area bounded in a green line is an enlargement of the offending
area.
Sharpening Your Images
Your microstock images need be sharp. Are yours? If not, they are sure
to be rejected.
Sharpening your images is not a get-out-of-jail for poor focus. There
is little point in trying to salvage a poorly focused image by using a
lot of sharpening. It won’t work. You must start with an image that is
properly focused, at the point where it should be focused. With a por-
trait shot, you will normally focus on the eyes (not the end of the nose,
as can happen!)—so with portraits, start by checking the eyes are
sharp by examining them at 100% magnifi cation on your computer
monitor. Also, check for any camera shake, which can be caused by
using a shutter speed that is too slow for the available light and the
focal length of the lens.
But even properly focused shake-free images may not look quite
sharp enough to microstock image inspectors.
A number of factors affect image sharpness such as the following:- Lens quality. Not all camera lenses are equally sharp. Lenses that cover a wide
range of focal lengths, such as some consumer-grade superzooms sold in kits with
digital SLRs and some powerful compact camera lenses are “softer” than their less
ambitious (and usually more expensive) counterparts—particularly when used near
their maximum aperture. - Default in-camera sharpening. If you shoot in JPEG format, the camera wil apply
some level of sharpening. This can normally be adjusted by the user. - Dirty or greasy marks on the lens. Get cleaning!
- Poor focus or camera shake. No real solution, so please avoid at all costs.
Assuming you are working with an image without a terminal
problem such as camera shake (unless used intentionally as a special
effect) or poor focus, then you should apply some sharpening to the
JPEG fi le as a last step in your post-production process and before
submission of the image to the microstocks.
My workfl ow involves turning sharpening down low in-camera and
(when shooting RAW fi le format) in my raw decoding software. Sharp-
ening too early in the process can emphasize noise or artifacts that I
generally want to deal with fi rst before I apply any signifi cant amount
of sharpening.
Knowing how much sharpening to apply is tricky. If your fi le
looks sharp on-screen at 100% magnifi cation, then you will only
SHARPENING YOUR IMAGES 99