DID I OVER SHARPEN

[rein]

Please let me know if i over sharpened

i tried the "super sharpening" photoshop tech that i found on this forum using unsharp mask, this is my first try

before

after

 

[tirediron]

The results look very good to me.

 

[reg]

i say yes- her face looks harsh

 

[swmocity]

before looks better

 

[rein]

and when i zoom in its seems over sharpened so i guess i did, oh well i just tried it,.

1 question though, how can i get sharp pictures like this without having to do photoshop?

 

[LaFoto]

Depends on the lens you use. Very much so.
I feel the need to apply USM to most of my own photos. But you have to try this, that and that in order to get to a pleasing and hopefully "invisible" result of your pp-sharpening. "Invisible" in so far as you don't want the viewer to instantly see that you applied some kind of sharpening tool to your photo. (Which, I'm afraid, is the case here, yes, it is oversharpened).

 

[rufus5150]

Depending on the size of the original image, you could probably get away with a lab lightness sharpen on that rather than the 'super sharp' technique (that really doesn't work well on people in a lot of cases, btw).

Set into Lab mode and select the Lightness channel (don't ctrl-click or whatever you do in the super sharp technique, you want the whole layer).

If it's a jpeg out of the camera, chances are it's been sharpened some already. You'd want to use around a 65-80/.5/0 (amount, radius, threshold).

If it's a raw file, you could start between 120-150/0.8/0 and 120-150/1.0/0 and see what looks best.

Be zoomed in at 50% while you're doing the sharpening.

Once it's sharpened, click in the rest of the channels.

The sharpen on this was done to your first image with 120/.5/0:

 

[prodigy2k7]

Look at lower left of white dress... Black glowing

I prefer no sharpening or maybe a little, she is young and pretty, sometimes soft is good! It goes well with the white dress.

 

[djrichie28]

Not much, but a touch over sharpened. Like the portrait shot you got here. Good use of tilting the camera.

 

[chrisburke]

i have a general rule with post processing... if you need to ask if its to much, it probably is.

 

[rasheemo]

i can't see the difference... T_T

 

[Alex_B]

well, it looks a tad to much for me.

it is harsh, but if that is an effect you want, then it is ok. i would prefer such harsh transition with slight halos not for images like this.

ever tried selective sharpening? what you did works well for her hair i think, not for her skin and dress though.

 

[rein]

thanks for the input guys

i uses a 28-135 f3.5 IS lens on this shot, man, i just envy some shots i see here,actualy this is the "lightness" sharpening, but i did it on 500/1/2 then 50/20 ,will definelty try what u adviced rufus

 

[johngpt]

Something to consider would be merging visible layers up to a new layer. Sharpen that layer, play with its opacity. Try different blend modes for the layer. In his book Skin, Lee Varis mentions making two layer copies. Sharpen one at the max of Unsharp Mask, 500%, radius 1, threshold 0. Change its blend mode to Darken. The one above, same Unsharp Mask, change its blend mode to Lighten. Then lower that layer's opacity so the highlights don't look excessively done.

With images of people, the eyes are generally what we want most sharp. If you think that there's excessive sharpening over all, mask out all but the facial features you consider most important. Excessive sharpening of women's features probably isn't a great idea. Often we want to soften their features, but have sharp, crisp eyes.

Hope I didn't ramble excessively.

 

[rein]

no u ddnt sir, thanks!