Sharpening Tool

<p>Greetings...hope this is correct category. I am printing large format BW prints from original glass negatives. What is the best sharpening tool?</p>

<p>Start by reading this:</p>

<p>http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/20357.html </p>

<p>Thanks..very educational and informative article. Also thanks for brevity in response. I am printing scanned files from 100 year old glass plates..it's hard to read the glass plate negatives for detail and scanning this type on negative is an art skill by itself so I am looking for an plug in type that may address this situation.</p>

<p>http://www.photoresampling.com/index_eng.php</p>

<p>sharpening is sharpening.. you use the tools to your need.</p>

<p>But if its from a original scan, i suggest you do it during the scan process, so you need to understand the software you use, and see if there is something better to do the job. Silverscan i think is one option.</p>

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<p> Silverscan i think is one option.</p>

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<p>SilverFast perhaps? </p>

<p>Scanner sharpening can’t produce the kinds of masks, generated by the image <em>itself</em> to produce the kind of sharpening described in the Fraser article and his book. </p>

<p>yeah, my mistake Silverfast i meant ; )</p>

<p>i know, but what i say is you have to start with a good original, in that case a glass plate (i have scan a lot of those colodion for a friend that still shoot with that for is personnal project). Then really know your scanner and the software you use (i use the regular epson one as i didtn see any benefit to change for the need) then after, learn how to work your images...</p>

<p>frankly, i never really have to add anything else than a highpass or a local contrast enhancement to my glass plate as they are already pretty sharp and full of dust and brush stroke .. so to speak ; )</p>

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<p>With any sharpening, you want to control what does and does not get sharpened. Shadows with noise, not good. Smooth areas with no detail, not good. Control over the edges, useful. Making a mask, from the image itself, using Blend IF controls etc, all aid in effective sharpening in areas you want to apply and don't want to apply sharpening and do so with (in 24 bit), 255 levels of control. No scanner software can do this. The ultimate demo of this is the capture sharpening that you see in Develop, where you have control not only over strength and edge width, but several masking controls that work on the fly, with a very nice visual feedback (Detail and Masking with the Option key held down). </p>

<p>agree. mask are the way to go for anything for sure.</p>

<p>i was watching a lynda tutorial about the new sharpening in LR3, and Chris Orwig say that (hope i say it correctly) that with portrait you generaly want the detail to the lowest possible number vs architecture image where you want it crank up... of course many other variable are in the same tutorial, like the use of radius, mask and amount + the alt trick (something i use since the last version, really help), but in general i think it was a good 4min for anyone that need a crash course ; )</p>

<p>Sharpening is absolutely image specific. Or more appropriately, you sharpen differently for low frequency images (portrait) than high frequency (building). <br>

Run an imagery horizontal line though an image. Does that line show a lot of alternating light and dark tones as you'd see in a building? High frequency. The opposite is a low frequency image. </p>

<p>Thanks for comments..all appreciated but some of it over my head. Patrick...where can I see the Lydna tutorial?<br>

Thanks again.</p>

<p>www.lynda.com</p>

<p>one of the best ressource for quality tutorial.</p>