Digital Photographer - UK (2020-05)

Doyouneedtosharpenyourfiles?Ifso,here’saneasywayhow!

Sharpening landscapes

Theideabehindsharpeningistomakeour

photographsappeartohavemoredetail,to

makethemlook‘morereal’.Thedangeris

thatinapplyingtoomuchsharpening,the

photocanberuinedwithunsightlywhite

haloesalongsubjectedges.Andinbetween

nosharpeningandtoomuchsharpening,it’s

amatteroftaste.

Somelandscapephotographersdon’tfeel

theneedtosharpentheirimages,because

thecamerasandlensestheyuseproducea

sufficientlysharporclearresult.However,for

photographerswhodoliketosharpen,there

arelotsoftechniquesandpluginsdesigned

toproducetheperfectresult.

Therearethreemomentswhenan

imagecanbesharpened,beginningwhen

yourRAWfileisprocessed.Thisisusually

doneautomaticallybyyourRAWprocessor

(althoughyoucanoverridethesettingsifyou

wish).Thesecondis‘corrective’sharpening

when,duringpost-production,youenhance

theimagewithsharpening.Oftencontrast

andclaritygiveabetterresultbecauseofthe

unsightlyhaloessharpeningcanproduce.

Thethirdtimewesharpeniswhenmaking

aprintorafileforscreen.Theamountof

sharpeningrequiredisdifferentdepending

onthesizeofthereproduction(theprintor

screensize)andwhetheryou’reprintingon

matteorglossypaper.However,thegood

newsisthatalotof‘sharpeningintelligence’

isbuiltintoLightroom.

Soratherthanagonisingoverhowto

sharpenyourphotography,simplyexport

yourfilesfromLightroom.Youcanchoose

low,standardorhighsharpening.

IfworkinginPhotoshop,youcansave

aTIFForJPEGfileandthenimportitto

Lightroomforsharpening,oryoucanuseone

ofPhotoshop’ssharpeningtools–suchas

UnsharpMaskandSmartSharpen.Enlarge

theimageto100%toassesshowmuch

sharpeningisrequired(smallerenlargements

willhidewhatyou’redoingtothefile).

1

Flattenyour

fileIfyou’re

workingin

Photoshopwith

layers,savethe

file,thenflatten

it(Layer>Flatten

Image)andsave

itasaJPEG(setting 9 orhigher),aTIFFor

PSD.ImportthisintoLightroom.

5

Photoshop

optionsIf

youdon’tuse

Lightroom,then

Photoshophasa

rangeofoptions,

fromastandard

sharpenfilterto

UnsharpMask

andSmartSharpenfilters,whereyoucan

choosehowmuchsharpeningyoudesire.

CaptureOnealsohassharpeningoptions.

2

SizeyourimageInLightroom,goto

Export(File>Export),chooseExportTo

HardDrive,andunderImageSizingsetthe

sizetheoutputisgoingtobe.Usepixelsfora

screenoutput,butcentimetresorinchesfora

printingfile.

4

Low,standardorhighsharpening?

Next,youwillneedtodecideandselect

howmuchsharpeningyouwanttoapplyto

yourimage.Thisisamatteroftaste,soifin

doubtyoucanchooseStandard.Ifyoudon’t

wantyourimagestolookverysharpenedat

all,theLowoptionwillbeyourbestbetin

theseinstances.

3

Printorscreen?InthesameExport

dialogue,dropdowntotheOutput

SharpeningdialogueandticktheSharpenFor

box,thenselectwhetheryou’reoutputtingfor

screen,oreitheraglossyormatteprint.

6

OutputthefileAfter the sharpening

has been set or applied, set the other

parameters and output the file. While we

might not like capturing JPEGs, they are fine

for output purposes.

Right

Is this too much?

These show part of

the same file with

no sharpening, low,

standard and also

high sharpening

Above

Sharp enough?

When you see a

small rendition of an

image, you might not

notice whether it’s

sharpened or not

NO SHARPENING

BEFORE

LOW SHARPENING NORMAL SHARPENING TOO MUCH SHARPENING