what D2X sharpening settings does smugmug...

wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
edited March 3, 2006 in Finishing School
like for printing......

Hi all,

I'm new to smug mug and was wondering what you d2x shooters have found that works well to prepare images for the smugmug output sharpening application when they resize the images for print. I've read through the blogs about doing it in lab (Dan M 's book..which I have as well as frazer"s (s) books)...but i was wondering if anyone had found a good "recipe" to use for batch processing..I shoot in raw w/ no sharpening and convert to 16bit tiff in pscs2 to do sharpening...for the web I've been using photokit capture and output sharpening w/ real good success but others have suggested that this application is alittle to strong and w/ smugmugs added output sharpen mey be way overboard.

all comments/suggestions appreaciated..

Thanks!
jd

Comments

  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited March 3, 2006
    I don't use a D2x but I can tell you that I rarely have to sharpen original files much, if at all, files from my 1Ds Mark II or 5D. It's not a Canon / Nikon thing, either...

    If you do sharpen, what I really recommend is a generally a fairly light sharpening, not too agressive. Yeah use the LAB trick from DM - or, use PS CS2 Smart Sharpen - and always examine critically for halos and artifacts.

    Make up a nice test print - one of your surfing shots would be fine. Or another type of shot. Use a fairly high, a medium, and a low amount, and then also do one with NO sharpening.

    Label your pics with text - of what sharpening is done. Put them in a gallery for me, link it here, and I'll fire off some test prints for you, and for me, to review. Of course, no charge for this!

    Sound good?
    Andy

    Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
  • MrBook2MrBook2 Registered Users Posts: 211 Major grins
    edited March 3, 2006
    This is great! I can't wait to hear what you guys decide. The great sharpening test of 2006...

    --Aaron
    http://mrbook2.smugmug.com
    Nikon D200, usually with 18-200VR or 50mm f/1.8D
    Ubuntu 9.04, Bibblepro, GIMP, Argyllcms
    Blog at http://losthighlights.blogspot.com/
  • wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
    edited March 3, 2006
    Andy wrote:
    I don't use a D2x but I can tell you that I rarely have to sharpen original files much, if at all, files from my 1Ds Mark II or 5D. It's not a Canon / Nikon thing, either...

    If you do sharpen, what I really recommend is a generally a fairly light sharpening, not too agressive. Yeah use the LAB trick from DM - or, use PS CS2 Smart Sharpen - and always examine critically for halos and artifacts.

    Make up a nice test print - one of your surfing shots would be fine. Or another type of shot. Use a fairly high, a medium, and a low amount, and then also do one with NO sharpening.

    Label your pics with text - of what sharpening is done. Put them in a gallery for me, link it here, and I'll fire off some test prints for you, and for me, to review. Of course, no charge for this!

    Sound good?

    Hi Andy,
    yeah, that sounds great!

    you know its funny about the canon 1d series images coming real sharp out of the box like that (I had a 1d2n for afew weeks)... nikons d2h images are very similiar in that regard..very "crisp" right out the camera..the 2x can be like that if the subject fills a decent amount of the view finder but defenetly needs pp for sharpening either in nickon capture or in pscs2.

    What are your thoughts on using NC4 sharpening while still in raw before converting to a tiff (similiar to Canon dpp setting 3or 4) and using only that as the capture sharpening and then upload to my smugmug gallery?

    thanks!
    jd
  • FrostFrost Registered Users Posts: 72 Big grins
    edited March 3, 2006
    Focus Magic ??
    Have any of you did much with Focus Magic? http://www.focusmagic.com/exampleunsharpmask.htm I've downloaded and tried the program and in all honesty using it against digital camera images and digital scanned images it looks to work a lot better than unsharp mask, or plain "sharpen" in my Adobe CS. But I understand CS2 has a better sharpening ability than the CS.. at least that's what I read somewhere. *S*
    Vern
    Cheers!
    Vern

    Nikon D80 w/ Tamron 28-200 XR lens & Nikon 55-200VR, 4X5 Graphic View II, others
    http://vernsdidj.com Didgeridoo site with links and pictures.

    I started out in life with nothing, and I've managed to keep most of it.

  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited March 3, 2006
    Frost wrote:
    work a lot better than unsharp mask, or plain "sharpen" in my Adobe CS. But I understand CS2 has a better sharpening ability than the CS.. at least that's what I read somewhere. *S*
    Vern

    "Sharpen" should be forever stricken from teh PS vocabulary.
    "unsharp mask," properly used, is fine
    Smart Sharpen is really, really good.
    LAB Sharpening is really, really good.

    Plugins? Sure, some of them are good but IMO not better than doing it on your own...
    Andy

    Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
  • wetsandswetsands Registered Users Posts: 42 Big grins
    edited March 3, 2006
    Andy wrote:
    "Sharpen" should be forever stricken from teh PS vocabulary.
    "unsharp mask," properly used, is fine
    Smart Sharpen is really, really good.
    LAB Sharpening is really, really good.

    Plugins? Sure, some of them are good but IMO not better than doing it on your own...

    Hi Andy,

    wow this roadrunner is frickin FAST! uploaded 9 images in 5 minutes
    rolleyes1.gif ..
    here's the link..

    http://wetsands.smugmug.com/gallery/1244932/1/58466538

    they are in the same gallery you looked at before.. there are 9 that are of the same shot.. they're nothing special... just typical of the shots I take w/ the excessive water spraying all over the place...they are all labelled .. the link is to the unsharpened one..

    thanks andy for the feedback !
    jd
Sign In or Register to comment.