I tried to follow the rules....

DesertAura

Really, I did. But I feel ignored. :-( Is it because I'm still in my free trial membership period?

I posted the following questions in the existing thread "Sharpening for Print," but it's not getting any bites. So here it is in a brand new thread:

---

Howdy. I'm new to SmugMug and to Digital Grin. I love the atmosphere of both places... you guys are great!

And being a good little newbie, I watched the video Posting and You..., so I located an existing thread of the same topic to post in, instead of starting a new thread. :ivar

Other things I'm new at: (1) having my photos printed and (2) shooting in RAW format. I'm not uploading RAW files, just JPEGs. But I do what needs to be done in DPP, then convert to JPEG with the least amount of compression. (Is that the recommended approach so far?)

Sometimes I do additional post-processing in Paint Shop Photo Pro X3. Before I started shooting RAW, I did my sharpening in PSP. Is it better to sharpen (if it needs it) the RAW file in DPP?

If I use EZ Prints to print my photos, how much sharpening should I do to them before uploading to SM? Someone above mentioned that for print you should oversharpen... is that true? (And if the original is oversharpened for printing, what will that do to the resized images that SM generates?

Sorry for all the questions.

Bev

Steve Cavigliano

Hi Bev,
Sorry no one answered your last post It happens on occasion.

Your workflow sounds good I use CS 3 or 4 and my workflow is similar. I bring the files into Camera RAW and adjust the exposure and white balance. I usually apply a small amount of sharpening (and noise reduction if needed) at this point. Then open the file in CS and do any fine or layer level adjustments. Then save at compression level 10. This is lab quality but shrinks file sizes dramatically for faster uploading. Then i upload them. I set my galleries at the default sharpening setting. But, I very seldom apply extra sharpening for printing. If I re-size downwards and am only displaying. I will usually add sharpening. But not if I am printing from that file.

I am not a fan of over-sharpened prints. I think they give a crunchy and/or brittle look to the print. So I'd give you this ryule of thumb. If you can view the file at 100% size and the eyes, or other area that needs to be sharp. Are not soft, You are good to go

Tell you what. If you have any questions, place a few of the images you have questions about, in their own gallery. Then paste the link into an email to the Help Desk One of our Print Gurus will check them out and give you feedback. Regarding color, exposure, saturation, contrast and sharpness. We will even let you know which color setting and lab would work best for your images.

And please, no more apologies for your questions. That's what the forum and Help Desk are here for. Not to mention these are very good questions.



Cavig

DesertAura wrote:

Really, I did. But I feel ignored. :-( Is it because I'm still in my free trial membership period?

I posted the following questions in the existing thread "Sharpening for Print," but it's not getting any bites. So here it is in a brand new thread:

---

Howdy. I'm new to SmugMug and to Digital Grin. I love the atmosphere of both places... you guys are great!

And being a good little newbie, I watched the video Posting and You..., so I located an existing thread of the same topic to post in, instead of starting a new thread. :ivar

Other things I'm new at: (1) having my photos printed and (2) shooting in RAW format. I'm not uploading RAW files, just JPEGs. But I do what needs to be done in DPP, then convert to JPEG with the least amount of compression. (Is that the recommended approach so far?)

Sometimes I do additional post-processing in Paint Shop Photo Pro X3. Before I started shooting RAW, I did my sharpening in PSP. Is it better to sharpen (if it needs it) the RAW file in DPP?

If I use EZ Prints to print my photos, how much sharpening should I do to them before uploading to SM? Someone above mentioned that for print you should oversharpen... is that true? (And if the original is oversharpened for printing, what will that do to the resized images that SM generates?

Sorry for all the questions.

Bev

DesertAura

Cavig, thank you sooo much for your reply! I've put three photos in a Test gallery and sent the link to the Help Desk for feedback. I didn't know I could do that! I had already ordered some test prints of my own photos from EZ Prints to see how they turn out. They should be here in a couple of days. I probably should have gotten the feedback from the Help Desk first, but live and learn.

I appreciate your help!

Bev

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Hi Bev,
Sorry no one answered your last post It happens on occasion.

Your workflow sounds good I use CS 3 or 4 and my workflow is similar. I bring the files into Camera RAW and adjust the exposure and white balance. I usually apply a small amount of sharpening (and noise reduction if needed) at this point. Then open the file in CS and do any fine or layer level adjustments. Then save at compression level 10. This is lab quality but shrinks file sizes dramatically for faster uploading. Then i upload them. I set my galleries at the default sharpening setting. But, I very seldom apply extra sharpening for printing. If I re-size downwards and am only displaying. I will usually add sharpening. But not if I am printing from that file.

I am not a fan of over-sharpened prints. I think they give a crunchy and/or brittle look to the print. So I'd give you this ryule of thumb. If you can view the file at 100% size and the eyes, or other area that needs to be sharp. Are not soft, You are good to go

Tell you what. If you have any questions, place a few of the images you have questions about, in their own gallery. Then paste the link into an email to the Help Desk One of our Print Gurus will check them out and give you feedback. Regarding color, exposure, saturation, contrast and sharpness. We will even let you know which color setting and lab would work best for your images.

And please, no more apologies for your questions. That's what the forum and Help Desk are here for. Not to mention these are very good questions.



Cavig