Photokit Sharpener

I first bought the Photokit Sharpener back in 2003 or 2004 (its now called PhotoKit Expert Sharpener and has some refinements in the Capture module). It has done way more than pay for

itself in the 3 or years I've been using it. It has allowed me to deliver superior quality files to my clients, my stock agents, and as an aid to making better quality prints.

 

I also have Bruce's book, which came out in July 2006.

 

In this case, it's clear that the chicken (the Photokit Sharpener plug-in) came long before the egg (the book). The book is a review of underlying principles, about how sharpening should be

done. It's part of Bruce's intellectual legacy to photographers and those involved the art of making photographs and reproducing photographs and illustrations either by inkjet, continuous

tone, electronic formats or via offset press. You don't have to buy the plug-in to get the benefit of Bruce's very through understanding of the various problems and the ways to solve them -

- but using the two together greatly increases your finesse.

 

Don't like the chicken and egg analogy?

 

Here's another: Buy the plug-in and you are buying a house. Buy the book is both the blueprints and the knowledge the architect and engineer used in designing the house and making it

work. Put both of them into practices and you can start building your own custom designed houses. If that is what you want to do then $140 for the two is a steal.

Rory,

 

1_i dont say that PK is a piece of s***, i just say that with my experience, i dont need it. Its not even about 99$, it could have been at 500$ and if it was better and easier for me to use it i would have bought it at that price..i dont care, i run a biseness, and its deductible : )

 

2_Im respecting Bruce because i learn so much with is book and with all is different stuff he wrote on the internet..is book is by far one of the best about sharpening, and im with him about is 3 pass sharpening, i do the same. So i dont have anything about that, like i said, i dont see the point for me to buy PK when i can do the same with already inclided plugin. thats it. Im agree with is method and concept, just not entusiam with the software for me.

 

3_As for the book by Leslie Alsheimer's book, Black and White in Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Lightroom, if you read carefully what i wrote was;

 

A_Long story short it is probably the best book that anyone that START in the digital world should put there hand to, it is far from being only about BW

 

B_It is oriented for people that are from BEGINNER to intermediate / advanced (beginning in the advanced categorie )

 

C_Do i really gonna use it; not really but its good to see that im using the exact setting and workflow as the author...if im rong, whe are 2 at least in the same boat.

 

START & BEGINNER where the keyword here...you fit in that space? if not why spend your money on it?

 

So i was not that entousiam about it, but like i said for someone that start in the digital world it is one of the best book to get to understand many thing...if you didtn get that, you can always sell it back on amazon and stop winning about it...

To clarify thing;

 

I know PK is a good piece of software, and for 99$ it is one of the most important piece for your workflow....saying that i dont use it and with experience you can get the same result visualy with SMART SHARPEN is my point of view...it like the AlienSkin Exposure..its a good plugin for someone who dont know how to recreate those effect in CS3..i can, so i dont need it either, but still i think its a good thing for someone with limited knowledge.

 

I just suggest that people can get the same result when konwing how and creating themself action. its not about saving money, its about using the 700$ software that you already have to create yourself your stuff. Please, if you want to save time or dont know how, ask fot those plugin for xmas : ) they are good.

And my point is, visually sharpening is fraught with problems. What the image looks like and

how it prints, in terms of sharpening is a huge stretch. I guess, if you had one output device,

did enough testing to visually produce something on screen that resulted in great output

sharpening, the proof is in the proof. But one could argue this take on color management

and display calibration. Given enough output variations, in time, you could make a hideously

inaccurate display produce a color appearance you could mentally know produces the correct

color output. It works, its just really inefficient. And if you have more than one device, it gets

even more difficult to juggle this visually.

Agree with you Andrew, it is indeed my setup; i print mainly in fashion magasine, billboard and epson 9800, so i very well know the end result because i always print in the same condition, at the same place, and at the same size. I will give it a try on some new file to see what im missing in the latest version...it could speed up my workflow and give better result..why not : )

Andrew, you did a great job of responding in a way that sidesteps the substance of of what I said. As for your question, what do I do for a living, that is irrelevant. However, I will admit that I am not a Photoshop guru groupie.

 

Ellis,

 

The fact that the actions were being sold before the book was published demonstrates that there was a deliberate decision to split the product. The only logical reason for that was to turn the sale of a $40 book, or the sale of a $100 sale of a piece of software, into a $140 sale.

 

As a purchaser of the book, I don't respect that. I will repeat what I said before. I think that it is cheesey, and that is putting it diplomatically.

 

The remaining question is whether I should buy the software, in addition to the book, despite the fact that what Andrew and you have had to say does not exactly improve my view of the guy (and now his estate) who is peddling it.

 

I think that I won't, on principle.

Patrick,

 

I mentioned the Alsheier book only because you are one of the people who posts here who comes off as speaking with some authority. I merely wanted to suggest that you might want to reconsider your enthusiastic endorsement of this book. I wish that I hadn't wasted my money on it. As for your suggestion that I can just return it to Amazon, you are right, but I have this idea that having read the book, returning it for a refund is unethical.

 

For my views on teh Alsheimer book, in case you want to reconsider your endorsement of it, see my response to your earlier thread: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00NIiv

 

Cheers.

>The fact that the actions were being sold before the book was published demonstrates that

there was a deliberate decision to split the product. The only logical reason for that was to turn

the sale of a $40 book, or the sale of a $100 sale of a piece of software, into a $140 sale.

 

Actually Bruce was too busy behind the grassy knoll working on covert operations. Give me a

break, you really are a conspiracy theorist. When you're ready to come back to earth, let's

continue. Deliberate decision to split the product, my god, you must really think your $140 is

worthwhile to anyone.

 

As for asking what you do, unless your a trust fund hippie, I assume you have a service to provide

or a product to provide that you don't give away for free? Maybe some of us can look into that and

decide if you make deliberate decisions to screw people out of money, the slant of what you're

implying about Bruce.

 

>As a purchaser of the book, I don't respect that. I will repeat what I said before. I think that it is

cheesey, and that is putting it diplomatically.

 

Well so you get paid to be a diplomat? It all makes sense now....

 

>The remaining question is whether I should buy the software, in addition to the book

 

Please, do Pixel Genius and Bruce's memory a favor, don't buy the product. When you're done with

the book, give it away to a local school or to someone who can benefit from what Bruce wrote.

You're a lost cause.

 

> ...despite the fact that what Andrew and you have had to say does not exactly improve my view

of the guy (and now his estate) who is peddling it. I think that I won't, on principle.

 

I seriously doubt you have any principles. Not with your attitude. You must have come onto the

digital imaging scene in the last few weeks, not knowing the huge contributions Bruce made to

the Photoshop and imaging community well before the 1990's.

 

What an angry, disappointing fellow you are! Go away. Please go away.

Andrew,

 

As I said, I am not interested in the whole Photoshop guru business.

 

I think that what Fraser was doing amounts to tied selling, which is a well understood, but controversial, approach to marketing. In this case, I have no doubt that it was and is legal, I just think that it was and is unethical.

 

My comments have to do with a well-understood phenomenon of industrial economics, and nothing to do with conspiracy theories. I'm at a complete loss to understand how or why you would draw an analogy between this discussion and the assassination of John Kennedy.

 

Cheers

What elitist crap. I have it. It works for me and has taught me a lot about sharpening and in my humble opinion offers high flexibility and a wide choise of options. It was worth a hundred bucks to me. My pictures look better. If you are morally against it or don't need don't use it. I could have individually sharpened at least fifteen or twenty pictures in the time you all engaged your egos in these posts. Ellis, Marc and Obi excepted.