Paul, Boris ... There are so may techniques to sharpening that to be familiar with only one or two is like only using one or two f-stops on your lens. Boris, I highly recommend that you learn more techniques and become proficient with them. And remember that sharpening usually increases contrast, so plan on that when finalizing the image before the final sharpening. Also, it's not a bad idea to sharpen on a layer rather than the flattened image. You can then adjust the opacity and fill. Also you may want to consider selective sharpening, for example, use a greater degree on the eye, a somewhat lesser degree on the face, and perhaps none for the background. In PS there's a sharpening brush which allows for a lot of additional control as well. Learn your tools. Take your time. Becoming good at it is not something you can "hurry up and do."
I was just talking with one of my printers today, as well as the PS expert at the same lab. They both suggest sharpening at high magnification as Paul suggested. And you have to sharpen based on the final output: Print, web, photograph, or inkjet, and the size of the final result. Shel > [Original Message] > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Date: 4/27/2005 11:08:02 AM > Subject: Re: Boris' workflow (was Concerned) > > It sounds like you have a good grasp of the RAW conversion process. My main suggestion would be to use the Sharpness slider carefully. A setting between 75 and 100 is a lot of sharpening. Blow your image up to 100% or 200% when sharpening to see what it does to the edges and transition areas. I find that I usually can't go above 65 without causing damage and frequently end up in the 50s. You're also applying even more sharpening after conversion. Without a doubt, you're oversharpening. This will tend to significantly reduce the plasticity of the image in that the transition areas will be "notchy" or abrupt. I also think that if you get everything right with exposure, brightness, shadows, and contrast before you convert, you shouldn't often have to fuss with curves or limites. I sometimes add a minor tweak after processing, usually just as a final contrast adjustment with the rgb curve, but most of the time the RAW converter gets it right. Too much is frequently too much.
