Sharpening in Photoshop

[avanti]

I`ve used photoshop nearly every day for about 7 years now and it never ceases to amaze me how little I know about it.
I was talking to a photographer friend on the phone and he mentioned unsharp mask settings and recommended I set the "amount" slider all the way to 4-500%, the radius at 0.3 and the threshold at 0.
Wow, great results! I`d always had it set somewhere around 30% - 4 - 0 or something and was never that impressed with it. You do experiment, but never really considered anything that seems extreme.
Maybe everyone except me knows this already, but it makes me wonder what else I don`t know!
For example, what methods do you all use for basic things like brightening up the flattish, heavy files you get from digital cameras? I`m just straight in with levels or brighness/contrast, not usually bothering with an adjustment layer.
If the highlights start to burn out but the overall pic is still too dark, I magic wand the light parts, feather and invert selection, then pump up the bright/con on the rest of the image.
I think photoshop 8 has a new tool to help with this but I haven`t used it yet.

 

[voodoocat]

For a guide on using unsharp mask check out the tips thread.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4048

you should shy away from the brightness/contrast settings and use levels and curves. and you should always use an adjustment layer when editing a photo.

 

[Digital Matt]

Also try using the unsharp mask at settings of 40%, 20, 0. This will add contrast to your picture. Do this in addition to what you already mentioned.

If you duplicate your background layer and apply the sharpening to that layer, then you can always adjust the opacity of it if you are not happy with the results.

 

[Osmer_Toby]

matt, you also do the sharpening on brightness channel in lab color (a la vood's tutorial) or do you employ a totally different method?

also, are these two sets of settings all purpose, or are they exceptionally good for something specific, such as portraits or soft subjects or architecture, etc?

i'm still looking for the best setting for portraits, especially. i use 75%,2,3 for head shots,

150%,1,10 for soft subj,
65%,4,3 for architecture

any thoughts?

 

[Digital Matt]

I don't do sharpening in lab color, mainly because, (other than zoomed way in), I have not seen a noticeable difference, in print or on the web.

I generally do 500%, 0.2, 0 for most photographs, and I will vary that to 300-400%, 0.3, 0. This settings seems to make up for the sharpness left off from the camera.

The other setting I mentioned, I just experiment with, and are not specific to any style of photo or subject. I start with 40%, 20, 0, and will vary the amounts down to 25%, 5,0, depending on how much contrast I want.

There's so many ways to add contrast with photoshop. I find this sharpens the detail and contrast at the same time.