applying sharpening in photoshop

[Juliette1]

Hi guys,
just after some advice on sharpening files of different sizes - I am always worried about over sharpening the image. I shoot raw files and after working on them and sizing them, the final thing i do is sharpen, however, I never get it just right!
Your comments will be welcome! :thumbsup:

 

[musicaleCA]

How are you sharpening your images now? What's the print media you're sharpening for? (An image that'll be displayed many feet away can probably do with less sharpening than something right up to one's face, as a quick example.)

 

[KmH]

Sharpening is a 3 step procedure.

Step 1 is capture sharpening. This is done in ACR. The amount each slider is set to depends on the scene being worked on. It is really helpful to hold down the 'Alt' key while adjusting the sliders. If nothing else it gives much better visual cues to what the slider does.

Step 2 is selective sharpening. In Photoshop you can select a portion of an image, like the models eyes in a portrait.

Step 3 is final sharpening with Unsharp Mask, done just prior to output. This sharpening step has to be done with the preview image at 100% zoom, or you just can't see any detrimental artifacts. Here you again have choices to make as there are several sharpening techniques: luminosity sharpening, high pass sharpening, edge sharpening.

Successfully exploiting all the sharpening tools and techniques is one of the major keys to making photographs 'pop'.