Smart Sharpen, what are your suggested settings.

[Fred Woodman]

For those who use Smart Sharpen , generically speaking where do you like to set your sliders.?

[Don Lacy]

It depends on the image any where from a radius of .03 to .07 and amount form 50 to a 100. It really is image dependent and on some instances I might mask in different values on the same image.

[Fred Woodman]

It depends on the image any where from a radius of .03 to .07 and amount form 50 to a 100. It really is image dependent and on some instances I might mask in different values on the same image.

This why I asked Don, thanks for response. I have read that some will do a low radius ( .2 or .4) and a High amount( 200, 300, 400) then do another with a higher radius .5-1 and and low amount 50-100. But I haven't been able to find anything with respect to Avian. Add to that I come from Lightroom 5 where I have tried sharpening and no sharpening until I get into PS CC. It has me scratching my head ! was just wondering how Members here approach it ? Thx.

[Diane Miller]

View the image at 100% and set the sliders to give the desired result. Each image will vary to some extent, and the settings will vary with the image size, with a small JPEG requiring a much smaller radius, for instance.

The high radius and low amount thing, also commonly used with Unsharp Mask, is a midtone contrast adjustment, similar to Clarity in LR/ACR.

Be very careful about over sharpening on a master file, as artifacts can creep in when you resize for output.

[Fred Woodman]

View the image at 100% and set the sliders to give the desired result. Each image will vary to some extent, and the settings will vary with the image size, with a small JPEG requiring a much smaller radius, for instance.

The high radius and low amount thing, also commonly used with Unsharp Mask, is a midtone contrast adjustment, similar to Clarity in LR/ACR.

Be very careful about over sharpening on a master file, as artifacts can creep in when you resize for output.

Thx Diane , my files would be dng files being imported from Lr typically around 20 mb. I usually save a copy of the original dng edited in LR, and export a copy to PS CC.I then save my PScc copy back to LR export the resize it. While my screen is calibrated with still only a 15 Mac Book pro so Im thinking thats not helping. I am not seeing big differences in doing some sharpening pre PS in LR ( around 40) and exporting 0 and doing all the sharpening in PS. ? NR is am doing in LR before going to PS.Just wondering if anyone had some advice.

Again thx,

[Diane Miller]

No problem with .dng -- it's just a repackaging of your raw file. There was a recent discussion somewhere that concluded that .dng wasn't a good idea these days, but I don't remember where I saw it. Maybe Tim Grey's blog, if not here.

When you edit the file in LR, no need to save a copy, unless you want two or more different sets of settings. In that case, just do virtual copies. When you edit in PS the original raw isn't changed.

Maybe just semantics here, but don't "export" a file to PS -- just open the raw (Photo > Edit In....). Be sure you set up the parameters for the desired editor in Preferences > External Editing.

Some people who know a lot more than I do have concluded that there isn't a big difference in judicious sharpening in LR or doing it all in PS. (It should always be judicious with the master file.) I take the lazy approach and almost always leave LR at the default 25 sharpening, which compensates for the softening of the anti-alias filter with little or no detectable "damage" to the file. (It's done on the L channel in LAB mode.) Then I'll rarely do any more actual sharpening to the master file in PS. But I'll almost always do some of the "pseudo-sharpening" methods that are really midtone contrast enhancement, similar to Clarity in the raw converter. A JPEG exported for use on the web will usually get a very slight Smart Sharpen.

It seems to be about the same situation for NR -- maybe a little in LR (although the default is 0) but you have more sophisticated tools in PS.

With the tools we have, NR and sharpening work against each other. Both are best done by getting a quality file that doesn't need them.

[Fred Woodman]

My bad, I wasn't clear, I do a basic process in LR, crop, white balance BP and WP shadows highlights, whatever i think is needed, create a virtual copy and send it to PS via edit in PS. When I am done in PS I click "save" ( Diane you helped me with this sometime back, in fact you've helped me a lot, and its appreciated as with everyone) Im a bit slow but I am persistent. After saving back to LR I'll typically export where I will size the image accordingly, which typically is for web, should i want to print later, I can go back to my edited PS file and save for print and if i want to rework an image i have the original dng.I am making great haste, its just that it comes slowly. But developing a PS workflow and learning PS is daunting.

No problem with .dng -- it's just a repackaging of your raw file. There was a recent discussion somewhere that concluded that .dng wasn't a good idea these days, but I don't remember where I saw it. Maybe Tim Grey's blog, if not here.

When you edit the file in LR, no need to save a copy, unless you want two or more different sets of settings. In that case, just do virtual copies. When you edit in PS the original raw isn't changed.

Maybe just semantics here, but don't "export" a file to PS -- just open the raw (Photo > Edit In....). Be sure you set up the parameters for the desired editor in Preferences > External Editing.

Some people who know a lot more than I do have concluded that there isn't a big difference in judicious sharpening in LR or doing it all in PS. (It should always be judicious with the master file.) I take the lazy approach and almost always leave LR at the default 25 sharpening, which compensates for the softening of the anti-alias filter with little or no detectable "damage" to the file. (It's done on the L channel in LAB mode.) Then I'll rarely do any more actual sharpening to the master file in PS. But I'll almost always do some of the "pseudo-sharpening" methods that are really midtone contrast enhancement, similar to Clarity in the raw converter. A JPEG exported for use on the web will usually get a very slight Smart Sharpen.

It seems to be about the same situation for NR -- maybe a little in LR (although the default is 0) but you have more sophisticated tools in PS.

With the tools we have, NR and sharpening work against each other. Both are best done by getting a quality file that doesn't need them.

[Diane Miller]

I thought that was what you meant but just wanted to be sure... You're doing it right! But no need for the virtual copy when it gets opened in PS -- no changes are made to the raw file unless you decide later to change the raw settings, then a virtual copy will let you have both versions.

This stuff has a learning curve but it is SO worth it!

[Fred Woodman]

What would people suggest as it pertains to Sharpening with Smart Sharpen, understood that different pics will require different numbers but for example , what would a common Radius and Amount parameter be.?

[Diane Miller]

Don Lacy gave some numbers above but I think he had a typo, as 0.1 is the minimum radius. Generally (VERY generally) for a full-sized file, radius around 0.5 to 1 and amount maybe 50-150. For a small JPEG (such as for here) radius about 0.1 to 0.2 and similar amounts.

If it needs more than that, you'll introduce artifacts. The best sharpening is by getting a sharp capture in-camera.

[Don Lacy]

Fred here is my sharpening workflow I have started experimenting sharpening on a layer that is turned into a smart object and adding Gaussian Blur anywhere between 5 to ten pixels reducing the opacity to 10 to 20% and then using smart sharpen at .3 radius and 170 amount I then fine tune the sharpening by going back to the individual filter and changing the settings and or opacity. I really like the effect it has on landscape images and I have had some avian images I like and other I just used straight smart sharpening. http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ening-Workflow

[Fred Woodman]

Thx Don , I had actually read this some time back but at the time my knowledge of PS was so limited that this was over my head. I will revisit and see if its clearer now. Thx

Fred here is my sharpening workflow I have started experimenting sharpening on a layer that is turned into a smart object and adding Gaussian Blur anywhere between 5 to ten pixels reducing the opacity to 10 to 20% and then using smart sharpen at .3 radius and 170 amount I then fine tune the sharpening by going back to the individual filter and changing the settings and or opacity. I really like the effect it has on landscape images and I have had some avian images I like and other I just used straight smart sharpening. http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ening-Workflow

[Diane Miller]

Don, I saw that earlier and had forgotten about it -- thanks for the reminder -- it looks good!

[arash_hazeghi]

For those who use Smart Sharpen , generically speaking where do you like to set your sliders.?

Hi Fred, I use amount 50-100 (depending on the specie and type of feathers), radius 0.5.

[David Salem]

I use .5 radius on most everything but I have used as much as 1.0 for certain shots and as little as .3 on some of the sharpest shots. I normally use the amount of 80 to 130. Hope this helps

[Fred Woodman]

Thx Everyone for your help...!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Hi Fred, I use amount 50-100 (depending on the specie and type of feathers), radius 0.5.

Arash, I red some where that some people do two passes of sharpening, first with a more agressive combination and then one with less amount. In my personal case this is what I´ve been doing with with 0.2 radius for both, do you believe this is a good approach?? I really hate when I see an oversharpened image and more if it´s mine!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Also, I believe it´s valid to mention that these parameters are applied to files of certain sizes as Arash likes his images large and others prefer smalls jpgs so it also depends on the final size of the file. My curret files are 1300pix wide and I apply a first pass of 0.2 at 130 then a second pass of 0.2 at 100 amount.