Sharpening for Pro Lab Prints

[lisa_f]

<p>I like my images lightly sharpened but would like to know how others determine their limits for sharpening for photo printing. I don't want to sharpen too much and learn it AFTER I've spent money printing.</p>

<p>Thanks so much.</p>

[kevin_delson]

<p>There are several ways to "sharpen" images. (i.e) Unsharp, High Pass...2 step..Single channel etc...<br>

All will effect output, esp if overdone.</p>

<p>By far the easiest is to simply "eyeball" (view) your image at 100%.<br>

Compare the before & after side by side.</p>

<p>Concerning "limits." That is entirely dependent on the particular image I am sharpening.<br>

Don't forget, many images do not need to be sharpened globally; selective sharpening is often preferred.</p>

 

[Uhooru]

<p>Kevin, I'm glad you said that about selective sharpening. I'm finding more and more that in many images, local, selective adjustments are the way to go.</p>

[dave_redmann]

<p>Lisa, it is my distinct impression, based on considerable personal experience, that some labs will further sharpen your pictures and others won't. Generally, I think that more consumer-oriented placed like Shutterfly are more likely to sharpen, or are likely to sharpen more, than more pro-oriented places like Aspen Creek. This is true even when you choose the options that most places have not to <em>color</em>-correct (e.g., tunring off "Vivid Pics" on Shutterfly or checking the "Do Not Color Correct" box on Mpix). (Of course, when I send my pictures to the local Walgreen's for convenient pick-up in an hour, I expect the saturation and contrast to be jacked through the roof and considerable sharpening to have been added.)</p>

<p>So I think you will need to learn a little from experience how much extra sharpening a lab may apply.</p>

<p>That said, once I have an idea of what a lab will do relative to sharpening, I can judge pretty well the effect of sharpening by looking at it on screen at 50% and/or 100%.</p>

 

[david_henderson]

<p>Having oversharpened the odd print, in my view I make better decisions viewing the print at 33% or 50% than at 100%. Viewing a 300ppi ( or whatever) file on a screen makes it way bigger than your print and so for me creates a tendency to over-sharpen</p>

[dave_redmann]

<p>David Henderson's comment that viewing on-screen at 100% "creates a tendency to over-sharpen" raises a good point. Although I usually sharpen while viewing at 100%, I consciously sharpen it to less appearance of sharpness than what I want in the print; in other words, it should look not-quite-sharpened-enough when viewed at 100% on-screen. Usually then I check it at 50%. There is no single right way to do this, and much depends on your monitor and your taste. And of course, usually it takes a little experience to know the relationship between how a file looks on your monitor and how it will look if printed at a particular lab.</p>

 

[digitaldog]

<p>Sharpening visually is fraught with problems (the huge disconnect between your low rez display, at varying zoom ratio’s and the high rez of a modern print is one reason why). Certainly for output sharpening. What looks good on screen may look butt awful on a print. Sharpening is resolution, subject, capture and output specific. The right sharpening settings are those that produce the print results you desire. There’s little reason to be messing around with all this, we have great automated processes (like those found in Lightroom) that provides capture and output sharpening, based on the ground breaking work of the late Bruce Fraser. See http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/20357.html. This is the bases for sharpening in Lightroom. It just works really well, with very little work on the users part. </p>

[mirek_elsner1]

<p>In addition to what Andrew says, if you use Photoshop, there is a plugin with similar functionality called PhotoKit Sharpener, it has been developed by the same people who are behind the sharpening philosophy of LR3. Both PK Sharpener and LR3 give great results without guesswork and apply proper sharpening amount and type for different sizes and types of prints.<br>

If the article on creativepro in Andrew's post above is not enough, there is a book Real World Image Sharpening by Fraser and Schewe that goes to greater detail.</p>

[Brad_]

Make a few inexpensive test prints, say 8x10, with different levels of output sharpening. And then evaluate the results. An experiment using your image files, eye, and requirements is the only way

you'll know using a lab you've never engaged before.

[patricklavoie]

<p>1_always judge your sharpening at 100% when you are doing it.</p>

<p>2_judge it after at 25% for epson print, lab print, 50% for magazine. If it look good on a LCD monitor,it should look good when printed on a glossy paper. If it look too much on screen it will look good if you use a matte paper..</p>

<p>3_always use a 3 step sharpening to make the best out of it; capture, creative and uotput are the way to go for best result.</p>

<p>4_making test are also the bets way of comfirming your sharpening method. That way you know when to stop on glossy, when to stop with matte, how you can apply it on a 4x6 or bigger..</p>

<p>a easy reference book will be to do as follow;</p>

<p>a_ take 1 8x12 original, apply you prefered sharpening method to it at 0%, 25%. 50% 100% 150% let say, and print all of those 8x12 in a lab or on your epson printer. See witch one look good and not too bad.. use this method from now on for that paper size.</p>

<p>b_ do the same method with 4x6, see the result and use the one you like at that size also.</p>

<p>"woa.. it will cost me some $ to get the answer .." yep, maybe 6 x 3$ for the 8x12, and 6 x .30$ for the 4x6.. but at least you will know what is the correct number for you for the future.. a small price to pay to get the best answer.</p>

<p>Of course, i seriously suggest that you read on the subject, Andrew's link is a good one.. the use of some expensive external plugin could help getting there.. but if you dont understand why they got there it is of no need for me.</p>

<p>*On a side not i think that the best method for me is to use for capture sharpening (step 1) Lr3, for creative sharpening (step 2) Smart Sharpen, and for output sharpening (step 3) high pass IF you use Photoshop in the process... if not, Lr3 is very good for at least step 1 and 3.</p>

<p>* i have writen a small tutorial on the subject coupel years ago, fi anyone interested, just write me a email so i can send you the link for the pdf download.</p>