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Over-sharpening
I find too many photographers oversharpening their images. Is it because you don't know how to sharpen them correctly? Or do you just not notice? Or notice but don't care since it's just a jpeg anyway? Please explain this phenomenon to me. Aug 14 06 03:42 am Link Photoshop puts something in the program that makes you want to go back and over sharpen, its like Starbarks putting that stuff in the coffee that makes you go back and pay $5 for a cup of crushed ice called frapuchino. Aug 14 06 04:34 am Link When shooting a face or skin the last thing to do is sharpen at all, with one exception. Sharpening, even in moderation (moderation being something that those not truely experienced in Photoshop always overdo) is a disaster on skin. Sharpening can be wonderful for details in landscapes, but is to be avoided at all costs on skin. For example, sharpening simply makes skin, whether the face, legs, arms, etc. look like sandpaper. The MUA, or model, as the case may be, has just spent considerable time and enery to male the face look the opposite of sandpaper. If you want detail in an article of clothing, an accessory or hair, then make a very careful (and somewhat time consuming) adjustment in Photoshop, and just sharpen that portion of an image. Always make the adjustment on a separate layer to preserve the oriiginal image. The one are of oversharpening is the colored portion of the eyes. Take a look at my MM postings. On the eyes I do the following: 1. Adjust tonality with Curves; 2. Whiten the whites; 3. OVersharpen just the colored portion of the eye; and 4. Sometimes give a very modest (i.e. never over 10 or 12, and usually less) saturation boost just to the colored protion of the eyes. Each of those adjustments is done on separate layers to preserve the original image. Also, if overdone, I not only can simply delete that layer, but also, I have the option to just separately adjust the opacity of the the one troublesome layer. Photoshop is a wonderful and amazingly powerful creative tool. However, it does have a long and steep learinging curve, and the person doing it must understand the consequences of a given adjustment. I hope that this information helps both photographers and models. Aug 14 06 06:30 am Link Christopher... dude, your avatar is more than a mite overprocessed doncha think for you to be discussing oversharpening? Aug 14 06 06:32 am Link one of my pet peeves. there are a buncha threads on this topic. my guess... 'they' do it cause they can, and cause its supposed to be hip, along with over-saturation and way contrasty images (read 0 midtones)... Aug 14 06 06:35 am Link It's called Nik Pic Sharpener Pro... You can selectively sharpen or soften jps or raw files... I use it and love it! Aug 14 06 06:37 am Link Old Guy: It is most deliberately overdone, and then some, high key via a Curves adjustment. Look at the classic Andy Warhol "Marilyn" image. It is very, very similiar. I do some representational shoots, and like to play with non-representational too. Aug 14 06 06:39 am Link What do you mean? There's no oversharpening here.  Actually, aside from maxing the thing out entirely, I kinda started to like the effect. Its almost like some kind of comic. Its gone beyond sharpening into something like a cartoon or poster effect. I'll have to remember that. ;^p Aug 14 06 06:50 am Link Miss Anya wrote: it's just ignorance... Aug 14 06 06:55 am Link 
Photographer Posts: 468 Dumont d'Urville - permanent station of France, Sector claimed by France, Antarctica In a way it is ignorance, but Photoshop encourages oversharpening by the way it is calibrated. When I use it (I use smart sharpening rather than unsharp mask), I never go more than a 2 on the radius scale. Usually I'm between 1.3 and 2. And that's on a scale of what? 100 or more? In other words, the scale is way out of proportion relative to how I use sharpening. Aug 14 06 07:04 am Link Non Sequitor..... Why do some prefer blondes? Because! Aug 14 06 07:06 am Link I use a sharpening tool called a prime lens. -PKD Aug 14 06 07:07 am Link That's why I like my 20D , if you are shooting closeups of the skin , it shoots the skin so soft and is right on without any adjustment. My D60 its used to show the model how make up cakes up in the pores LOL (had to go in the camera's adjustments and soften it. Aug 14 06 07:10 am Link Neil A wrote: The scale is in pixels. Smart sharpen maxes out at 64, with USM maximum being 250 (in CS2). Miss Anya wrote: Two things which make it more difficult to sharpen for the web are that the output "resolution" (PPI/DPI) isn't fixed, and the sharpness of the media isn't fixed (CRT vs LCD). Some people are running at 50-60 PPI (600x800 on a 20" screen), while others might be at 120 PPI (1600x1200 on a 17" screen). Combined with the difference in apparent sharpness from an LCD to CRT, this can be a significant difference--an image that's properly sharpened for one of those might be soft or oversharpened on another. Aug 14 06 11:44 am Link if, for some reason, I feel compelled to sharpen something... 1. Copy the layer 2. Apply a high pass filter around 4 pixels... or more... or less 3. set the high pass layer to soft light or hard light and adjust the opacity to taste. In general I'm just not a fan of sharpening, though like any tool, it has its place. Aug 14 06 12:23 pm Link There are other topics? I searched, but couldn't find any. Thanks for the lessons in Photoshop.... Hehe, I was just btching about something that annoys me greatly..... and kind of hoping that those who do it would realize they're doing it and STOP! So maybe they can use the photoshop advice, cause they need to quit it. Yeah, I'll shut up. Aug 14 06 12:44 pm Link |
