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Alan Jervis

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I know that, strictly, this isn't the right forum , but people here know NEFs! The sharpening method usually advocated (if you believe in sharpening at all!) is a triple application of various settings of USM. However - has anyone tried Smart Sharpen? If so, is it better than USM - and what settings would be good to experiment with?

--
Best wishes,

Alan J

http://www.pbase.com/wolfs_head
 
I was just wondering since we are on the topic of sharpening, how do you people use the USM tool? Do you apply it to the fullsized image or just when you resize for web? Or even both?

What i have been doing is do all the adjustments i need in Capture and keep the Sharpening there at Normal, then open in Photoshop, do all the adjustments i need there, crop, resize and apply USM.

Am i losing detail by only sharpening after resize?

Any pointers on the issure much appreciated.
 
Smart sharpen is a better USM. It does not sharpen noise as much and only the edges get sharpened.

Smart sharpen is all I use.. I have tried a few other methods but none were really better..

I used the lab mode years ago but after testing came to the conclusion that it is not really any better. It may have a small advantage with pics where there is a lot of colour noise.. but Nikons have little or no colour noise.

My Canon had a lot more colour noise back then..

There are lots of ways of getting the same sharpness.

 
phauksson said:
I was just wondering since we are on the topic of sharpening, how
do you people use the USM tool? Do you apply it to the fullsized
image or just when you resize for web? Or even both?
Click to expand...
I only sharpen when I have the picture at it's final output resolution. I never save the PSD's with any sharpening.
phauksson said:
What i have been doing is do all the adjustments i need in Capture
and keep the Sharpening there at Normal, then open in Photoshop, do
all the adjustments i need there, crop, resize and apply USM.
Click to expand...
I turn off all sharpening in NC and do it all in photoshop at the very end.
phauksson said:
Am i losing detail by only sharpening after resize?

Any pointers on the issure much appreciated.
Click to expand...
If you sharpen early, you are stuck with it. I have always heard that you should sharpen last, so that's what I do. When I have sharpened earlier, I notice more chance for noise which gets amplified thereafter. Someone smarter than me can probably give you a really good list of reasons why to sharpen last. Sometimes I do local contrast earlier.

--
D70 and photo discussion
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Smart sharpen can kill your photo. It isn't really that smart. They say, if you can tell it's sharpened, then it's sharpened too much.

Kriss

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Alan, I don't know what program you are using but in PSE3, you can either sharpen when raw image comes up right there and then(I don't). When you get an image to edit, go to Filter, then to Sharpen, then to unsharp mask. there you will be able to try all areas, with close up of any part of the pict you desire. I have found that around 70 is good for me, past 120 is getting pretty surreal, but the scale goes to 300.. Hope this helps--------ron s.
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seeing and being aware are not the same thing....
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I use Smart Sharpen for my final sharpening -- I don't understand how it does what it does, but it sure works for me. Seems to give better fine detail with less ugly edge effects, at least to my eye.

I use it pretty much as I did USM -- minimum radius and maximum amount to fit the print. For me that's generally about 0.5 to 0.8 radius and amount between 125 and 140 for a full resolution D70 file to print around 8x10 size. A Web size file will take less. (FWIW, my USM settings were more like 0.3 and 350, so a pretty large difference.)

I still use USM early in the workflow to enhance local contrast (there's a tutorial at luminouslandscape, but basically a low amound with a large radius setting).

My final sharpening is usually done on a duplicate layer as the final step in my workflow -- I can further control sharpening with layer transparency and masks, and it's completely reversible if it needs to be changed later, say for a different print size or to send to a different printer.

--
J.R.

Somewhere south
of Amarillo
 
Sharpen schmarpen, all I can say is that is one heck of a shot Marli, very nicely done. Where is that shot taken?
Ted
 
I believe it is important to use USM not only for each final size of image but also taking into account whether or not the image is for the screen or for the printer. I print very few images but when I do the amount and settings of USM are different than for the screen version of the same image.

Generally, USM is my last stage in Nikon Capture but often I will open the resultant JPG in Paintshop Pro. PSP has a very good noise reduction function that can be selectively applied or not to various parts of the image (e.g. the dark bits only). Then I will do layers, luminance only USM on the underlying layer and then a luminance blend at around 75% for the top layer.

David
phauksson said:
I was just wondering since we are on the topic of sharpening, how
do you people use the USM tool? Do you apply it to the fullsized
image or just when you resize for web? Or even both?
Click to expand...
 
I read in an article a while ago, that if you keep the (math) product of "radius" X "amount" close to 100, you get the nicest results. For example radius=0.5 and amount=200, or radius=0.25 and amount=400 (I really could go on and on, but you get the point...;-))

Haven't tried it myself so I can't tell if it works, but it's worth a try.

--
Aviv with D7T

 
Hi,
A good plugin for photoshop is Pixel genius http://www.pixelgenius.com .

all the sharpening is done on a layer mask and gives more control and is completly reversable, it is available as a 7 day trail.
hope this helps.
Cheers Ray
 
David,

I am also a user of Nikon Capture and PSP, although I am relatively new to digital photography (less than one year). I would be interested in more detail regarding your sharpening workflow.

Until reviewing the information in this thread, I had sharpening Nikon Capture, applying USM to individual color channels, and thereafter correcting any resultant noise issues in PSP. I was interested, however, in your use of layers, and in particular, modifying the blending modes (although I am aware of this option, I've never really understood when and why you would want to do this).

Any suggestions you could offer to a relative neophyte would be greatly appreciated.

-- Randy
 
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