Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

A particularly lucid, and concise discussion of sharpness can be found at
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/sharpness.shtml

There is no question that viewing our images on a display screen, regardless of its quality, is a poor substitute for evaluating sharpness in the print. Every authority on image sharpness tells us that the final judgements on image sharpness can be made only from the print, not from from the display screen!

The two best references I can recommend are:

"The Digital Print" by Jeff Schewe, Peachtree Press, 2014
and
"Image Sharpening With Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom" by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe, Peachtree Press, 2nd. Edition, 2010

here are two examples of images of mine, both having been termed to be very sharp when posted on UHH.
The first (the grackle) most definitely is not "sharp"; iridescense of the feathers merely give the illusion of sharpness. The second "snow leopard portrait" is, indeed, "sharp" by any criterion. The difference between them is clearly evident in the prints of each.

Thanks for suggesting a great topic that clearly needs disscussion in greater depth.

Dave

grackle

(Download)

snow leopard

(Download)

Nightski

I think they both look very sharp. Are these the digital images or are they pictures of the printed images?

I will go read about this at the link you provided and come back to this with questions and thoughts. I would like to print some of my images soon. I feel it is the next step that I have been avoiding. Baby steps.

We are in retail though, and I'm putting in 12 to 14 hours days 7 days a week until 3pm Christmas Eve .. so if I'm slow .. that's why. Got home after 10 last night. :-(

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

I have to admit that your question caught me momentarily flat-footed! These posted images are images from the original image files. Please realize, however, that images made by digital photography of the prints would not be expected to reveal any more detail on your display screen than do the images made of the original subjects.




Understood! And have a very happy holiday season...and a prosperous holiday retail season as well!!!

Best regards,
Dave

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

[quote=Nightski]You know Dave, I was thinking about bringing that up. I have only seen one of my images printed. My mother bought a print of a sunrise I shot as a gift for her friend. I was so surprised how beautiful it looked printed. It made me wonder if the digital images we see show more flaws than the printed image.
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The point is that no image on a computer display is capable of revealing the detail in a digital image file as well as can a well-produced print from that same image file. The final test of image sharpness is thus the print, not the appearance of the image on your computer's display screen.

Happy New Year'

Dave