Photo Retouching - - Sharpenign Techniques

KR1156 · #1 03-29-2007, 10:18 AM

Very bored @ work today...looking to start a little discussion.

-Let's discuss our favorite sharpening techniques, and why.

-i've recently come across preset CUSTOM FILTER settings, it's really powerfull, but it's very easy to go overboard and oversharpen areas that aren't needed.

-Highpass/overlay i like to use for edges, sharp detailed objects.

-I'm also curious if anyone prefers sharpening individual channels?

i'm just bored, join me if you are too.

smiley guy · #2 03-29-2007, 12:55 PM

It might be kind of lame but for my favourite images I tend to use either high pass/overlay or USM but almost always selective sharpening. Do the action or settings for the initial sharpen and then a conceal mask and paint in where I actually want to sharpen. That's my favourite.

KR1156 · #3 03-29-2007, 01:29 PM

have you ever played with the custom filter for sharpening?

smiley guy · #4 03-29-2007, 10:53 PM

No I haven't. I sort of glossed over that point in your post due to ignorance but please explain, I'm always open to new ideas.

saby · #5 03-30-2007, 01:09 AM

At the start I prefere to make masks all of the channels and use Highpass/Overlay sharpening on RGB, soft-,hardlight and the overlay layers. When i have to make cmyk separation and i use the light-black gen. then black channel can be sharpened individually

i'm still interested in the Custom filter

KR1156 · #6 03-30-2007, 09:07 AM

in cmyk i also like to work the black channel most before output.

-but when it comes to the custom filter, i was wondering if anyone knew anything about it, because i came across a folder with blur/sharpen presets that i use, but dont know how to set my own values. i find it seems to work better giving the image a slight blur through one of he blur presets, then sharpening it.

deb47bie · #7 07-05-2007, 11:31 PM

I have some images that need global and selective sharpening. Any chance any of you have time to walk me through it step by step (your favorite selective and/or global techniques?). I am relatively new to this and need help on a new job (just posted a thread on my problem). Also, how do I link you all to an image to try workingon? Sorry so new at this. Hoping you are able to put up with a real newbie (I'll grow on you all hopefully...lol!)

Thanks much for any help you can give.

byRo · #8 07-06-2007, 10:46 AM

Here's Cameraken's round-up of Custom filter stuff. (post 11)

Have fun!

Rô

MacBurg · #9 07-07-2007, 04:12 AM

Hi Deb,

You could take a look at -

www.mediafire.com

Its free to sign up, then you can upload images/files up to 100mb, then provide a link back in this forum so people can download the image and help you out.

.

stopa · #10 07-07-2007, 07:48 PM

Hi,
My fast sharpening technique is to set unsharp mask in Lab mode only for L channel.

Graphics23 · #11 07-08-2007, 08:55 AM

Stamp visible (Ctrl Shft Alt E)
Run USM on the new layer using settings which are a little too strong.
Dup this layer (Ctrl J).
Set the top sharpen layer's blend mode to Lighten.
Set the bottom sharpen layer's blend mode to Darken.
Adjust the light and dark halos independently via Opacity.

Regards,

Michael

dbliss · #12 07-08-2007, 09:19 AM

Since you are having this discussion, I have been curious about the difference between Unsharp Mask and Smart Sharpening. I feel that Smart Sharpen works better for me, but some of the Black Belts of Photoshop stick with Unsharp Mask. Would love to hear other opinions on this

dmbliss

CJ Swartz · #13 08-05-2007, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbliss

...I have been curious about the difference between Unsharp Mask and Smart Sharpening. I feel that Smart Sharpen works better for me, but some of the Black Belts of Photoshop stick with Unsharp Mask. Would love to hear other opinions on this

dmbliss

I've been going thru training videos by Deke McClelland at Lynda.com (thanks to Adobe's free 30 day promo), and Deke says that Smart Sharpen does all that USM does AND more. The "remove gaussian blur" option operates exactly the same as USM according to Deke (he demonstrates this, but I didn't compare each image pixel by pixel, and I am quite willing to take his word for it since they look identical

), and the other settings "remove lens blur" and "remove motion blur" offer more options which makes Smart Sharpen a better choice. He notes the lack of a Threshold setting, but thinks that the other settings add up to an overall better combination. I'd say he's one of the "Black Belts of Photoshop", and he agrees with you.

I've been working with PS 7 for years, and just upgraded to CS3 this summer, so I'm still playing with all of the added features (from V7) and wouldn't have known this without watching the training tape.

markury · #14 08-22-2007, 07:09 AM

I'm using HIGH PASS, because you can see where the sharpening is added. Then I'm making a layer mask, to mask areas where I don't want to sharp. Ofcourse, I'm using it a lot, with may layers, different blending modes and opacity to get better results.

Also I'm using unsharp mask or (sometimes) the Smart sharp, but only when I need to sharp fast and if the high pass filter doesn't work good on some pictures.

In CS3 there are smart filters, where we can manipulate sharpening and it's blending mode without destroying the oryginal file. This is a very good idea, but it's working much slower with bigger files (even 700MB) and disable some editing options.

Best regards

dbliss · #15 08-23-2007, 07:04 AM

Markury:
I, like you, use the High Pass filter a lot. I actually have an action set up for it. I does a very good job most of the time and with the ability to mask the results, it gives a great deal of flexability. I find that almost all images need to be sharpened somwhat.