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What Are You Using to Sharpen Images Now Days?

G

gurtch

Well-known member
I am an old timer, and I just upgraded the Graphics Card on my 13 year old PC to be able to run Photoshop 2024. I also have Photoshop CS5 and CS6 on my PC because of classic (no longer supported) Plug Ins and Filters. Presently to Sharpen, I use Photokit Capture Sharpener 2, then before printing I use Photokit Output Sharpener 2. I still have 1/2 of a lifetime on old negatives, so the Capture Sharpener is very handy for that. Capture Sharpener includes Digital High, Medium, and Low Res Capture . Film Capture includes 4x5, 6x6 and 35mm, both color neg and B&W. The Output Sharpening includes Contone, Inkjet, Halftone and Web/Multimedia. Since the program is so old, I imagine what was considered "High Res Digital" is now low res. Regardless, I always select Hi Res, as I always had cutting edge latest and greatest digital cameras. When I want to up res from old negatives or digital files, I use a plug-in called "Alien Skin Blow Up 2". With my latest and greatest cameras (GFX 100S and Sony A7R4) I rarely need to up res anymore (except possibly 35mm to 20"x24" print size). So, just curious what you folks are using, since my Plug Ins are very old. Maybe there is something better, or easier. The only catch is all my RAW files are filed with "UNSHARPENED" as part of the file name and number I use, so I will not "Capture Sharpen" twice. This is a great group of very savvy folks that are very willing to help and share. By the way my 13 year old Pc has been upgraded by adding RAM to 32GB, replacing the two spinning hard drives to two SSD drives--1/2TB and 2 TB, Windows 7 to 10 upgrade, and a brand new Video Card. Photoshop 2024 Gave me an "incompatible graphics card" warning at startup. It no longer does that and flies along!

Thanks

Dave in NJ
 
MGrayson

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
I'm in the minority, but I prefer the softer look of an unsharpened (well, default sharpened) image - especially high resolution ones. I'll use clarity for low-frequency contrast enhancement, but very seldom feel the need for more high-frequency detail.

(Topaz Sharpen AI does a good job. You didn't hear it from me. :LOL: )
 
J

John Black

Active member
Topaz Sharpen AI can go too far very quickly. I use it, always experimenting with the settings per image. Before applying, I duplicate the layer. Then I feather in the sharpening as needed in the target areas. Always spot check it at 200-400% because it can add unforeseen artifacts.

On monochrome images, it will add colored pixels. I create a saturation layer, set saturation to -100% and put the layer blend mode to "color", then merge it down. That zaps any color Topaz "created". On color images, this hasn't been a problem.

I use Photoshop's "smart sharpen" when creating jpegs for the web. I apply it, then fade it 50% or more. It's another one that can go a bit too far, too fast. YMMV.

My main niggle with Topaz Sharpen AI, they haven't updated it in a year or more. Surely it could benefit with an update. It's supposedly AI, so they capped its learning?
 
tenmangu81

tenmangu81

Well-known member
Most often I don't sharpen my images. Unless I am faced with a "motion blur" (I don't have IBIS on my X1D II) for a picture I am fond of. When needed, I try first with "clarity" in Lightroom, then "sharpen" in Lightroom, and if neither works, I carefully use Topaz Sharpen AI. It's about less than 1% of my pictures, though.
 
F

Fredrick

Well-known member
I find that Smart Sharpen in photoshop produces the best results. Even better than topaz sharpen AI.
 
f6cvalkyrie

f6cvalkyrie

Well-known member
For me, generally no extra sharpening.
If absolutely needed, then some selective "structure" on a layer, just there where needed.
I'm using Capture One Pro ...

Stay safe,
Rafael
 
MGrayson

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
I can never resist trying it out on a random photo.

Here's the full frame, OOC with LR defaults. X2D, XCD 25P


And a 640x800 crop of the same. Note: These crops appear *larger* than 1:1 on my laptop. As such, there are some weird artifacts that you don't see if you click through. Sigh...


Here's with Topaz AI - all defaults


And PS Smart Sharpen - all defaults


I was going to make this a "beware of default parameters" post, but I could NOT get rid of the halos with any Smart Sharpen setting. OTOH, if you turn off Topaz AI's auto-select, you get a plasticky mess.

I strongly suspect that different tools work better on different images, and that @John Black's "make it a layer in PS and brush it in where helpful" is the best idea.

Matt

As for AI, or more accurately, ML, or even more accurately, gigantic million-parameter nonlinear filter. I wonder what they use as a training set? You need sharp *and* blurred images of the same thing. If blurs are just applied to a zillion sharp photos in software and then removed, then I'm much less impressed with the idea. So how DO they train it?
 
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MGrayson

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Fredrick said:
Those halos seems to have more to do with the lens than any sharpening…
Click to expand...
So where DO those halos come from? I mean, this is a new lens, and if there's one thing that modern lenses can do, it's contrast. So I didn't think it was the lens's fault. Let's look closer. REAL close, like 1600%.

Here's what I sent over to PS and Topaz for sharpening.


Lo and behold! it has a halo.

Here's what PS Smart Sharpen did to that


So it was just doing its job. The culprit? LR's defaults! Here it is with LR sharpening turned off.


No halos! And here's what SS did with that


So still a bit visible, but nothing like it was before. Moral of the story? Don't be an idiot like me. Turn off all sharpening BEFORE you send the image off to be sharpened.

Topaz decided to do almost nothing with the unsharpened input. If I forced it to process everywhere, I got a plasticky mess. I changed the model to "Too Soft" and it did an understated job - but it introduced color fringes!


Oh hell, here's PS high-pass soft-light.


and lest you think it did nothing (it kinda looks like it did nothing), here is the difference with the LR original - lifted 10 stops, which is a LOT.


The PS Smart Sharpen is even gentler - here's it's difference from the original boosted 10 stops.


No, I don't know what any of this really means. I'll stop now. I promise!

Matt

PS. To drive home the silliness, at this magnification, the image would be ... looks up billboard size ... 50% larger than a billboard and you'd have to be viewing it from 2 feet away.
 
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MGrayson

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
tenmangu81 said:
I ALWAYS turn off sharpening, import or export for sharpening with an other app. Then I apply sharpening only when needed. I think I am right. Right ? :)
Click to expand...
Oh, absolutely! Did I mention that I was an idiot? I forgot to change my LR default to zero sharpening.
 
B

baudolino

Well-known member
I do the same. Sharpen in PS using High Pass, usually with Overlay blend mode. Invert the mask and paint the sharpened layer in where needed. Reduce opacity when the effect is too strong. File size being a disadvantage, with the extra layer.
 
T

TimoK

Active member
MGrayson said:
And PS Smart Sharpen - all defaults


I was going to make this a "beware of default parameters" post, but I could NOT get rid of the halos with any Smart Sharpen setting. OTOH, if you turn off Topaz AI's auto-select, you get a plasticky mess.
Click to expand...
I agree with "beware of default parameters" :cool:

That's so very true with the Smart Sharpening in PS. The default of Smart sharpening is using the Gaussian blur (or it was a couple of years ago when I was still using PS, I don't know how it's today) . That means the same as The Unsharp mask! If you want to benefit of Smart sharpening, use the Lens Blur. Try very small radii ( 0.3 to 0.6 ) with very high amounts ( 100- 300).

Btw. I use very often High Pass Sharpening in Gimp. I think it's easier to manage in Gimp than in Photoshop. But in both of those programs I recommend to make the High Pass layer in Overlay mode and then to look how it works in Hard light or in Soft Light mode. You can also try with less than 100% Opacity. "beware of default parameters"!:eek:
 
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dchew

dchew

Well-known member
I use C1 for capture sharpening, LR for creative/local sharpening and QImage One for print sharpening. For web images, I use LR std output sharpening for Screen. I've never felt like my images needed more than these basic tools.

Dave
 
Godfrey

Godfrey

Well-known member
I prefer to properly focus and expose in-camera, leaving output sharpening only ... to deal with different resolutions/medium requirements on an individual basis. It's rare that I find any input sharpening, given today's high resolution cameras and high quality lenses, actually helps at all.

LR's simple controls are enough for the most part, as are SnapSeed's for when I'm outputting from the iPad or iPhone.
 
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