sharpness setting in camera - on or off?

[wulf]

I love the way you've presented your tests. I notice you've used fairly large blur radii for what is quite a small image so here are some more options. The five zones are:

1. Original

2. Both 2px and 5px overlays applied.

3. 5px blur in grain extract mode

4. 2px blur in grain extract mode (intensified)

5. 2px blur in grain extract mode

#4 needs some further comment. I tend to use a small blur radius, which concentrates on the details. To get a more intense effect, I use one of two approaches. One is to overlay multiple copies (or versions with different levels of blur on the grain extract level). The other is to use the curves tool to intensify the overlay layer. What I like about this is that I can make the dark sections darker while not extending the light areas too much, thus avoiding the halo effect that often mars sharpening.

Wulf

[tmphillips]

Thanks Wulf! That's some more good stuff! I am curious if I am understanding you correctly though...

With #2, are you saying you have the net result of a 7px Gaussian blur overlayed? I think that makes sense because what I noticed in my test was that the more pixels GB'd the darker the areas became, so this area is good to darken a bit more to lead to the subject, right? Or am I off in left field by now?

And so with #4, are you saying it could be treated this way so the area around the girl can be darkened while not messing with her too much? (My approach to this before in the processing was to do some layer masks to screen just the girl to brighten her and overlay the other areas with her masked out.. )

And are you treating areas #4 and #5 differently because with #4 we're dealing with the area of the face?

[Boohah]

My default setting for sharpening in PS unsharp mask. Set amaount to 150% and radius of 0.3 pixels.

Overall this seems to give the most consistent effect.

Also I resize my image before I add any sharpening.

[wulf]

For #2, it isn't a net blur of 7px. I've combined the two versions to dial in a more subtle effect. Take a look at this:



#1 - original

#2 - 2px blur

#3 - 5px blur

#4 - 7px blur

#5 - 2px blur overlaid with a translucent 5px blur layer (opacity c. 50%)

The last one is typical of the type of overlay layer I will use. By creating a couple of options and then adjusting the translucency, I get a lot more control over the effect. I will typically do this in overlay mode so I can see the effect on the image and judge by eye.

What I like about this technique is the subtlety - achieved because the sharpening overlay is created from the image itself. You can of course use layer masks to apply it more in some areas than others. Another trick is to duplicate one or more of the overlay layers to make the effect more intense.

Wulf

ps. if the image were bigger, I would use a larger blur radius - I often try several and then see what works best for the subject matter.

[tmphillips]

Wulf, that is some super cool stuff. I really appreciate it..