Output Sharpening Web (full size)

[PBC]

Hi

I am moving my website to Smugmug and it is recommended that images should be uploaded at full size JPEGs to allow different display resolutions and allowing prints to be produced from the the images (not sure about this bit yet, but!)

Normally I web sharpen using TKActions Panel v5's Web Sharpener, but this is when I am resizing the image down.  What I am wondering is what is the best way to output sharpen for Web when the image isn't being resized ?   Do people recommend exporting in LR or a sharpening approach is PS ?

Appreciate any advice

Thanks

Phil

[Mark D Segal]

I find Output Sharpening in LR's Web module, or Photokit Sharpener 2 plugin used in Photoshop work fine for producing properly sharpened web photos.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi

I am moving my website to Smugmug and it is recommended that images should be uploaded at full size JPEGs to allow different display resolutions and allowing prints to be produced from the the images (not sure about this bit yet, but!)

Normally I web sharpen using TKActions Panel v5's Web Sharpener, but this is when I am resizing the image down.  What I am wondering is what is the best way to output sharpen for Web when the image isn't being resized ?   Do people recommend exporting in LR or a sharpening approach is PS ?

Hi Phil,

If someone else, like Smugmug, is going to resample the image (at different scales), it's probably better if you do relatively little output sharpening on your large source image. Any sharpening you do, may increase the chance of aliasing artifacts being created by their downsampling algorithms. Only if they also offer an "Original size" option, you could optimize for that size, but with some restraint.

Maybe you can ask if they apply any sharpening after resampling (hint: they should). If they do, you could even add a tiny bit of blur to the source image, depending on how well their sharpening algorithms respond to that.

If you have very good output sharpening skills/tools, you could apply them to the full size source image, because they will probably not create significant issues downstream, but a lot depends on what happens during and after resampling.

Cheers,
Bart

[PBC]

Hi Bart - yes they do sharpen.  According to their site....

SmugMug uses the Lanczos algorithm to make display copies because it preserves the most detail. It is not often seen in software like Photoshop because it is CPU-intensive.  Any time an image is downsampled (to go from your original to SmugMug's large display size, for example), the image loses sharpness. The usual way to restore sharpness is to apply unsharp mask. A typical value, and Photoshop's default, is 50%. By default SmugMug applies only 20% (0.20) because Lanczos does not lose as much sharpness when resizing.

So I think I can upload without any output sharpening (I think!)

Phil

[Mark D Segal]

Good thought Bart - one wouldn't want uncontrolled sharpening on top of sharpening; and Phil - yes, in both LR and PS one can create web galleries without applying output sharpening.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi Bart - yes they do sharpen.  According to their site....

SmugMug uses the Lanczos algorithm to make display copies because it preserves the most detail.

That's a good start, although on some image detail that can cause some mild 'ringing' artifacts (depending on which flavor of Lanczos filtering they use).

It is not often seen in software like Photoshop because it is CPU-intensive.  Any time an image is downsampled (to go from your original to SmugMug's large display size, for example), the image loses sharpness. The usual way to restore sharpness is to apply unsharp mask. A typical value, and Photoshop's default, is 50%. By default SmugMug applies only 20% (0.20) because Lanczos does not lose as much sharpness when resizing.

Yes, that seems like a sensible approach.

So I think I can upload without any output sharpening (I think!)

Correct, or when your subjects benefit from it, you could apply some sharpening while using a "blend-if" sharpening layer (see attached). The benefit of that is that it gradually tapers off the sharpening in regions that are already very high contrast, and those are typically the regions where the Lanczos family of filters could create some visible ringing. I don't know if a trip through Photoshop for this is practical for your workflow, but it's something I always use.

Cheers,
Bart

[PBC]

Thanks Bart - I will give the "Blend-if" a try - all my images are finished in Photoshop, so it fits into the workflow nicely

Phil