CC for Photographers and Sharpening

[ronlane]

I finally went to the CC a couple of weeks ago and have been learning different ways to sharpen my photos. When I had LR4 and PSE11, I would most of the time use LR4's sharpening and then sharpen for digital when I exported the jpeg file. I also used something similar to the unsharpening mask tool using 2 layers and Guassian blur that was inverted and blended with linear light.

But as I watch tutorials in youtube about using Photoshop, I have learned of the filter Smart Sharpen.

What I was wondering is who uses this and if not, what are you using to sharpen your images?

Ready go!

 

[tirediron]

I almost never use sharpening of any sort, but when I do, I use the NiK sharpening plug-in rather than any of the built-ins.

 

[Ysarex]

Yes, Smart Sharpen -- use it all the time for output sharpening.

Joe

 

[dennybeall]

Usually wait to sharpen until all else is done. Use Smart Sharpen when I do.

 

[weepete]

I tend to use photoshop for the things lightroom can't do or cant do well, like hdr (manual blending of multiple exposures), panoramas or clone/healing. Then I just import back to lightroom and do most of my PP there.

I've not yet found a reason to be unhappy with lightrooms sharpening though

 

[ronlane]

morning bump. Anyone else?

 

[Braineack]

I use smart sharpen if I end up bringing my picture in PS for editing.

Otherwise I might add a touch of sharpening in LR, and I export with sharpening for screen.

 

[bribrius]

I finally went to the CC a couple of weeks ago and have been learning different ways to sharpen my photos. When I had LR4 and PSE11, I would most of the time use LR4's sharpening and then sharpen for digital when I exported the jpeg file. I also used something similar to the unsharpening mask tool using 2 layers and Guassian blur that was inverted and blended with linear light.

But as I watch tutorials in youtube about using Photoshop, I have learned of the filter Smart Sharpen.

What I was wondering is who uses this and if not, what are you using to sharpen your images?

Ready go!

everything you said I don't understand and don't use any of it. I sharpen with in camera adjustment first, Nikon nx as a secondary, and Nikon capture as a third. hardly ever do I want to process a photo enough it makes it to Nikon capture. Nx I somewhat use and just move the slider.

 

[robbins.photo]

Whetstone.. of course. Sheesh. I mean seriously, what .. oh.. wait, sharpening photos.. ok, nevermind.

Lol

It sort of depends I guess, on the photo, on my mood, on to positioning of the stars, etc. I like smart sharpen sometimes, sometimes I'll use unsharp mask, sometimes a plugin, etc.

Normally what I'll do is view the picture in photoshop at the actual pixel size, try one, move it around a bit and look at various areas of interest, undo the process and try another sharpening filter and do the same, then pick my favorite - the original unsharpened photo, or one of the various sharpening filters depending on what I thought produced the best end results.

 

[jsecordphoto]

I do a touch of sharpening in LR first, then use Nik output sharpening

 

[Connor Hibbs]

I finally went to the CC a couple of weeks ago and have been learning different ways to sharpen my photos. When I had LR4 and PSE11, I would most of the time use LR4's sharpening and then sharpen for digital when I exported the jpeg file. I also used something similar to the unsharpening mask tool using 2 layers and Guassian blur that was inverted and blended with linear light.

But as I watch tutorials in youtube about using Photoshop, I have learned of the filter Smart Sharpen.

What I was wondering is who uses this and if not, what are you using to sharpen your images?

Ready go!

I have seen this Gaussian Blur Invert technique used by a lot of people and I personally have no idea why it is becoming so popular. I find that it sharpens photos to the point of looking grainy and discolored. I will admit it can be useful in adding some extra detail into eyes if need be, but hopefully that isn't necessary based on your shooting. Typically if I am looking to sharpen I am doing so sparingly, and find that a desaturated layer set to overlay with a highpass filter around 2.0 (be careful going much higher than this) does the trick after placing an inverted (all black) mask and painting in the areas to be sharpened. When keeping the high pass below 2.0, you can often times even get away with leaving the layer unmasked, though it can be a bit much with certain shots.

Smart sharpen isn't a terrible tool to use by any means, but I found myself pulling away from it more and more. It seems that Adobe just hasn't gotten the equations together well enough for any of their smart and content aware tools to suffice at a professional level, but can be incredibly useful for faster results!

 

[ValerieGoettsch]

I've found that the sharpening in LR5 works well for me, I've never had a need to do it in Photoshop. A lot of people like the Nik plugin, which might be worthy of checking out.