I'm joining the discussion late (I'm very busy these days). Lots of good points were made before, and I also think that you are way over thinking this and maybe you don't have the right tools. As I understand you are using Linux, take a look at http://www.darktable.org/ or http://rawtherapee.com/ and ... I really don't like Gimp but can't suggest anything better.
Don't stress that much over sharpness, your eyes are the best "tools" to pick a sharp image. Look at 100% magnification. If you want the absolute best sharpness achievable after processing, get a copy of "Real World Image Sharpening" by Bruce Faser. Gimp also has unsharp mask and smart sharpening, probably not exactly the same as Photoshop, but the idea behind the tools are the same. With such a scene you have to decide if you are exposing for the highlights or the shadows, or try HDR. Usually since this is a sunset I'd expose for the sky and leave the rest as a silhouette like this: http://500px.com/photo/43233840 Happy new year! -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
