Creating a Tack Sharp Photo: I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack...

LPigott Loc: Monterey Peninsula, CA

I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack sharpness, is PP required as well?

When I sharpen in PSCS6 it looks great on screen but can look awful when printed. Do you have suggestions?

gregoryd45 Loc: Fakahatchee Strand

LPigott wrote:

I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack sharpness, is PP required as well?

When I sharpen in PSCS6 it looks great on screen but can look awful when printed. Do you have suggestions?

I don't know about others, LPigott, but I have never sharpened any of my shots, I think if you do it right the first time you don't need sharpening, and my lenses are 20 years old

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

LPigott wrote:

I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack sharpness, is PP required as well?

When I sharpen in PSCS6 it looks great on screen but can look awful when printed. Do you have suggestions?

It is true that digital images generally benefit from at least SOME sharpening.

You are not giving us much information. What program are you using. What filter do you use for sharpening? Unsharp Mask or something else? What settings do you use for Amount, Radius, and Threshold?

What magnification on your monitor are you using when sharpening? By that i mean that 100% is pixel for pixel - 1 pixel on your display = one pixel in the image. As a general statement, previewing sharpening is best done at 100%.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

LPigott wrote:

I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack sharpness, is PP required as well?

When I sharpen in PSCS6 it looks great on screen but can look awful when printed. Do you have suggestions?

It depends.

all raw files need SOME sharpening. That doesn't mean that you need to crank the sharpening...but "some" is useful.

I think that there is more to the sharpness issue.

I'm a pixel peeper and I've owned some SHARP lenses, and I can say without a doubt...ALL lenses need the best conditions to look their best.

If you shoot with a moderately high ISO in poor light, I don't care how good your lens is, you won't come away with a tack sharp image.

Also, you have to FILL the frame with your intended subject...that means if you take a shot of a sparrow at 25 yards with that 100mm lens, it won't look sharp.

If you really want to up your sharpness quotient, use flash. You can really make your shots look RAZOR sharp when you use flash, it highlights ALL the edges of everything and the effect is super sharpness.

Would you like me to post a demo shot?

Rongnongno Loc: FL

LPigott wrote:

I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack sharpness, is PP required as well?

When I sharpen in PSCS6 it looks great on screen but can look awful when printed. Do you have suggestions?

The idea that it automatically needs sharpening comes from the filter used in front of the sensor.

Some camera have it disabled now, at a price, like it was a privilege not have something...

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Rongnongno wrote:

The idea that it automatically needs sharpening comes from the filter used in front of the sensor.

Some camera have it disabled now, at a price, like it was a privilege not have something...

I own two cameras without the AA filter and the raw files still need sharpening.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

gregoryd45 wrote:

I don't know about others, LPigott, but I have never sharpened any of my shots, I think if you do it right the first time you don't need sharpening, and my lenses are 20 years old

Are you shooting JPEG or RAW. If you are doing JPEG the camera does sharpening for you (as programed by the maker) If you shoot RAW you have to do the sharpening yourself (as you like it) almost all need some sharpening wither you do it yourself or let the camera do it for you. - Dave

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

gregoryd45 wrote:

I don't know about others, LPigott, but I have never sharpened any of my shots, I think if you do it right the first time you don't need sharpening, and my lenses are 20 years old

Lol...not true

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I've had a number of digital images over the years that simply did not benefit from sharpening in PP. In other words, additional sharpening didn't contribute much of anything useful to the images. Mostly these were images captured with the camera on a tripod and triggered either by remote or with the camera's timer.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

LPigott wrote:

I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack sharpness, is PP required as well?

When I sharpen in PSCS6 it looks great on screen but can look awful when printed. Do you have suggestions?

I believe there is some truth to the idea that all digital images need some amount of sharpening, because the individual photo sites on the imaging chip only capture either R, G or B data. The Antialias filter that the Nikon D800E, for instance, lacks, is designed to put in some amount of "blur" but the fact is that there is a computation at every point in the final image based on the individual photo sites in the vicinity of that point. In a sense, a "pixel" on the CCD is not the same thing as a "pixel" in an RGB file - some interpretation needs to be done (that's why there's no such thing as viewing a RAW file - RAW is back to the individual photo site data).

But the subject matter itself also impacted the amount of sharpening required, so there is not a one-size-fits-all answer for every image.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

I don't remember sharpening in the dark room. Are film cameras or film sharper than digital? Was manual focus better than AF now available with digital?

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

LPigott wrote:

I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack sharpness, is PP required as well?

When I sharpen in PSCS6 it looks great on screen but can look awful when printed. Do you have suggestions?

Do not sharpen above 100

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Assuming you are starting with a RAW file and sharpening the final TIFF or jpeg file, I'm guessing that you are over sharpening a little, or adding too much "clarity" or "structure" to your images.

Sharpening should be done after cropping and sizing, and be the very last step unless some additional retouching becomes necessary after sharpening. Your sharpening should just barely be visible when observed at 50 - 100%.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

LPigott wrote:

I've read, and heard from professionals, that digital images all need sharpening in post-processing. Assuming I have camera and lenses capable of tack sharpness, is PP required as well?

When I sharpen in PSCS6 it looks great on screen but can look awful when printed. Do you have suggestions?

Many DSLRs have a Menu choice to adjust sharpening, just as they have an adjustment for color - Vivid, Normal, etc.

If they're not printing sharp, that could have something to do with the paper, ink, or printer.

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

jerryc41 wrote:

Many DSLRs have a Menu choice to adjust sharpening, just as they have an adjustment for color - Vivid, Normal, etc.

If they're not printing sharp, that could have something to do with the paper, ink, or printer.

" that could have something to do with the paper, ink, or printer." Matte and fine art papers generally require more sharpening than do glossy finishes and also differing subject matter require various amounts of sharpening --- so called "high frequency" (lots of detail) images, such as landscapes, require a smaller radius and a greater amount than a person's portrait, for example.