Bicubic sharper is a one-size-fits-all operation. During the course of working on many, many photos I've found that in most cases sharpening a pic using any of the other options available in PS provides better results. The size of the final image, the subject matter and amount of detail it contains, and the areas that need sharpening (the entirety of an image does not always need to be sharpened - in fact, it's often an advantage to use selective sharpening), all contribute to determining the best or most appropriate sharpening technique.
It's not a matter of "second guessing." It comes down to taking some time to learn the various sharpening techniques and applying them appropriately. Using bicubic sharper is, IMO, akin to always using auto color, or auto levels. They will all sometimes work, frequently they'll get you real close, but not always will they give the best result. Shel "You meet the nicest people with a Pentax" > [Original Message] > From: graywolf > I would agree with that, Bill. bicubic sharper, and bicubic smoother > seem to hit just the right amount of sharpening or smoothing for the > resized image. Second guessing it does not seem a good idea. That is > great for me because doing it myself I never did quite figure out just > how much was enough. > William Robb wrote: > > > > > Thats the smart sharpen tool in CS2, 1 pixel, 100%, used after > > resizing using bicubic sharper. > > I am thinking that if one uses one, one shouldn't use the other. > >
