jaapv Posted July 22, 2008 Share #1 Â Posted July 22, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) I am halfway my learning curve in CS3, and would love to hear what others find useful. Â I'll kick off. We all lie, claiming that the M8 needs "no sharpening at all" That, or everybody is a better photographer than I am Sometimes a file needs sharpening, depending on the subject and use, and original file of course. There are many sharpening methods around. Does anybody use Photshop's ""Smart sharpen" option? My prefererence is quick and dirty: USM, with a basic setting of amount 50, radius 1, threshold 3 and play around with the values until it looks slightly oversharpened Choose "fade unsharp Mask"at 100% and go to mode "Luminosity". For web sharpening after reduction, I use 0.4,25,0. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Hi jaapv, Take a look here Share your favorite Photoshop tricks. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
farnz Posted July 23, 2008 Share #2 Â Posted July 23, 2008 An excellent idea for a thread, Jaap. Â As soon as I read the title my favourite popped into my head and it's also for sharpening but it's different from yours (although I'm not suggesting it's better or worse ). Copy the background as a new layer (PC: Control+J; Mac Command+J) Filter menu>Other>High Pass Increase the Radius so that most of the image is grey but you can still see the outline of the features and then click OK In the layers palette change the layer blending mode from Normal to Soft Light Flatten layers if desired. If you're using CS3 and you want to play with the radius setting to find your preferred effect then you can change the layer to a Smart Layer (Layer Menu>Smart Objects>Convert to smart object) which will allow you to open up the high pass filter in the layers palette and adjust the radius. Â Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overgaard Posted July 23, 2008 Share #3 Â Posted July 23, 2008 Great idea. Â I did a blog some time ago about how I treat Digilux 2 files with dodge and burn, amongst other things. Â Thorsten Overgaard - Uber - 100,000 exposures later ... [PART III] - dodge and burn Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuerst Posted July 23, 2008 Share #4  Posted July 23, 2008 This is a great idea indeed. I am going to share a link I found long time ago. I have no idea who Ron Bigelow is, but his articles on sharpening have been very useful. The first one is here:  Sharpening -- Part I  There is a whole bunch of other PS stuff under the articles heading that some of you might find helpful.  Ron Bigelow Articles  I find that they are a good starting point and then you can play around with the settings. To be honest, I haven't used PS in weeks. Aperture and Silver EFX Pro are currently my preferred tools.  Cheers  Bojan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmr Posted July 23, 2008 Share #5 Â Posted July 23, 2008 Great Idea! This wouls be one of the thread where we can bookmark. Â As a suggestion, post a before & after picture for us novice to see what you difference. Â Regards, Robert. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbertnl Posted July 23, 2008 Share #6 Â Posted July 23, 2008 post a before & after picture for us novice to see what you difference. Â Robert, Â For the before & after pics I recommend Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoschop CS3, available @ your local or virtual bookstore. There's plenty of them in there, and the book is pretty informative. Unfortunately I'm still too much of a novice myself, so I thought at least I'd mention some of my current reading matter ... Â This thread is a great idea indeed, thanks to Jaap for starting it!! Â Best, Norbert Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roguewave Posted July 23, 2008 Share #7 Â Posted July 23, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Would be nice if we had our own Forum to share images & workflow, rather than just piece-meal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwchisholm Posted July 24, 2008 Share #8 Â Posted July 24, 2008 LAB color, and sharpening in the Luminosity channel... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted July 24, 2008 Author Share #9 Â Posted July 24, 2008 LAB color, and sharpening in the Luminosity channel... I know what you mean, but could you be more specific? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted July 24, 2008 Share #10  Posted July 24, 2008 Change the image from RGB to LAB and go to the Channels palette  Then, switch off the A and B channels, click on the Lightness channel (it'll look B&W) and do your unsharp masking only on that.  Then, convert back to RGB.  Works a treat and is easy to set up as a PS action. I use it all the time for my sharpening purposes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted July 24, 2008 Author Share #11 Â Posted July 24, 2008 LAB is nice. Basically it does the same as my method, it applies sharpening to the luminosity channel only, leaving the colour channels untouched. Â To get "Kodachrome 25" colours: Change to LAB mode, click "apply image" (I think you missed that one, Andy ) and choose the B channel. Switch to soft light and regulate with the opacity slider. Reconvert to RGB Â Other settings in apply image create abstract colours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted July 24, 2008 Author Share #12 Â Posted July 24, 2008 I always sharpen on a layer. It allows fine-tuning by adjusting the opacity, and I can discard it and start again if I get it wrong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_h Posted July 24, 2008 Share #13 Â Posted July 24, 2008 If you want how to learn new tricks in Photoshop try Photoshop User TV Â It's run by the aforementioned Scott Kelby and gives great tips. Â You can also subscribe using iTunes as a podcast Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jimmy pro Posted July 24, 2008 Share #14 Â Posted July 24, 2008 Â I'll kick off. I hope not! Leica needs all the customers like you they can get! Â We all lie, claiming that the M8 needs "no sharpening at all" Â IMHO it doesn't need it on prints up to 20x30 so long as you don't crop. For up to 50% cropping I put Capture 1 x4 at it's sharpening defaults. Â My favorite Photoshop trick with the M8 is....not useing Photoshop at all. To me that's the one and only place where the M8 is ahead of the game digitally speaking, i.e. not referring to takeing M lenses or haveing a rangefinder vs SLR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted July 25, 2008 Share #15 Â Posted July 25, 2008 I always sharpen on a layer. It allows fine-tuning by adjusting the opacity, and I can discard it and start again if I get it wrong. Â I use the Photokit sharpeners. The only ones I normally bother with are the output ones, though I use the sharpening brushes from time to time. The software does everything in layers, so it's very easy to lower the opacity, if desired to reduce the sharpening effect. Normally for M8 shots to be shown on the internet I'll lower this to around 60-70%. Quite often with internet shots I'll dispense with the sharpening altogether. The M8 needs far less sharpening than images from my Canon 5D, but still benifits from a little from time to time IMHO. Â When printing I tend to leave the opacity at 100%, but sometimes adjust that based on what the print looks like, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted July 25, 2008 Author Share #16 Â Posted July 25, 2008 Selective sharpening: Â Normally sharpened image Crtl-J for a layer Oversharpen that layer Alt-click layer-mask (layers palette) Soft brush - color white Paint in sharpness on the layer mask Adjust by opacity Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwolf Posted July 28, 2008 Share #17  Posted July 28, 2008 Maybe this is common knowledge, but I like non-destructive dodging and burning with a 50% layer and paint brush.  In Windows:  1. Layer > New > Layer  2. In New Layer box, choose Mode = Layer (or Overlay) and check Fill with Soft-Light.... This adds the 50% gray layer. You could dodge and burn on separate layers.  3. Choose paintbrush, set size and feathering (Brush size shortcut keys are [ and ] (brackets))  4. Set brush opacity (usually 5 to 10%)  5. To dodge, click x (changes foreground color to white) To burn, click d (changes foreground color to black)  6. Paint away to lighten/darken  John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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