How to sharpen?

[Shogun]

Been trying out my new Canon 400D. How do I sharpen an image?
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/shogun249/IMG_0053_0600x517.jpg

[tiler65]

A quick highpass filter to sharpen.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/ardion-90/HighPass.jpg

[oldgit]

Oh wow :eek: ask an easy one why dont you...?
This is an ever open topic with as many variations as there are opinions and requirements.
Different pictures require different styles and types of sharp'ing.
Depending on purpose the amount varies (printing "generally" needs more than on screen).

Some posibilities are:
- Sharpen
- UnSharp Mask (USM)
- Highpass filter overlay
- Smart sharpen
- ...



There are some simple donts however
Dont:
- oversharpen and get "halo" effects
- add graininess / lose detail

There are LOTS of web sites that have helpful ideas, here are a couple...

luminous landsape (http://www.google.com/custom?sitesearch=luminous-landscape.com&cof=GIMP%3Aff9900%3BT%3Acccccc%3BLW%3A469%3BALC%3A 993300%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fluminous-landscape.com%2Fimages%2FLL-logo.jpg%3BGFNT%3Affcc00%3BLC%3Acc0000%3BLH%3A81%3 BBGC%3A000000%3BAH%3Acenter%3BVLC%3Acc9900%3BGL%3A 2%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fluminous-landscape.com%3BGALT%3A006600%3BAWFID%3A35f6ab491f b2b550%3B&domains=luminous-landscape.com&q=sharpening&searchbutton.x=0&searchbutton.y=0)

creative pro (http://www.creativepro.com/software/home/57.html)

[Ewan]

:agree:

Unsharp mask is what I use on most of my shots. You need Photoshop though.

[DaveW]

Unsharp mask is available in Photoshop Elements too Ewan.

DaveW

[mho]

I have recently being reading articles published by some top photographers and they are now sharpening in RAW, (as before its always been stated it should be done near the end.)

Their thinking is you have more control over the pixels in RAW and the algorithms used to sharpen will give a much subtler sharpen, with less chance of introducing artefacting and oversharpening. As you not sharpening files which have been processed and theirfore slightly degraded.

I think the whole debate of sharpening will continue.

I will say if you print your images, dont rely on how sharp they look on your screen, as when printed they will be diffrent. And may need a bit more than when you use tham on the web.

Its really all trial and error, also each model of camera will usually require a differing amount of sharpening to be applied to the files.