how soft is too soft - can this be rescued?

[joel_p]

<p>

 

<p>apologies here is the photo....</p>

<p>Dear all,<br />i have been trying to sharpen the following photo of my daughter, especially around the eyes. I can't really get it to an acceptable level without generating too much noise. I have tried the PS and Aperture sharpening tools and have experimented with Nik Software. At what point do you toss the image and start again? Any suggestions on technique or software would be most appreciated.<br />Cheers,<br />joel</p>

 

</p><div></div>

[jarle_aasland]

<p>Judging from this screen sized photo, I think it looks fine. I wouldn't worry about it.</p>

<p>Jarle </p>

[jacopo_brembati]

<p>Joel,<br>

the photo is not very soft.</p>

<p>Anyway I retouched it using PhotoResampling.<br>

PhotoResampling has a tool to sharpen keeping noise at low level.<br>

My editing was performed in selective mode.</p>

<p><img src="http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/9433/00tu7u153415584gbs.jpg" alt="" /><br>

<img src="http://img195.imageshack.us/i/00tu7u153415584gbs.jpg/" alt="" /></p>

[jacopo_brembati]

<p>duplicate<br /> <img src="http://img195.imageshack.us/i/00tu7u153415584gbs.jpg/" alt="" /></p>

[joel_p]

<p>Thanks Jacopo, I hadn't previously heard of PhotoResampling - will give it a try. </p>

[charlesheckel]

<p>Jacopo responded appropriately--the problem is indeed noise, which shows up with a vengeance when you attempt to sharpen. I took a swing at it from another direction: altering the tonal curve with Shadow/Highlight and a couple of Curves manipulations. Better picture overall, though I have to say I like Jacopo's skin treatment better.</p><div></div>

[jarle_aasland]

<p>So far, the original is by far the best, in my opinion.</p>

<p>Please stop this "sharper is better" madness :-)</p>

<p>Jarle</p>

[peter_mounier]

<p>I think the sharpness is fine too. I'd spend time on the color next.</p>

<p>Peter</p><div></div>

[rene gm]

<p>Too soft, but you can easily sharpen it. Try to sharpen the eys and contours only, if your software allows this. Moreover, it has a blue cast.</p>

[wogears]

<p>Here's another shot at it.</p><div></div>

[joel_p]

<p>thanks guys....the color tone changes do make a difference. Still, I like these type of shots to be tack shark,...good thing my model ain't going anywhere ;-)<br>

cheers,<br>

joel</p>

[stsva]

<p>Joel-<br /> It's very difficult to assess sharpness from a small, low-res web post image. If you post a 100% crop at full resolution we'll be able to give you better input on sharpness.</p>

[stsva]

<p>Here's another shot at editing it.</p><div></div>

[Johnny Martyr]

<p>i agree with jarle and the edited versions get worse and worse! do you people have your monitors calibrated?! and why are you wasting your tyme trying to edit a low res compressed version of this shot? tell the op HOW to edit it like he asked and move on!</p>

<p>and Joel, if you want things to be tack sharp, shoot them right the first tyme! this photo doesn't seem so unreproducable that you can't just go take it again!</p>

<p> </p>