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Print vs Online Display: Sharpening Dilemna
wslam
Registered Users Posts: 277 Major grins
I hope it's ok to post so many questions here. I really caught the Smugmug bug and am hoping to max out the capabilities.
I read on smugmug website that smugmug creates 5 sizes of every photo we upload and then will apply sharpening to the resized photos.
A few questions:
1) Originals are always untouched right?
2) Does anyone know what sharpening is applied to the resized photos for each size?
3) When people buy prints, I assume the printing service grabs the Original files? Do they rework the files assuming I say No Crop and True Color?
I am a control freak and want to know exactly what's being done to the images.
I am used to creating two sets of every photo, one for 4x6prints at 300dpi and 800px for web display.
I would like to just do the 1800px (4x6) version now and upload that to Smugmug, but the problem is, for good prints, the files need to look slightly oversharpened online. And I find that there's a slight chance that the files I prepared for 1800px after they get resized by Smugmug (and sharpened again), the SML versions can look slightly TOO sharp.
What do you guys do? I have found a very good sharpening routine to produce very good 4x6 prints, but they just don't look right all the time after Smugmug resized and sharpened.
I read on smugmug website that smugmug creates 5 sizes of every photo we upload and then will apply sharpening to the resized photos.
A few questions:
1) Originals are always untouched right?
2) Does anyone know what sharpening is applied to the resized photos for each size?
3) When people buy prints, I assume the printing service grabs the Original files? Do they rework the files assuming I say No Crop and True Color?
I am a control freak and want to know exactly what's being done to the images.
I am used to creating two sets of every photo, one for 4x6prints at 300dpi and 800px for web display.
I would like to just do the 1800px (4x6) version now and upload that to Smugmug, but the problem is, for good prints, the files need to look slightly oversharpened online. And I find that there's a slight chance that the files I prepared for 1800px after they get resized by Smugmug (and sharpened again), the SML versions can look slightly TOO sharp.
What do you guys do? I have found a very good sharpening routine to produce very good 4x6 prints, but they just don't look right all the time after Smugmug resized and sharpened.
ws, photos.lam.ws
0
Comments
http://www.smugmug.com/help/display-quality
The effects of resizing/sharpening
smugmug uses the Lanczos algorithm that many high-end image software packages use to resample images because it preserves the most detail. It is not often seen in packages like Photoshop, because it is CPU-intensive.
Preserving detail is sometimes confused at first glance with oversharpening. smugmug applies very gentle unsharp mask after resampling so most of the resulting look of our display copies is from Lanczos resampling.
We have found that 90% of people like the detailed look and they are typically photographing cars, landscapes, and wildlife. 10% prefer the softer look of bicubic resampling and very little unsharp mask and they are typically shooting portraits or are fine art photographers seeking a film look.
If you're looking for a softer look, you may not wish to apply much unsharp mask before uploading to smugmug. Perhaps in the future we can allow you to specify your preferences for smugmug resizing.
yes, we print off of your -O original files. Nothing is done to it if you choose no crop and true color.
I recommend loading your FULL files, all the pixels. Do not resize - counterintuitively, smaller prints need more res to print great, they are subject to much closer scrutiny than the biggest of big prints.
I sharpen a light amount - on my 1Ds II and 5D files. They just don't need a ton of sharpening to look great in print. I encourage you, to make up a sample order of a few prints, and see for yourself. Striking the balance between web display and print sharpening quality is not easy but you'll quickly get the hang of it for your workflow - and remember, we're applying some sharpening to the -Ls and -Ms and -S files so my feeling is "less is better" for the originals. Somewhere between 150-250 and .4 radius in CS2 smart sharpen, typically, for me. But it can vary widely depending on image.
I hope this helps!
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