Cropping shouldn't directly lead to unsharp images. Upressing may lead to a noticeable loss of detail - look at one of Michael's Madagascar images on the road - so you may be are doing more than you think when cropping.
Perhaps you could run through your typical process.
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for the suggestion. I think you're right - my workflow is just what I've cobbled together from taking bits and pieces of what I've read on various sites. I'm not convinced it's the "right" workflow. I'm probably doing something to clobber the images.
I've managed to get them to look "ok" but definitely nowhere near how I want them to look.
What I've put together so far is something like this:
1. load the raw file [question here of what dpi I should use reading the file. Default from my D70 in ACR is 72. Default for the D300 is 240. I need to end up with 360 for printing on the Epson 3800.]
2. Some combination of edits, usually Levels, Curves, etc in PS CS3. My goal (which I rarely achieve so far) is to (as they say) "make the image really pop". So I increase saturation (but only by a tiny bit from the D300, more from the D70), and use Curves to increase contrast.
3. I typically want to end up with an "edited" file that I can then later use for various print sizes, say 11x14 and 8x10. So at this point I save the edited file in a "edited-not-sized" directory.
4. Then for each size print I want I do something like this:
5. Load the edited-not-sized file into PS CS3.
6. [this is a step I have just refined based on a tutorial on [a href=\"http://www.lynda.com]http://www.lynda.com[/url]. In Image Size dialog, turn resample off, then change PPI to 360, and OK.
7. Then in Image Size dialog again, turn re-sample on, and set the right dimension for the shortest side of the image (e.g. "8"). That results in something that's 8" wide, but longer than 10". For this step I use Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement) because the image size I want is usually greater than what's displayed in the Image Size dialog box.
10. Then go to the crop tool, and set dimensions of 8x10, set Resolution to 360, and crop. My PS default Image Interpolation setting is set for Bicubic Sharper (best for reduction) since at this point I'm actually reducing.
11. Then use Unsharp Mask, usually around 100%, radius 3 [honestly I'm not really sure what's right here, but these are values I picked up somewhere in a tutorial]. I've also used radius 1, and %'s varying from about 50 to 120].
12. Then I save & print the file. In the print dialog I use 2880x1440dpi, no color adjustment, Photoshop manages colors, the profile for the paper I'm using, and Rendering Intent: Perceptual, and uncheck Black Point Compensation.
I've hesitated to post this here becuase I suspect there probably as many different workflows as there are photographers (and because I am not sure this flow even makes sense .