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Author Topic: ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother  (Read 4531 times)

tgphoto

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« on: June 22, 2006, 04:25:14 pm »

Hi,

Question for the forum.  I've been working on some prints in my studio, using the following method:

1. Open in ACR.
2. Adjust exposure, brightness, etc.
3. Upsample to 25.2MP @ 360ppi resolution.
4. Bring into Photoshop for sharpenign and further editing.
5. Save and Print.


This process produces great prints up to 11"x17" from Canon 10D RAW files.  If I need to upsize further, I do this:

1. In Photoshop, Image > Image Size
2. Uncheck Resample
3. Set ppi to 240
4. Crop and Print.


This additional step allows me to produce great 16"x24" prints.

My question is, am I better to import from ACR at native resolution, then use Bicubic Smoother to upsample?  I haven't really touched bicubic resizing since Photoshop 7 (I'm using CS2 now).

Thanks!

Tim
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PeterLange

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2006, 07:56:51 am »

Please see this article by Jeff Schewe (page 10, first lines):

http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/ps_workflow_sec2.pdf
http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/ps_pro_primers.html

Also, up-sampling in ACR can be coordinated with the Detail tab:  Color Noise Reduction, Luminance Smoothing and maybe a very little bit Sharpening … everything applied at a very early stage of the data pipeline; at linear gamma and before the notorious S-curve enhances pixel-contrast / noise … afaik.

For me, this setup works; however, here’s some further literature:
http://ronbigelow.com/articles/interpolati...terpolation.htm
http://ronbigelow.com/articles/articles.htm

Peter

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Jack Flesher

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2006, 10:11:47 am »

Some of us disagree with Jeff on Camera Raw upsizing -- while it is excellent compared to a one-step process in CS, it is perhaps not as good a multi-step process in CS -- and note my addendum at the end of that article regarding ACR: http://www.outbackphoto.com/workflow/wf_60/essay.html
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Jack
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tgphoto

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2006, 10:41:34 am »

Peter - Thank you for the links.  Those articles are great!  I went to JPC's website to request the BW Conversion Tutorial though as Adobe is linking ot the wrong PDF.

Jack - Interesting argument and I appreciate the detailed crops.  This does throw a wrench into the works I guess, since you state the undesirable artifacts don't always rear their ugly heads, meanign I would need to essentially process twice, print and compare.

How does a sharpening workflow figure into this equation?  I use both TLR Pro Sharpening Toolkit and PixelGenius PK Sharpener.  Where in the process you outline are you applying Creative Sharpening?

Thanks!

Tim
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Jack Flesher

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2006, 11:11:28 am »

I don't think you need to process twice and compare each image, but rather develop a workflow that works for you.  For me, the difference between the two methods is insignificant when each are optimised -- and by insignificant I mean you'll never see these differences in a print.  However, you will (or at least might) see the highlight artifacts like I pointed out so I would do everything to avoid them.  So for me, I simply do all my sizing (up or down) in CS from a 100% raw conversion.

I don't apply creative sharpening.  I apply capture sharpening during the conversion phase, I then apply a general optimized sharpening specifically to bring out detail.  I then optionally add a final output sharpening if/when needed.
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Jack
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skid00skid00

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2006, 07:44:02 pm »

I prefer upsizing in ACR to methods inside PS.  I get better looking prints.
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John Sheehy

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2006, 09:08:10 pm »

Quote
Also, up-sampling in ACR can be coordinated with the Detail tab:  Color Noise Reduction, Luminance Smoothing and maybe a very little bit Sharpening … everything applied at a very early stage of the data pipeline; at linear gamma and before the notorious S-curve enhances pixel-contrast / noise … afaik.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=69044\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I haven't really tested it, but I've thought that maybe the chromatic aberration controls should work better at a higher resolution in ACR.
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PeterLange

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2006, 02:48:01 pm »

Quote
I haven't really tested it, but I've thought that maybe the chromatic aberration controls should work better at a higher resolution in ACR.
You could be right. The chromatic aberration corrections are reported to be applied among the first, in the native camera space before any conversion.

Provided that the up-sampled image already exists at this stage, it would have to come directly from Bayer interpolation.  It’s just an assumption, but somehow a nice idea that Adobe engineers could have bundled both interpolations (demosaicing + up-sampling).

Peter

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Dennis

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ACR Upsize vs PS Bicubic Smoother
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2006, 03:40:00 am »

Since I had sometimes bad artifacts, when upressing images in ACR (don't remeber which camera) - AFAIR with graphical subjects like signs or text, I don't do any scaling in ACR.
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Best Regards

Dennis.
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