p.2 #1 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
Thanks to Alex and Mark - will give it a go - much appreciated
Jan 11, 2009 at 04:22 AM
Mark Metternich Offline • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #2 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
Thnks Mark, that was an interesting read and I think, when I rewrite the actions I may well employ some of your suggestions. However, I think many of your suggestions are unnecessarily complex. You say that the point of the intermediate stage is to apply fine sharpening. Have you actually tried different sharpening settings or are you talking theoretically?
Yes, I do all my own testing (tons of it) especially on sharpening. This is a subject I have spent 100's of hours on, studying and testing (especially for the prints) and dialoguing with some Adobe engineers on. But don't take my word for it, see what you think... Some little innovative tricks I keep to myself. But like you said, for many or most they are unnecessarily complex. That is more the route I go. Unnecessary for some necessary for me...
I have tried different sharpening, but the oversharpened intermediate stage is crucial to the sharpness of the final size. I was unable to find a noticeably better technique. As far as editing the process for each image goes...The bottom layer has fairly minimal sharpening, the top layer has lots, masking can be used to control that very well. I have yet to come across an image where this method does not give me EXACTLY what I want. The one caveat is that there are very slight tonal and colour shifts which it seems can be corrected (or mitigated) using your previous suggestions.
p.2 #3 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
I for one am really grateful for sharing this action. I am alien to advanced sharpening, and in the past have just applied presets in LR (lame I know, but I never knew...)
I posted some shots on another forum, and amongst the Critique, improving sharpening was raised, so this post came at a timely moment for me.
As a test I downloaded the action and applied it to one of the images I posted earlier.
p.2 #6 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
Thanks to Alex for sharing the action and to Mark also for some tips. I recorded an action that's modified a bit with some of the tips by Mark. Works great! And these topics encorage us to evolve!
p.2 #8 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
Alex
Having tried this and being very impressed, I have a further question.
If one wants to sharpen for printing, as opposed to web display, are these fundamentals the same?
I have a 40D and the standard image size is 3888 x 2592. If I want to print, do I need to "over resize" based on the size of my desired print (using bicubic smoother/sharper mode where appropriate)
p.2 #9 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
This method does not really apply to printing images which require pixel dimensions greater than that of the original image because it wont acheive the same effect.
Sharpening for print is a much more complex process if you want to do it really well. It relies on veiwing distance, print size etc. Often I oversharpen my iamges for print because when veiwed from a foot or so it makes them look much crisper.
p.2 #13 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
Thanks Alex. I have always used Fred's Intellisharpen II. I don't know the exact steps in that plugin, or how they compare to your action. I'll try yours now.
p.2 #17 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
I dont think it works for CS2 ...
Jan 13, 2009 at 09:04 PM
Mark Metternich Offline • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #18 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
Sunny Sra wrote:
web display sharpening is ok...what about PRINT sharpening...what do people use for that
That is very complicated. Some keep it simpler than others. But the subject matter (sharpening) is so very important, enough to warrant an entire book on the subject (the aforementioned book by Bruce Fraser for starters). But trying to master sharpening for print is a must IMO for top quality prints.
p.2 #19 · UPDATED: advanced web sharpening for landscape photographers
mark70x70 wrote:
That is very complicated. Some keep it simpler than others. But the subject matter (sharpening) is so very important, enough to warrant an entire book on the subject (the aforementioned book by Bruce Fraser for starters). But trying to master sharpening for print is a must IMO for top quality prints.
The elite team of photography heavyweights behind Photokit Sharpener are Martin Evening, Bruce Fraser, Seth Resnick, Andrew Rodney, Jeff Schewe and Mike Skurski. Unfortunately Bruce Fraser died a short while ago. It's the best sharpening and easiest tool I have ever used: http://www.pixelgenius.com/sharpener/
