Alamy Sharpening

[Xarra]

I was wondering about Alamy's sharpening rule - I have to sharpen all my bird pictures as my 70-300 is a little soft at the high end... How do you get sharp pictures without PP sharpening so they're eligible?

 

[Dudie]

I've never found a little sneaky USM to be a problem with Alamy submissions

However, I am talking a very small amount before the final save to jpeg, usually just to ensure pictures taken with one of my cheapy lenses are up there sharpnesswise with those taken with my better glass, which generally receive no sharpening at all (capture sharpening set to 0 in DPP)

Remember, you are not looking to submit images that are sharp enough for viewing on screen or print straight off the bat. It is left to the end user to sharpen as they see fit.

I was convinced my inital submissions would fail due to lack of sharpness but they passed without issue, as has everything since - despite me trying to test the lower limits of QC acceptability with my dodgy snaps. Stuff taken with my Sigma 70-300mm at the supposedly soft 300mm end has been OK with a little bit of USM applied.

The best thing to do is just upload some pics you're not sure of and see if they pass QC. If they fail, worry about the sharpening then and have another go.

 

[Itti]

As said above, the reason they don't want you to sharpen it is because the clients will do the sharpening themselves before they buy the image.