Do you understand the implications of parametric adjustments?
Yes Jeff, but thanks for your concern.
If you did you would realize the complexity of changing local control channel parameters...would I like different local adjustment parameters?
Of course it's complex, that's why the engineers get paid good salaries, to try and solve it. But using the complexity as an excuse also suggests that its functionality is currently sub-optimal, which is indeed what I said earlier.
Yes...do you have explicit use case examples where there is a clear advantage? If you do, bring them forward...Eric and Thomas are always willing to listen if you know how to speak to them.
I'm a bit surprised that you'd have to ask me for examples if/where Creative sharpening requires even different settings than Capture sharpening. It's one of the main topics of Bruce Fraser's Real World Image Sharpening book, which you co-authored. If Capture sharpening didn't require different settings, then why separate them in the first place.
I fully agree that they require a different approach, in fact they require different methods/algorithms to tackle the issue.
Capture sharpening requires deconvolution sharpening, because the Capture blur is characterized by a somewhat predictable hardware induced Point Spread Function (PSF) that lends itself for deconvolution very well. The common challenge with that approach is in separating signal from noise, and in avoiding ringing/halo artifacts.
Creative 'sharpening' on the other hand has more to do with boosting/attenuating specific spatial frequencies, and adjusting local contrast. That would be more logically approached by a simple USM or High-pass type of spatial domain adjustment, although the modern approaches use more computationally efficient frequency domain adjustments based on Wavelet conversions to address different feature sizes, and Adaptive Bi-lateral filtering to avoid edge halos. Here, also a lot of care must be taken to avoid perceptually unconvincing shifts in color/saturation which can occur when the local brightness levels are changed significantly.
Suggesting that Creative sharpening can be done well by only boosting the local amount of Capture sharpening, is silly. Yes, it's more complex to do in a parametric editor but, no, it is not good enough as it is currently implemented.
Cheers,
Bart
P.S. This also reminded me of a quote from a
famous inspirational speech: "We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard"
-John F. Kennedy, Rice University, Sept. 12, 1962