so much smaller than on a 132 or 110ppi screen. If it seems sharper then it will no doubt get less capture sharpening but it seems reasonable to suppose that it would then need more output sharpening for a given print size.

What also makes a noticeable difference is the quality of the lens and focus used to take the image. Images from a super sharp lens display more acuity than images from a budget lens and tend to need less sharpening.

And then there is the subject detail itself. Some things are just not that sharp even in real life, while others have lots of fine details that really do look sharp.

With all of these factors in mind there is unlikely to be a single capture sharpening that looks right for every image even though capture sharpening should only be correcting in-camera softness associated with the sensor, AA filter and raw-to-RGB conversion.

- Alan



Oct 14, 2013 at 04:12 AM





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