Image Sharpening

[Lee70]

Hi all,

I was wondering what software everyone else uses for sharpening up their images.

I've been using the unsharp mask in photoshop but i still feel it could be better.

Can anyone point me towards something they feel is better at the job.

Thanks
Lee

[loripo]

You could try downloading paint.net(free) which has a sharpen mode that you can vary the strength of, you could see if that gives better results.

[Lee70]

Thanks loripo i'll d/load it and give it a go.

[Richard G.]

Well I tend to use Smart Sharpen rather than USM for a start (Photoshop), but also find that wildlife shots, where you often want to isolate the subject against a completely out-of-focus background, usually benefits from selective sharpening, so as not to introduce too much noise and artefacts into the out-of-focus areas. Google reveals a number of brief tutorials, such as this one.

[JeffH]

And here's two more links to sharpening tutorials that might be helpful -

Tutorials - Sharpness

Sharpening -- Part I



Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls & Avocets)

[Lee70]

Thanks guys for the very speedy response

I'll have a read through those tutorials and give them a whirl.

I do like the idea of selective sharpening though.

It makes more sense to sharpen only the bits you want rather than the entire image.

[Jim Ford]

This is what you need for all your sharpening:

PixelGenius - PhotoKit Sharpener

It's enormously flexible with different sharpening modes for various outputs, selective sharpening etc..

It's expensive, but you can download it for a free trial. I can't recommend it highly enough!

Jim

[charlieb]

None at all (unless I shoot raw)

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by charlieb

None at all (unless I shoot raw)

So you have the camera set to sharpen, which is usually a 'one size fits all' setting.

The degree of sharpening is strongly dependant on the intended output. Sharpening for web display is different from printing at eg 300dpi on A4.

Jim

[charlieb]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

So you have the camera set to sharpen, which is usually a 'one size fits all' setting.

Yes, as in no software sharpening.