Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Digital Image Processing => Topic started by: aderickson on November 28, 2017, 04:30:31 pm
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Most of my postprocessing work is with scanned film images. For this I have been using Photoshop Elements. It has its limitations but it does run many Photoshop actions. There are a few Photoshop commands it won't allow such as "Fade". If the action creates a layer it only works on 8 bit files. I have both the editions of Real World Image Sharpening and purchase of the 2nd edition allows one to download the sharpening actions described in the book. To overcome some of the limitations of Elements I have purchased Affinity Photo. It seems to have all the necessary tools but they appear in somewhat different form. I have begun an effort to emulate the Fraser/Schewe sharpening actions as Affinity macros. I hope there are some folks here on LL who use Affinity Photo and are familiar with the basic concepts of Fraser and Schewe's sharpening methods who can give me some feedback. If the forum allows I will attach my macro file.
The workflow is as follows: duplicate layer, run detect edges filter, run median blur at 2, run gaussian blur at 2, rasterize to mask, create spare channel from alpha background channel, delete duplicate layer, run live filter unsharp mask at 0.8 radius and factor 4, 66% opacity, luminosity blend, and finally apply mask from the spare channel.
I have only run it a few images but I am pleased with the results. It give a subtle sharpening without affecting the grain.
Allan
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Allan
Thanks for sharing this. I've imported it into Affinity and will give it a try.
Dave
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Thanks, Allan, it works great. Nice edge-mask, good default settings which you can modify (via live-filter USM settings plus layer opacity). It's a pity Affinity Photo doesn't have deconvolution sharpening (smart sharpening) built-in, but USM will do.
[edited to add] Oh, I see that you also used Blend ranges to limit sharpening to midtones -- a nice touch.
I've got the Fade command in PSE because of the ElementsXXL extension that I bought separately, and can record actions as well, but the 8-bit constraint is sometimes a pain to work around.
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Thanks Allan, I am using Affinity more and more now. This is great.
Alan
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Hi Allen,
I'm trying to record the macro using your steps and it is saying it deleting the duplicate layer is not allowed in a macro. Any ideas on how I messed this up? I'm using Affinity Photo 1.6.2.97.
Thanks!
guido
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Hmmm... I recorded it in the Windows version 1.6.1.93 and tried it in the beta 1.6.3.98 and it worked. I also tried it on the Mac version 1.6.6 and it worked. I don't know what to tell you.
Allan
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Thanks for your reply! I downloaded your pre-recorded macro and it works giving nice results! I was just hoping to understand what i was doing wrong in Affinity when i try to record the steps... ???
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If you can find the video tutorial by Affinity called "Edge Detection" on Youtube or Vimeo it goes through the steps.
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Thanks so much!
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I am switching to Affinity from CS6 where I relied on PK sharpener for output sharpening and I'm now looking for an easy method to do the same in Affinity.
The link to the sharpening macro for Affinity above is broken, does anyone have the link if it still exists?
Thanks.
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I am switching to Affinity from CS6 where I relied on PK sharpener for output sharpening and I'm now looking for an easy method to do the same in Affinity.
Hi Jay,
Affinity Photo can run Photoshop Plugins, have you tried running PK Sharpener directly from AP?
I don't know if PKS uses exclusive Photoshop features, but AP is also fully layer based.
Cheers,
Bart
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Hi Bart,
I've tried installing PK Sharpener a couple of times but didn't seem to work, I couldn't find it listed anywhere in Affinity.
Jay
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The forum has restricted attachments to a few extensions since I posted that macro. PM me with your email and I'll be happy to send you the Affinity sharpening macro.
Allan