Mountain Meadow

[dwservingHim]

Hey, I took this shot today and am fairly pleased with it as a photo. I experimented putting it in black and white and liked the look. My main questions pertain to post processing. How do I get it to be that professional look as far as sharpness and yet smoothness. My pictures always look like they could be sharper, but when I sharpen them it's as if it's pixilating it somewhat due to the way sharpening works. How do professionals get it to that "finished" look. If you have critiques as to ANY element of the photo please say them. I want to learn. Thanks

[flytyer57]

It looks like you are overdoing the sharpness slider a bit too much.

To get that professional look, it usually takes a good quality lens. I've found my kit lenses to be of inferior quality. They don't produse that professional crispness that you refer to. I cannot afford to buy a $800+ lens so I deal with what I got and I like a lot of what I take.

[dwservingHim]

Ok, thanks that helps. Yes, I'm still using my kit lens too.
Also, for others who may wonder about my metadata:

Shutter: 1/60
ISO: 200
Apt: f/25

[milosh]

First of all, try to stay away from apertures smaller than f16 (because beyond that diffraction impairs image quality) and keep your camera at ISO 100.

The amount of sharpening needed for a specific image depends on several factors: viewing distance, amount of fine detail in the image and output medium (screen/web or print).
In order to get consistent results when sharpening for web, I have found that it's best to sharpen the image size that you're going to display. Get all the post-processing done (everything except sharpening) on full res. file and preferably in 16 bits, save the file, then convert the file to 8 bits, and resize it for web display.
You may find that some photos look better when they're not resized too much, that depends on amount of fine detail.
I resize almost all of my photos (for Flickr) to 1000 pix. on the longer side.

Once you resize the file, display it at 100% magnification and then sharpen it. Vary the amount of sharpening up and down, looking closely at different areas of the image, to get the feel how much is needed for different areas. Sometimes you will find that applying equal amount of sharpening to the whole image works great, but most of the time you will find that some areas need more and some less. In that case, add a blank layer mask to the sharpening layer and using the brush, carefully mask the areas that need less sharpening.

Basically, it comes down to trial and error approach, since every photo is different. IMO, the most important aspect of it is to sharpen the final (the output) resolution, because if you sharpen the full-res. file and then resize it, it's not going to be as good.

In the photo you presented here, you have a lot of detail and criss-crossed lines in the grass, which need very light sharpening. If you over-sharpen it (like you did), it will look edgy and too noticeable.

[dwservingHim]

Ok, that's really helpful. Thanks. Can you slightly explain what you said about not going about f/16? For landscapes don't you want the maximum depth of field? So what you said is new to me, please slightly explain. Thanks

[Doug Sundseth]

Small apertures can cause sharpness to be diffraction limited. That is, with very small apertures, you will get less sharpness in in-focus areas than you would get in in-focus areas at larger apertures.

That said, DoF can be an issue at larger apertures, so it's a trade-off (like most things in photography). There's no reason to fear small apertures, but it's something to bear in mind when making choices.

[dwservingHim]

Interesting. Thanks, I will keep that in mind.

[Lonewolfjustin]

On diffraction this might help:
Diffraction

I always thought like you, for landscape to make the aperture as small as possible. But like Ken Rockwell says, if you go too small it is like looking though your eyes while squinting.

[dwservingHim]

Thank you. That article did help me to understand it better. Thank you.

[andrewdt]

On your kit lens you will find that at about f11-f16 (depending on make and other factors) it will be sharpest with maximum dof. Any smaller aperture and it starts going soft. That is just how it is with lenses, so although you have the theory right about smaller aperture = greater dof, in the practical world there is this curveball.