Sharpening Software

[rickp1]

Hey guys,
Is there a sharpening program out there that people use, or do people just use whatever their PPing software uses ?

I'm thinking that just like there's a separate program for noise that there might be a program for sharpening and detail enhancement.

R.

[RichardTaylor]

There are a number of them out there, Topaz Labs makes one..

However I just use the ones in my PPing software.
Lightroom for the volume stuff, and CS4 for the individual pics.

[OsmosisStudios]

High Pass filter. Look it up.

[rickp1]

I use all those apps already.

I'll look up the high pass filter. thanks

R.

[dcclark]

I've not found much better that wulf's DIY High Pass filter. Very easy to do in Photoshop or Gimp, and offers a lot of control.

[kencaleno]

High pass filter sharpening,and most methods of unsharp mask sharpening methods,leave white haloes around subject-Here's a way that I use, that eliminates those haloes:

Ctrl+J
Unsharp mask amount 18%
Radius 40 pxls
Threshold 0
Unsharp mask amount 150%
Radius 0.3 pxls
Threshold 0
Edit> fade Unsharp mask 100% Darken
Unsharp mask amount 150%
Radius 0.3 pxls
Threshold 0
Edit> fade Unsharp mask 50% Lighten
Flatten and save

[BCampbell]

I tend to edit for print rather than for web, which is less forgiving of sharpening. If I do any sharpening at all it's extremely light. I find the Unsharp Mask filter in GIMP to work fine ath the low levels I need, without any of the haloing ken mentions (that's really when you know you're overdoing it). The G'MIC plugin for GIMP has some good sharpening tools too.

[statichash]

I use Noise Ninja it's pretty good.

Noise Ninja: The gold standard for image noise reduction

Cheers!

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by kencaleno

High pass filter sharpening,and most methods of unsharp mask sharpening methods,leave white haloes around subject-Here's a way that I use, that eliminates those haloes:

Ctrl+J
Unsharp mask amount 18%
Radius 40 pxls
Threshold 0
Unsharp mask amount 150%
Radius 0.3 pxls
Threshold 0
Edit> fade Unsharp mask 100% Darken
Unsharp mask amount 150%
Radius 0.3 pxls
Threshold 0
Edit> fade Unsharp mask 50% Lighten
Flatten and save

WHile Unsharp Mask can often leave haloes, when High pass is done PROPERLY, it doesnt at all. Your numbers are also misleading: the same numbers may work for one image but not another.

[teaking]

Wulf's technique is brilliant!!! simple and effective.

I have found a slight variation on hes technique using the same approach, Duplicating your layer twice setting the top one to grain extract but instead of using gausian blur using selective gausian blur defines the edges slightyle better and gives more control over the filter and seems to cause less halos in the filte.... in some cases its a bad thing as it gives a super sharp almost 3d look.

As for the topic lol its more of a question of do you see the extra step of seperate software as an advantage that out weighs the time spent opposed to the quicker ways that still give good results?