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View Full Version : Sharpening for the web... how much is too much?



Philippe Collard
05-27-2008, 07:09 PM
Greetings everyone,

I am requesting your help because lately I have had a few comments saying that my images were oversharpened. I must say that I recently acquired a 1dMKII and a 500mm f/4.5L so I probably have to make a few adjustments on my workflow which was - I think - fine when I had was using a 20D and a 300mm f/4L.

I won't bore you with the whole workflow so as far as sharpening is concerned here is what I do.

1. DPP conversion : sharpness at 4 or 5 (on a scale of 10). Please see below for a 100% of a TIFF sample. Don't look at the noise, I realise it's not the cleanest file to start with but that's a good example of what I call an OK image that I'll keep.

2. Prepare for the web. I use an action from "the other site" that goes : fit image (1200 px) -> filter sharpen (the one without parameter) -> fit image (750 px) -> filter smart sharpen (40% radius 0.2) -> save for the web. Please see the final web image below, one that got a comment as being oversharpened.

Am I doing something wrong? What do you think of this sharpening method? I would be quite interested in hearing how you do it, or some good advice, please :)

Thanks and best,

Philippe.

100% crop
http://www.pbase.com/ocean7/image/97744061.jpg

Final image for web presentation
http://www.pbase.com/ocean7/image/97737653.jpg

Ian McHenry
05-27-2008, 08:45 PM
I too have been guilty on occasions of oversharpening so as this is the last part of the edit I do sharpened comparisons and if in doubt go for the least sharpened image.
Have noticed lately that application of Noise Ninja noise reduction has the added effect of sharpening image so further sharpening might not enhance image further.
Think it's always good to compare pre posted image with original to see if anything looks overcooked !!!
Ian Mc

Robert O'Toole
05-27-2008, 10:13 PM
The problem isnt the method or the amounts but more how the sharpening is applied. A pass of global sharpening on top of the sharpening in RAW conversion is too much. I would recommend some sharpening after the resize then in the last step, sharpen only the face, bill and feather details as needed. Staying away from global sharpening as much as possible is the best plan to avoid artifacts. And also run NR on the BG first before curves, or sharpening. Sharpening a noisey image can create huge problems with artifacts.

Robert

Fabs Forns
05-27-2008, 10:27 PM
Also train your eyes to see over sharpening. When some of the feathers around the face and the chest area look "frozen" and the details in the perch are really crisp, it's overdone!
If you sharpen the TIFF file, or your master file, chances are you'll easily overdo your small for web copy.
I use a plugin capture sharpener, and sometimes all I need to apply is 0.1 pixels at radius, otherwise I'll freeze the image. And I routinely mask the unimportant elements at this stage of web sharpening.