any idea what kind of sharpening this pic used?

tron · Jul 14, 2009

ive been playing with sharpening for about a year or so however i was curious if anyone would be kind enough to tell me their opinion on what they think was done to this image in terms of sharpening.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/2920275261_80585377ce_b.jpg

tsaraleksi · Jul 14, 2009

Probably just unsharp mask or smart sharpen... it doesn't really seem particularly remarkable in terms of sharpening.

NateS · Jul 14, 2009

This is clearly not your photo based on your question. You need to remove the photo and post a link to the photo instead per the rules of TFP.

Big Mike · Jul 14, 2009

Probably just standard sharpening to me too.

You need to realize that sharpening really doesn't make a photo sharp when it didn't start out that way. It just increases the contrast between colors/tones. So to get a sharp shot, you need to start with good technique. Use a tripod, or at least a fast enough shutter speed so that any slight movement of the camera won't cause blur. Also, use an aperture that will give you the DOF that you want.
Also, it can help to use an aperture and lens (or certain zoom range on a lens) that is optimum for high quality. For example, you would probably want to avoid the long end of a high range zoom because it just won't be sharp.

table1349 · Jul 14, 2009

Big Mike said:
Probably just standard sharpening to me too.

You need to realize that sharpening really doesn't make a photo sharp when it didn't start out that way. It just increases the contrast between colors/tones. So to get a sharp shot, you need to start with good technique. Use a tripod, or at least a fast enough shutter speed so that any slight movement of the camera won't cause blur. Also, use an aperture that will give you the DOF that you want.
Also, it can help to use an aperture and lens (or certain zoom range on a lens) that is optimum for high quality. For example, you would probably want to avoid the long end of a high range zoom because it just won't be sharp.

:thumbup:

JerryPH · Jul 14, 2009

Lens quality also has a lot to do with it. Also, knowing at what aperture you hit the sweet spot on the lens you are using is a big help.

I did a little looking around, and there are some incredible amounts of different techniques concerning sharpening. Things from basically straight of of the camera on a good lens all the way to creating 15 layers in PS and using 22 different sharpening techniques on the various layers and blending it all together (basically a 1 hour process... lol)

Absolutely incredible what you can do in post production... just to make a picture look pretty sharp. In the case of sharpness, though, I am a firm believer of the "KISS method". It is terribly easy to over sharpen a picture... no need to over do it in the first place.

Garbz · Jul 15, 2009

I see a clear effect applied to that photo.... Oversharpening.

The tree leaves are only just haloing. Someone has a very low sharpening radius and has probably cranked every other knob to 11.