Question on sharpening in PS (described in Jeff Schewe’s 'The Digital Print').

[coldey]

Hi Guys,

I have a question regarding the sharpening routine which appears in Jeff Schewe’s excellent 'The Digital Print'.
In the Section ‘Output sharpening in Photoshop’ Jeff describes a routine for sharpening an image at 360ppi for ink-jet printing on a new layer, using these steps:

1/ USM: Amount 100, Radius 3.6, Threshold 10
2/ Edit> Fade USM at 100%, with Blend Mode sent to Luminosity
3/ Layer set to Overlay, High Pass filter 3.6
4/ Blend If sliders: This Layer 10/60 & 200/250

While I completely understand Jeff’s explanation and the use of Bruce Fraser’s formula, in coming up with these figures, it did seem different to the routine that I had been using for sharpening (at 300ppi for ink-jet printing) that originally came from another one of Jeff & Bruce’s books; 'Real World Image Sharpening':

1/ USM: Amount 320, Radius 0.6, Threshold 4
2/ Edit> Fade USM at 70%, with Blend Mode sent to Luminosity
3/ Layer set to Overlay with Opacity of 50%, High Pass filter 0.6
4/ Blend If sliders: This Layer 10/30 & 230/250

Since output sharpening is ‘specific’ to the output process itself (and less about the individual image’s characteristics), I wondered if someone could explain the use of a different routine and if it is, essentially, just a different way of achieving a similar result?

[Schewe]

Well, I've been a bit tied up..but in answer to your questions, have you actually tested the various numbers? Everything will be image dependent and the "output sharpening" really depends on the capture & creative sharpening, I really can't give an answer other than in general, most recent is usually the best (hint, hint).

[coldey]

Thanks for your reply Jeff.

The question was assuming that capture sharpening (& if necessary, creative sharpening), tonal and color adjustments, soft-proofing and re-sampling etc had been applied correctly based on the individual images characteristics, allowing the output sharpening to be geared towards the process being used to print the image...in this case ink-jet at 360ppi on an Epson.

When i get a chance, i will do both an onscreen & a print comparison to see if i can determine any noticeable differences...but was just curious if both methods essentially led to the same outcome? 

Chris

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Thanks for your reply Jeff.

The question was assuming that capture sharpening (& if necessary, creative sharpening), tonal and color adjustments, soft-proofing and re-sampling etc had been applied correctly based on the individual images characteristics, allowing the output sharpening to be geared towards the process being used to print the image...in this case ink-jet at 360ppi on an Epson.

When i get a chance, i will do both an onscreen & a print comparison to see if i can determine any noticeable differences...but was just curious if both methods essentially led to the same outcome?

Hi Chris,

With such different settings, I doubt whether the results will be the same.

In fact it seems more subjective than anything else. In that case, and because you asked for an alternative routine, I'd prefer something that will really make my images rock, like Topaz Detail, which will totally avoid all the potential halo artifacts that the Photoshop Blend-if controls attempt to hide. It is an extremely powerful plugin, usable for both Creative sharpening and output sharpening.

Cheers,
Bart

[coldey]

Hi Bart,

Never tried the plug-in you mention (only ever used the trial version of Photokit Sharpener), but will take a look at it...thanks for the tip.

Chris

[Jimbo57]

Thanks for posting this very interesting thread, Coldey.

In the past I have tended to print from the Lightroom Print Module as I found the results noticeably better than I could achieve in Photoshop.

On reading your post and checking what Jeff actually said in my copy of "The Digital Print", I decided to do an experiment. I had just a couple of days earlier, printed an exhibition print using my normal LR method (and an Epson R3000). So I took the file into CS6 and applied the "formula" you began the post with.

Hey! I seriously cannot tell the difference between my LR print and my CS6-sharpened print. For me, that is real progress.

Makes me wonder if Adobe have used Jeff's wisdom when designing the Print Module sharpening in Lightroom?

[Schewe]

Makes me wonder if Adobe have used Jeff's wisdom when designing the Print Module sharpening in Lightroom?

Actually, yes...I worked with several engineers to arrive at the output sharpening in LR as well as licensing PixelGenius' PhotoKit Sharpener (the inkjet & screen) to Adobe for output sharpening.