Sharpening in Camera RAW

Trasmc

Hello everyone!

When shooting in RAW and opening in Adobe Camera RAW v. 4.4.1, RAW has a section called DETAIL. In this section, it says, "Sharpening (Preview Only)" and then has sharpening settings similar to a USM filter.

My question is - do you typically do sharpening here, after other post work in CS3, or both? Is there an advantage (or disadvantage) to doing it in Camera Raw vs. CS3? Is there a problem in doing it in both places? Finally, the title of this section, "(Preview Only)" is a bit misleading - does this mean it is only sharpening for the purposes of screen previews, or does it actually apply the sharpening to the image prior to importing to CS3?

I thought I had the whole USM thing down fairly well until I noticed it was in Camera Raw as well. I don't want to oversharpen, but also don't want to skip the step in Camera Raw if it should be happening.

If you need any more details on my question, let me know. Thanks in advance for any help!

Scott

pathfinder

Trasmc wrote:

Hello everyone!

When shooting in RAW and opening in Adobe Camera RAW v. 4.4.1, RAW has a section called DETAIL. In this section, it says, "Sharpening (Preview Only)" and then has sharpening settings similar to a USM filter.

My question is - do you typically do sharpening here, after other post work in CS3, or both?

I do both - Capture sharpening in RAW and creative or Output sharpening for printing in Photoshop. There is an ongoing discussion of this topic here

Is there an advantage (or disadvantage) to doing it in Camera Raw vs. CS3?

I believe there is, as do a large number of professional like Jeffe Schewe and Michael Reichman. To achieve similar results with USM in Photoshop frequently requires masks to control unwanted haloes, which are well controlled when sharpening in RAW with the Mask slider. There are a few disbelievers still, though.

Is there a problem in doing it in both places?

I do it in both places - Capture sharpening in RAW to regain the sharpness lost in digital capture, and output sharpening in Photoshop for printing

Finally, the title of this section, "(Preview Only)" is a bit misleading - does this mean it is only sharpening for the purposes of screen previews, or does it actually apply the sharpening to the image prior to importing to CS3?

I do not see a Preview Only setting. I do have the Preview box checked which then displays the changes I make in the RAW image in real time as I edit them.

BinaryFx

A thread currently in progress that may also shed some light on this topic can be found here:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=90263

Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/

Trasmc

Thanks to both of you for your response, as well as the link to the existing thread!

Anthony

pathfinder wrote:

[..]


I do not see a Preview Only setting.

[..]

This is in Camera Raw preferences section of Bridge.

Anthony.

pathfinder

That's why I couldn't find it!!:D Thanks.

And yes, mine is set up to Apply Sharpening to all Images.