Need advice on sharpening adjustments

Tayfun · Mar 16, 2008

Hello to everyone;
Does anybody have an advice about sharpening settings on Photoshop CS3? I shoot raw by Pentax K10D and generally sharpen using USM. My settings are Amount:250%, Radius:1 pixel and Treshold:3. I guess there is not a fixed setting but generally where around do you advice?
Regards;

crystal_lynn · Mar 16, 2008

I have CS2 but I just learned a new technique that will also work with CS3.

Under filters: other: high pass

Make a new layer, change the layer to an overlay. Then run the high pass filter. Change the opacity if necessary.

HTH

JerryPH · Mar 16, 2008

There are about 25-30 different methods outlined in DETAIL on youtube. Do s search for photoshop sharpening.

Enjoy.

Tayfun · Mar 16, 2008

crystal_lynn said:
I have CS2 but I just learned a new technique that will also work with CS3.

Under filters: other: high pass

Make a new layer, change the layer to an overlay. Then run the high pass filter. Change the opacity if necessary.

HTH

Thanks Crystal I will try it.

crystal_lynn said:
There are about 25-30 different methods outlined in DETAIL on youtube. Do s search for photoshop sharpening.
HTH

Have already done it. I know how to do sharpening I need adviced VALUES. Thanks.

Sw1tchFX · Mar 16, 2008

Tayfun said:
Have already done it. I know how to do sharpening I need adviced VALUES. Thanks.

It depends. Sometimes it needs more, sometimes less, and BTW Smart Sharpen > USM/

Stranger · Mar 16, 2008

Another vote for Smart Sharpen, it doesn't mess with the parts of the photo that dont need sharpening.

depending on the image, i usually sharpen somewhere between 150 - 300

davebmck · Mar 16, 2008

The newest version of Camera Raw has an excellent sharpening capability. That is what I am using now.

Sw1tchFX · Mar 16, 2008

Stranger said:
Another vote for Smart Sharpen, it doesn't mess with the parts of the photo that dont need sharpening.

depending on the image, i usually sharpen somewhere between 150 - 300

Also, print sharpening is different than web sharpening.

Tayfun · Mar 17, 2008

Stranger said:
Another vote for Smart Sharpen, it doesn't mess with the parts of the photo that dont need sharpening.

depending on the image, i usually sharpen somewhere between 150 - 300

Two advanced votes are enough for SS. After now I will use it. Thanks.

Sw1tchFX said:
Also, print sharpening is different than web sharpening.

That is interesting really. What is the main difference. Is print sharpness less? - more? Also thanks for the SS advice.

davebmck said:
The newest version of Camera Raw has an excellent sharpening capability. That is what I am using now.

I have ver.4.4, it is the newest so I will give a try. Thanks

Mav · Mar 17, 2008

I leave my sharpening settings to auto on the camera and just run them through DxO - perfect sharpening every time, with adjustments calibrated to the body/lens/focal length/aperture. DxO does support the K10D and a couple of lenses, so you might want to try out the demo.

GeorgeUK · Mar 17, 2008

Stranger said:
Another vote for Smart Sharpen, it doesn't mess with the parts of the photo that dont need sharpening.

How does this work?

Is it available on CS2? (I don't have a copy on this computer to check :blushing

JerryPH · Mar 17, 2008

Anoter vote for camera raw sharpening. I used to love the smart sharpen, but get much better results with the camera raw sharpening. Makes it a big enough difference that I can tell which way I sharpened the same pic, and I always chose the camera raw piced as being the better looking, better sharpened photo.

It is now part of my official workflow over any other kind of sharpening method.

Tayfun · Mar 17, 2008

Mav said:
I leave my sharpening settings to auto on the camera and just run them through DxO - perfect sharpening every time, with adjustments calibrated to the body/lens/focal length/aperture. DxO does support the K10D and a couple of lenses, so you might want to try out the demo.

Thanks for the advice. I am downloading the demo now.

Also from the votes I understand that I have missed the trick to use Camera Raw as a sharpening tool. I will try to use it again.

JerryPH · Mar 17, 2008

Tayfun said:
Also from the votes I understand that I have missed the trick to use Camera Raw as a sharpening tool. I will try to use it again.

You won't ever need anything else again.

However it is very easy to want to globally set it to 150 each time and just sharpen the crap out of pics. That is NOT a good thing to do. Use common sense when sharpening. Too much of anything is not always the best solution.