I notice the RAW software out there usually provides a range of sharpness you can adjust before converting file into PS. What is best, a low setting of sharpness (like 3 on a scale of 1-10) or just setting the sharpness to zero?
I am wondering the same thing. Some have told me to only sharpen enough at the conversion stage to offset any blurring, then complete any final sharping in PS.
At the raw stage, a conversion algorithm has the potential to do a better job because it is working from the original data. If working later, after raw conversion, a "sharpening" tool is working on modified data so you are sharpening on the sharpening.
My view is that a small amount of sharpening is necessary to tune the algorithm to give a reasonable image, so about 3/10 is probably fine.
Further, the sharpening needed on most images is not the same over the entire image. There are multiple reasons for this. For example, the image may vary slightly due to different focus, so needing different levels of sharpening. Some parts of the image may show more noise and you may not want those areas sharpened. Different edges will show artifacts from sharpening at different levels, e.g. a bright dark edge, versus fine feather detail in a bird's feathers.
So in my processing, I us a small amount of sharpening in the raw converter, and then do custom sharpening on selected parts of images near the last steps in post processing.
Then we can get into the thread about sharpening. Most "sharpening" tools, like unsharp mask do not actually sharpen. They only change edge contrast. See:
Brendan, I always do some sharpening on the RAW file itself. I use DPP and I like its RAW sharpening a lot. In the latest version, they have also added USM feature.
How much is right? I dont think there is one correct answer to that. depends on the image. At times, when the light is flat or directly from the front, then a higher value is better. If the light is at an angle, then that itself is creating small shadows of the feathers and giving you a lot of perceived sharpness. In that case, lower value is better. If it is a closeup shot, then you are already having a lot of 'pixels-per-duck' with great details. In that case, I usually go lower on the sharpness slider. Since RAW sharpening is affecting the BG too, you need to keep an eye on that...and also on the noise.
My workflow is...some sharpening in RAW and then some sharpening of the bird on the resized jpg. If needed, NR on the BG on the resized jpg.
Kaustubh, thank you very much, that is very helpful. Knowing the quality images you present time after time, makes me feel better about using DPP. I'll have to try their USM - I also like their cropping and rotation tools. The only thing with DPP, is I find it a bit slow.