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Sharpening pics of flowers

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While there is a dramatic difference between the two, the sharpned one has lost a lot of shadow detail and is very contrasty. I tried the settings and will have to play with them a bit more to see if they get put into the "tool box".

John M
 
Thanks Rich, good article. I bookmarked that one. I also did your sharpening to the picture and uploaded to pbase: http://www.pbase.com/dwight1973/inbox

This sharpening seems to look a little less aggressive. It doesn't have the black and shadow areas as dark.
RichO said:
Dwight,
Check this post of mine for a variation of this along with the
"Why" of it..

I used the 20%, 30 pixels, Threshold 4
which I do not repeat

Then I use 500%, .2 pixels and Threshold 0
this I do repeat being careful to use the preview on and off to
check the image.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=2383256
Click to expand...
 
Maria,

I have done some flowers with macro and did some enhancement (sharpening and saturation mainly). See some examples here:
http://www.pbase.com/spannie/spring_02

Also discussed in this thread:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=2417189

I have printed an 8X10 of the daffodil and it came out razor sharp. Do you use the full 1600X1200 size? Do you shoot in SHQ. Any other settings may result in prints that look softer than the screen. Another thing that can make your prints look softer (less sharp) is the color calibration of your monitor and printer. Do a search on that - there has been several good threads about this.

The basic technique I used is described here:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=2384814

As always, for the best results on an individual picture, the values for the adjustments might be altered as needed.

Post some pictures for us to see.

Spannie
Maria Holmes said:
I take lots of pictures of flowers and, while they don't look too
bad on the screen, often when I get them printed out there's very
little detail in the flower pedals. My question is: What would
probably bring out the detail best in a flower: Sharpening, finding
the edges and then sharpening, using the unshap mask, using the
sharpening tool in a program like Photo Brush (which lets the user
sharpen specific areas of a photo only? Thanks. Maria
--
C-2-100uz
Click to expand...
--Spannie
 
Dwight,

These settings are not absolute, you do have play with them depending on the photo. My initial settings are a little agressive, but I try them first and then back off a bit to see how things look. I'm finding that if a photo doesn't have many dark areas the first settings are fine, but it can be too much if there are many shadows in the photo. Glad you liked the info I gave.

DougT
Dwight1973 said:
Thanks for the tip. I will change the setting in the camera for
next time. It is set at normal right now. One thing though....On
some it makes the blacks too dark depending on the picture's
content. Which setting controls this? Here's an example of what I
mean, see what you think: http://www.pbase.com/dwight1973/inbox
Click to expand...
 
Looks good...

:) They are not my settings though... I think Inigo uses them too and had posted about them before.

I have found that those settings have to be tweak if you apply them to a small section of a layer...but overall they have been pretty helpful...still wont remove noise that is from pushing or low light conditions..

Have you tried the PBrush program? I heard it had a brush you could selectively sharpen and remove noise from layers or selections.

--RichO :) http://www.pbase.com/richo/http://www.richo.org/LearningCenter/faq_olympus.htm 'Life is a dance, Love is the music.'
 
Maria,
Glad that helped... however it is not my "method", I got it from that website.

I have noticed it really brightens colors at times, but you do have to be careful on expanses of solid colors...sometimes I think it adds some noise...and in using it with small selections I have to tweak the settings..but all in all it works well enough for me to always attempt it with my photos.
Maria Holmes said:
I haven't had a chace to try everyothing everyone suggested, but so
far RichO's method words best for me. I didn't do any editing
except to sharpen these pic, so forgive me. Printed out the
sharpened picture is MUCH sharper than the original (soft) photo.
http://www.pbase.com/image/1488979:
http://www.pbase.com/image/1488984:
--
C-2-100uz
Click to expand...
--RichO :) http://www.pbase.com/richo/http://www.richo.org/LearningCenter/faq_olympus.htm 'Life is a dance, Love is the music.'
 
RichO - Thanks for the input on the sharpening method. Up until now I have been satisfied with my close-up shots of flowers, but after experimenting with the procedure you outlined, I find the resultant improvement amazing. I am glad I stopped to read this thread.

Thanks again - Martin -- http://www.pbase.com/mrdC-3020
 
Ditto to Martin's sentiments. I spent just about the entire day fiddling with various techniques, and what a wonderful difference GOOD sharpening can make (unlike the automatic sharpening settings in some programs!!) Now, Rich, are you going to come to my house and finish up my taxes for me??!! I promised myself I would finish them up today, but alas... :-)
Martin Davis said:
RichO - Thanks for the input on the sharpening method. Up until
now I have been satisfied with my close-up shots of flowers, but
after experimenting with the procedure you outlined, I find the
resultant improvement amazing. I am glad I stopped to read this
thread.

Thanks again - Martin
--C-2-100uz
Click to expand...
 
My favorite is a program called Photo Brush. The reason I like this one is that you can set the brush to Edge Smart, which detects where the edge of one color ends and the next one begins, and then it doesn't blur or paint or whatever into the new area. Free 30 download trial. Let me know if you can't find the URL (I'm on my way out the door to a doctor apt. right now so I'm sort of time.) Maria
Mike Wright said:
The flower certainly looks better. The only downside is that the
previously blurred background has been sharpened, as well. Is there
any kind of paintbrush-type tool that would let you blur an area by
just running the tool over it?
--
--Mike Wright
Click to expand...
--C-2-100uz
 
Maria Holmes said:
Martin Davis said:
RichO - Thanks for the input on the sharpening method. Up until
now I have been satisfied with my close-up shots of flowers, but
after experimenting with the procedure you outlined, I find the
resultant improvement amazing. I am glad I stopped to read this
thread.

Thanks again - Martin
Click to expand...
--
C-2-100uz
Click to expand...
==========

Ditto to both of these comments. This really demonstrates the value of these forums. I have struggled to learn Photoshop - being a newbie at that and new owner of an UZI. I tried Rich's sharpening technique on a few old photos and the result is simply stunning.

Many, many thanks for this helpful info and for this forum....

BAK
--Recent UZI newbie
 
:) Thanks,
The value of THIS forum is priceless...

Once again it is not my technique I am just passing it on... and be aware that it might need to be tweaked on some smaller selections or crops...

But I am glad you like it as much as I did when I found it...now if I can find a really good technique to get rid of noise...I will be happy and so will Twang!!

I encourage you to read some of Spannie's post...lots of good info there too..especially about how to keep the camera from messing with the virgin capture.
BAKlink said:
Maria Holmes said:
Martin Davis said:
RichO - Thanks for the input on the sharpening method. Up until
now I have been satisfied with my close-up shots of flowers, but
after experimenting with the procedure you outlined, I find the
resultant improvement amazing. I am glad I stopped to read this
thread.

Thanks again - Martin
Click to expand...
--
C-2-100uz
Click to expand...
==========

Ditto to both of these comments. This really demonstrates the
value of these forums. I have struggled to learn Photoshop - being
a newbie at that and new owner of an UZI. I tried Rich's sharpening
technique on a few old photos and the result is simply stunning.

Many, many thanks for this helpful info and for this forum....

BAK

--
Recent UZI newbie
Click to expand...
--RichO :) http://www.pbase.com/richo/http://www.richo.org/LearningCenter/faq_olympus.htm 'Life is a dance, Love is the music.'
 
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