C&C Family session Post Processing!!

SabrinaO · Jun 23, 2011

So i know now that sharpening should be the last step in PP but im having trouble getting it perfect. I use the unsharp mask and sharpened these websized pics to the amount of around 30%. They look PERFECT in photoshop.. but when uploaded to flickr they look blurry. So i sharpened some more and now i see a lot of noise and grain. Whats the best way to sharpen for web and print? I didn't have this problem when I sharpened when I exported in lightroom and then edited those photos in photoshop. Maybe I should just go back to that? Is there really a huge difference editing a sharpened picture?

Please also CC these shots... ie lighting, composition etc.

sharpened to around 60%

Bitter Jeweler · Jun 23, 2011

Interesting. Flickr adds a sharpening pass on upload.

SabrinaO · Jun 23, 2011

Bitter Jeweler said:
Interesting. Flickr adds a sharpening pass on upload.

Really? I didn't know that...Ugh this sharpening is really hard to get perfect.

Bitter Jeweler · Jun 23, 2011

Yeah. It says so somewhere in a FAQ. My pics tend to be over sharpened on there.

lyonsroar · Jun 23, 2011

I was reading the rules of portraiture article that KmH is fond of quoting and one of them is "no shorts in group portraits."

No saying it's bad, just...that's the rule I read...

SabrinaO · Jun 23, 2011

lyonsroar said:
I was reading the rules of portraiture article that KmH is fond of quoting and one of them is "no shorts in group portraits."No saying it's bad, just...that's the rule I read...

Rules are meant to be broken

Anyways... What do you guys do for sharpening? I am really lost

Vtec44 · Jun 23, 2011

In many php upload scripts, you have the option to reduce JPEG's quality. Unless you host your own site, using someone else can't guarantee that the setting is for quality and not file size. You don't have access to that kind of settings.

adversus · Jun 23, 2011

Eyes are naturally drawn to bare skin, so lots of bare skin on legs detracts from the face, which in these types of portraits, is sort of a bad thing. So the shorts thing is subjective, it depends what KIND of portrait it is, I guess.

SabrinaO · Jun 23, 2011

Vtec44 said:
In many php upload scripts, you have the option to reduce JPEG's quality. Unless you host your own site, using someone else can't guarantee that the setting is for quality and not file size. You don't have access to that kind of settings.

Ok...

SabrinaO · Jun 23, 2011

adversus said:
Eyes are naturally drawn to bare skin, so lots of bare skin on legs detracts from the face, which in these types of portraits, is sort of a bad thing. So the shorts thing is subjective, it depends what KIND of portrait it is, I guess.

I agree about the bare skin being distracting but I don't think shorts are bad. I think the mom did a good job picking out appropriate outfits.
Ok...so... off the shorts subject.... Can anyone tell me what they do for sharpening? Or is sharpening for web/print when exporting LR such a bad idea if I'm going to be doing further editing in PS??

MWC2 · Jun 23, 2011

This is what I do for sharpening for flickr. Now mind I like crisp/sharp images.

In photoshop, I resize to 4 x 5, then an unsharpen mask (Amount 500%, Radius 0.2 pixels, threshold, 0), duplicate layer and sharpen. Save and then upload.