Sharpening ?

[PBC]

The one thing I still struggle with is what is the right level of sharpening for an image and how I know if I am sharpening enough / too much / too little.

Can anyone explain, or point me to a good reference, how to recognise when the sharpening is just right?  What are the things that I should be looking for and how do I recognise them when I see them?  Some visual examples would really help as well.

I have viewed and reviewed the Detail section of the LL Video on Lightroom 2, but the light bulb still hasn't gone on for me

I don't think I am lacking the brain power, but I am (and I expect I am not the only one) just not getting this important bit.

Really appreciate the help with this

Phil

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

To begin with, the philosophy in LR is essentially the multi pass sharpening.

1) Capture sharpening compensates for loss of sharpness in capture. Demosaic, AA-filter, etc
2) Creative sharpening to enhance detail, often locally done (LR may not have tools for this)
3) Sharpening for output

Regarding 1) I would suggest the following criteria

1) No visible haloes at 1:1 image size
2) Noise not significantly enhanced
3) Little artifacts

You may sharpen differently depending on subject, try portrait and landscape presets. In general, use small radius and large amount on subjects with fine detail.

With low radius you can have large amount
Detail slider governs "halo suppression" you need to apply some "detail" to see good sharpening
Masking suppresses sharpening on on areas without edges.

Sharpening for output would be by LR defaults, on export or print.

An excellent reference is: "Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom by Bruce Fraser,Jeff Schewe".

You may also check this: http://www.pixelgenius.com/tips/schewe-sharpening.pdf

Best regards
Erik

The one thing I still struggle with is what is the right level of sharpening for an image and how I know if I am sharpening enough / too much / too little.

Can anyone explain, or point me to a good reference, how to recognise when the sharpening is just right?  What are the things that I should be looking for and how do I recognise them when I see them?  Some visual examples would really help as well.

I have viewed and reviewed the Detail section of the LL Video on Lightroom 2, but the light bulb still hasn't gone on for me

I don't think I am lacking the brain power, but I am (and I expect I am not the only one) just not getting this important bit.

Really appreciate the help with this

Phil

[PeterAit]

The one thing I still struggle with is what is the right level of sharpening for an image and how I know if I am sharpening enough / too much / too little.

Can anyone explain, or point me to a good reference, how to recognise when the sharpening is just right?  What are the things that I should be looking for and how do I recognise them when I see them?  Some visual examples would really help as well.

I have viewed and reviewed the Detail section of the LL Video on Lightroom 2, but the light bulb still hasn't gone on for me

I don't think I am lacking the brain power, but I am (and I expect I am not the only one) just not getting this important bit.

Really appreciate the help with this

Phil

You are asking for an objective answer to a subjective question. Sharpening is not a formula with one "correct" answer, it is a technique you can apply to images (or not) as you see fit. Learn the various sharpening techniques (LR's tool, Photoshop's tools, add-ins like PK Sharpener) and decide what YOU like. Don't expect formulaic answers to this type of question.

[Ed Blagden]

No hard and fast answers, basically if it looks OK at 1:1 then it is OK.  The Landscape and Portrait presets in LR are pretty good if you are in a hurry.

What you should avoid is the "crunchy" look you see at 1:1 with an oversharpened image.  One technique you can try is to increase the amount slider until you start to see the crunchy look, and then pull back until it is just gone.

[PBC]

Thanks guys; I understand that it is not an exact science. I suppose what I am struggling with is recognising when the halos are too much (and what these halos actually look like) and when it is too "crunchy".  Maybe I am over worrying about this and I should go simply with what looks OK at 1:1

Phil