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onlyfreeman

onlyfreeman

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I always feel like I apply sharpening and detail enhancement incorrectly.

What methods would you recommend, and which software does a good job of this? (Not Adobe if possible)

How do you also figure out the right amount of sharpening to use?
 
Take a good look at Topaz Detail.

I use it as a plugin for Photoshop. I send my best photos there from Lightroom. You can get to it also through the new standalone Topaz Studio.

I haven't found anything better. It basically works on three different sizes of features, and gives you excellent control.
 
So if not Adobe what are you currently using? Sharpening for web and print has different approaches. Also for downsizing resampling algorithms are important. What is you application?

Here are some basics about what sharpening is.

Guide to Image Sharpening

www.cambridgeincolour.com www.cambridgeincolour.com
 
Zeee said:
So if not Adobe what are you currently using? Sharpening for web and print has different approaches. Also for downsizing resampling algorithms are important. What is you application?

Here are some basics about what sharpening is.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-sharpening.htm
Click to expand...
I primarily use Affinity Photo, GIMP, Paint.net, Capture One Express, but I am willing to look into any software I am not currently using. I don't usually downsize my images unless I will be sharing them on the web, and I do not print (yet).

Thanks for the link, It was helpful in understanding sharpening, but it didn't really provide any answers on which software might perform the task better, or other technique to enhance detail which give the appearance of a sharper image.
 
Jim B (MSP) said:
Take a good look at Topaz Detail.

I use it as a plugin for Photoshop. I send my best photos there from Lightroom. You can get to it also through the new standalone Topaz Studio.

I haven't found anything better. It basically works on three different sizes of features, and gives you excellent control.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will look into that.
 
onlyfreeman said:
Zeee said:
So if not Adobe what are you currently using? Sharpening for web and print has different approaches. Also for downsizing resampling algorithms are important. What is you application?

Here are some basics about what sharpening is.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-sharpening.htm
Click to expand...
I primarily use Affinity Photo, GIMP, Paint.net, Capture One Express, but I am willing to look into any software I am not currently using. I don't usually downsize my images unless I will be sharing them on the web, and I do not print (yet).

Thanks for the link, It was helpful in understanding sharpening, but it didn't really provide any answers on which software might perform the task better, or other technique to enhance detail which give the appearance of a sharper image.
Click to expand...
If you get something like what Jim suggested it may take the guesswork out. I'm not promoting Adobe but the Lightroom export page does that for you. You enter type of media, one of 3 levels or sharpening and just export. PK sharpener designed by the same group and does the same thing made it free for Photoshop. Adobe is subscription so I don't want to go there. It's a different topic. It is what I use. Topaz my guess does the same thing.

Times are good now. Lots out there for you to choose. This was a lot tougher in 2005 when I got my first DSLR.

Basically for output (final) - sharpen as much as you can for web without creating halos and artifacts. For print it should look at little over-sharpened. You resize and view at 100% before doing the final sharpening this final sharpening.

I don't know what type of resampling algorithms the products you have use. Pretty critical when reducing a modern days sensor that has lots of pixels to the size you want.
 
Zeee said:
I don't know what type of resampling algorithms the products you have use. Pretty critical when reducing a modern days sensor that has lots of pixels to the size you want.
Click to expand...
I normally just use the default settings so haven't paid much attention to the resampling algorithms.

I do know that at least Affinity has Nearest Neighbour, Bicubic, Bilinear and two variants of Lanczos, however I think that some software has more options than that, and sometimes lets you even adjust certain parameters.

Not entirely sure if for example the Affinity Bicubic algorithm will produce similar results to Photoshop etc.
 
onlyfreeman said:
Zeee said:
I don't know what type of resampling algorithms the products you have use. Pretty critical when reducing a modern days sensor that has lots of pixels to the size you want.
Click to expand...
I normally just use the default settings so haven't paid much attention to the resampling algorithms.

I do know that at least Affinity has Nearest Neighbour, Bicubic, Bilinear and two variants of Lanczos, however I think that some software has more options than that, and sometimes lets you even adjust certain parameters.

Not entirely sure if for example the Affinity Bicubic algorithm will produce similar results to Photoshop etc.
Click to expand...
I'm no expert except from trial and error. I have known about Lanczos for a long time but I don't know if it is the latest and greatest. I remember PS improving over time.

Sounds like you have a good handle on this. Just gotta fine tune a few things.
 
Zeee said:
I'm no expert except from trial and error. I have known about Lanczos for a long time but I don't know if it is the latest and greatest. I remember PS improving over time.

Sounds like you have a good handle on this. Just gotta fine tune a few things.
Click to expand...
I've been trying to read about it lately, definitely need more experience. I'll put what I've learned into practice, see if I can get a better handle on this.

The Topaz plugin might just be the answer I'm looking for, something that does a good job without needing to become an expert on the subject. :-)
 
onlyfreeman said:
Zeee said:
I'm no expert except from trial and error. I have known about Lanczos for a long time but I don't know if it is the latest and greatest. I remember PS improving over time.

Sounds like you have a good handle on this. Just gotta fine tune a few things.
Click to expand...
I've been trying to read about it lately, definitely need more experience. I'll put what I've learned into practice, see if I can get a better handle on this.

The Topaz plugin might just be the answer I'm looking for, something that does a good job without needing to become an expert on the subject. :-)
Click to expand...
You can always try it. I myself have my own limits of what I want to know. As long as it works. The 3 phases are an important element to understand so you apply them properly with mo matter what you are using. About 10 years there was a thread competition and everyone applied their own special methods. It was a lot of fun. Man that feels like a 100 years ago.

I keep asking what LR's export secrets are but they never tell me. :-)
 
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I am currently reading Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom, Second Edition, by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe. It gives a lot of detail and background on image sharpening, talks a lot about the tools available, and then how to put it all to work in a workflow. Good read so far; I recommend it for anyone who struggles with how and when to sharpen.

Peter
 
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Regardless of what software you are using think of sharpening as being done in three stages.

Input sharpening is small and is only intended to correct for the softening caused by the camera's anti-aliasing filter.

Creative sharpening is sharpening applied to selected areas that your inner artist thinks should be sharper. When doing this work at 1:1 (i.e. 1 image pixel is 1 screen pixel) so that the software resizing algorithms don't cause image viewing problems. Over sharpening produces halos.

Output sharpening is different for each image size and output media. A small web image needs more sharpening than a larger one. The amount of sharpening needed for a 5"x7" print is different than that needed for a 30"x40" one and the amount of sharpening needed is more for canvas prints than matte, which in turn is more than needed for glossy prints.

This is a link for sharpening in Adobe Lightroom but most of what it says is applicable to any image post processing software.

Sharpening in Lightroom Part One — Overview and Capture Sharpening | Laura Shoe's Lightroom Training, Tutorials and Tips

Here is how DPReview member sabrina81 determines the limit of sharpening in Adobe Camera Raw (it would be the same in Lightroom).

DPReveiw - Sharpening Technique by sabrina81
 
onlyfreeman said:
I always feel like I apply sharpening and detail enhancement incorrectly.

What methods would you recommend, and which software does a good job of this? (Not Adobe if possible)

How do you also figure out the right amount of sharpening to use?
Click to expand...
There's a nice sharpening macro for Affinity Photo posted at the Luminous Landscape forum (you'll need to set up an account to be able to download the attachment there).

Other than that, James Ritson (the guy behind the Affinity tutorials) offers his workflow aid macro pack, which includes a sharpening routine as well.

The Nik Collection Sharpening plug-ins and Topaz Detail work well with Affinity too.
 
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I'll use a live high pass filter layer in affinity, if I think the photo needs it. It isn't often. Topaz detail works as a plugin for affinity, but the presets can sometimes be a bit much. I print through Qimage, it has its own sharpening algorithm for physical media. I downsize with lanczos. Getting a camera without an aa filter is great, if you don't shoot much stuff that will moire.

Also, work with your fine detail contrast options. On1 - structure and dynamic contrast, darktable - local contrast, DxO - microcontrast. You can push those too far as well, but judicious application also improves things. And dehazing or other color adjustments can really affect the perception of detail.
 
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Most of the time, I use wavelet sharpening. Also have been using a new sharpening technique that someone created using G'MIC called Constrained Sharpening; details at link below. :)

discuss.pixls.us

New Filter: Constrained Sharpen

I have added a new sharpening filter to my testing folder. It sharpens the image but restricts sharpening to local min/max to reduce halos. It is particularly good for upsized images and artwork.
discuss.pixls.us discuss.pixls.us
 
Sailor Blue said:
Regardless of what software you are using think of sharpening as being done in three stages.

Input sharpening is small and is only intended to correct for the softening caused by the camera's anti-aliasing filter.
Click to expand...
And for that, Focus Magic does a great job. It also claims to be able to recover blurry photos, to some degree, but I throw those out right away and have not tried. The fix on the anti-alias filter usually is enough for me.
 
I think once you use the correct tool sharpening is easy.
There 2 things to take into account here:
  1. Controlling the whole frequencies and not just one (Multi Scale Sharpening).
  2. Using advanced algorithms and not the default in Photoshop.
I really likes Davide Barranca's tools:
  • ALCE 3
    Watch the video in the page to understand how it works. It really has a special effect on images.
  • DoubleUSM
    This is a trick to control Bright and Dark halos.
    Watch its great video. It explains sharpening as a whole.
I also like the multi scale sharpening approach of Know-How Transfer Wow Frequency Equalizer. It allows controlling each different size of details in the image which is great.
 
onlyfreeman said:
lylejk said:
Most of the time, I use wavelet sharpening. Also have been using a new sharpening technique that someone created using G'MIC called Constrained Sharpening; details at link below. :)

https://discuss.pixls.us/t/new-filter-constrained-sharpen/8495
Click to expand...
If this is good, I might end up using a billion different programs, ahhh.

Too many programs to test. :-O
Click to expand...


You can get something similar in Photoshop using Multi Scale Sharpeners.
Look at the Decompose feature of Know-How Transfer WOW! Frequency Equalizer Pro Edition:



Multi Scale Decomposition Feature in Know-How Transfer WOW! Frequency Equalizer Pro

Multi Scale Decomposition Feature in Know-How Transfer WOW! Frequency Equalizer Pro

Indeed Multi Scale Sharpening is the way to go (Modern sharpening).

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