... or Just Peachy.

Exercising LR4 in B&W

Looks peachy. I usually work real hard at B&W conversions and never seem satisfied. For what it is worth, this looks good to me.

Might work to reduce the gritty edge and corner of the table. Maybe add some vignette?

Thanks guys,

Yeah, I think the resize/compression @ LR amped the grittiness. This was my first B&W using LR. I noticed it after I posted, but decided to let it ride. I think that it lets me know that I should be processing B&W in PS instead of LR, that way when I resize, I can see the effects and make the necessary adjustments. Also, I typically use bicubic smoother in PS @ resize ... the "sharpen for screen" and resize algorithm in LR export probably bit me on this one.

RustyBug wrote:
Thanks guys,

Yeah, I think the resize/compression @ LR amped the grittiness. This was my first B&W using LR. I noticed it after I posted, but decided to let it ride. I think that it lets me know that I should be processing B&W in PS instead of LR, that way when I resize, I can see the effects and make the necessary adjustments. Also, I typically use bicubic smoother in PS @ resize ... the "sharpen for screen" and resize algorithm in LR export probably bit me on this one.



How do you resize? I have experimented recently and found bicubic followed by a very small Topaz sharpen (0.03 at each stage) was pretty good but the jury is out.

I think a lot depends on how large the starting image is. A 21mpixel starts looking pretty poor below 1600 pixels wide. If I were only posting to the web I think I would get a 10 mpixel camera.

I sharpen pretty aggressively while working the image, so I typically resize bicubic smoother in PS when reducing to offset the reduction, then resharpen to eye if needed ... or let it ride, knowing that for web it isn't uber-critical (i.e. non-client use). I don't have a set protocol, it is always image dependent for me. Sometimes I work off the small jpg (3MP), other times the raw (14MP). Also, I'm using an SLR/C (i.e. no AA filter) so I also use different approach with it vs. when I use an AA filter sensor.

Short answer ... Sorry Ben, not much help on this one unless you happen to also be shooting with an SLR/C.

I tried to bring out more texture, not sure if it works or not and also removed the sharp edge of the table by burning the shadows.

I do almost no creative sharpening. I fix AA blur in ACR depending on ISO. The full image is usually sharp everywhere if focused properly or else trashed. It seems to me that a web reduction ought to be a global thing if the full size is good.

I have been known to blur background however, a sort of reverse sharpening, or to mask sky's. In fact you can mask skys in ACR.

Gotcha ... I conversely do use some creative sharpening ... hence, no set protocol. Sometimes it is sharpening. sometimes blur, frequently push/pull a little of each in various areas.

Rarely do I leave it as a straight print ... taking a page from AA ... despite my youthful opinion that "he cheats". Once I saw how he would use straight prints as drafts to do workups on ... that somehow changed my perspective at straight vs creative. Something about his scientific approach gave validity to creativity for me that had not previously existed.

I have no problem in other areas, but when I sharpen more than a bit, or when I sharpen to fix poor focus it just looks gritty, maybe I just need more practice. On the other hand, I am usually satisfied within the DOF zone.

Now color and exposure are things the camera does not get right so creative adjustments are required. But other than AA blur, there ought not be a problem with sharpness. But then we have to downsize which makes a mess of the original anyway. So some work is also required there. But I usually can't see the small images well enough to do anything anyway.

+1 @ sharpness really not being an issue when you use good glass, good technique and stop down to the sweet spot of a given lens. I just have a similar tight tolerance (often too tight) perspective that carries over into my sharpening. It seems like I oscillate between razor blades and marshmallows for my goals at times.

There are some good books on sharpening, but the thing that I did was to create a black & white grid in PS, then use scientific methodology to better understand what when happen to pixels A&B when I did X, Y or Z. So now, it is more of an algebra problem of "I want to achieve this, so what must I do to work toward that?" rather than "This is the way I do it."