Sharpening

[Petraio Prime]

I have Photoshop 5.0 on a PC. Is there anything free or cheap that is designed strictly or mostly for sharpening, that would be any better? I use scanned film to make digital files when I need them. The Photoshop 5.0 seems to emphasize grain when I use it.

 

[JamesMason]

convert to lab, select the lightness and use the unsharp mask. Probs the best way to do it. LR3s new tools are very good too if you have grain issues.

 

[LaFoto]

Do you use "Sharpen" or "Sharpen More" or do you use the "Unsharp Mask". The latter can be dosed so you don't get so much grain (or is it noise once the image has been digitalized?). Do you scan your negatives yourself or do you have the lab scan them for you and add the disc to the bag you get back with your prints?

 

[usayit]

Try to use "unsharpen mask" but slightly increase the radius to avoid sharpening / bringing emphasis on the grain. Not too much that you get halos (which can be countered by reducing the amount)

Radius affects the size of the edges to be enhanced or how wide the edge rims become, so a smaller radius enhances smaller-scale detail. Higher Radius values can cause halos at the edges, a detectable faint light rim around objects. Fine detail needs a smaller Radius. Radius and Amount interact; reducing one allows more of the other. - wiki

You can also try to selectively apply sharpening rather than over the entire photo.

 

[JG_Coleman]

There are a few Photoshop plug-ins designed for sharpening, but I can't think of any that are free... or that are really all that cheap, either. Software costs are rough these days.

Nik makes Sharpener Pro for use use with Photoshop, though admittedly I've never used it (I do all my sharpening within Lightroom). However, based on the quality of Nik's other plug-ins like Color EFX, Silver EFX, and Viveza, I would say that you could expect this plug-in to work very well. The only problem... a steep $199 price tag from Nik, $160 from Amazon. Of course, you could run the 15-trial and see if might be worth the expense.

Optimal Image Sharpening in a Photoshop Plug-In