Sharpening
Paul Malley • 18 April 2022
SHARPENING
A few Blog entries back, I submitted a short piece of work regarding my use of 'Auto-ISO' which, I'm pleased to say, generated some interest and subsequent discussion at the Clubhouse. In a bid to keep alternative thoughts and views going, this time I'm including a section on my preferred method of Sharpening images (lights blue touch-paper and steps back...), - please note I said "my preferred method" as, not only are there a number of ways of sharpening an image, but it is one of the most 'Subjective' issues when concluding a workflow process.
Many DSLR units are fitted with an anti-aliasing filter in the sensor path, which counter affects the moiré patterning, or coloured cross parallax of some light wavelengths. Anything placed in front of the sensor, can optically reduce the efficiency of the light path so, to overcome this, a degree of sharpening of an image is required, to reinstate any corrective action. Newer DSLR and Mirrorless units do not all have this anti-aliasing filter, but sharpening is still applied within the workflow.
Sharpening works by producing a better defined line (NOT the same as contrast) at boundary edges, (in the good old wet darkroom, this was termed Acutance). The degree and method of sharpening as stated, is hugely subjective as, applied to the wrong style of image, or at the wrong focal viewpoint, or in too greater strength can be detrimental. I have seen the evolving of sharpening within 'Photoshop Elements' since about 2008, where it was issued as a simple one-click function under the 'Enhance' Tab as 'auto-sharpen'. This was a quick one-stop pass that applied sharpening via an algorithm which, although hit and miss at times, gave a somewhat credible change. In subsequent versions, it became more refined, and sliders were introduced, offering control into variable levels of overall sharpness. About 10yrs ago, a huge step-change came in whereby the edge radius and strength could be altered to suit, offering 0.1 pixel units. Nowadays, sharpening can be done on separate layers, combined with clarity, contrast and split down within different layers, even identifying selective target areas to sharpen, before they are all merged down like layers in a sandwich.
For me, in my current Affinity Photo Software, I use a 3-stage sharpening process (Please note there are differences at the final stage for presentation in Print format, or display as a PDI). I conduct each stage in isolation, and it is done as the final part of my jpeg workflow process before I save the image.
Stage 1. This is a PRE-SHARPEN action, where the minimal radius and strength factor are applied to the overall image via the strangely termed 'Unsharp Mask' (each part of the image gets the same sharpening factor in one operation).
Stage 2. This is CREATIVE or SELECTIVE Sharpening, where I can select/identify what part of the image I wish to enhance beyond Stage 1. It may be the model's eyes, a tree in a landscape, or a head-on motorcycle fairing. In this stage, using a New Layer, selecting a brush, I work round the item and check it is bounded by the infamous 'marching ants'. Once identified a second pass is given using the same as in Stage 1. Once completed, a simple deselect of the marching ants shows the added 'pop' of the detail within the selected area. I then Merge/Flatten the Layers into one.
Stage 3. The final action is termed OUTPUT Sharpening. For me, working in PDI, I resize the document to the longest 1920 x 1200 format and apply a final overall sharpen in Unsharp Mask at a low output. This third and final stage can be dramatic as it is at the output for a good projected resolution.
If all has worked well, the image should have a nice, overall sharpness courtesy of stages 1 and 3 and the main point which the viewer may concentrate or gravitate to should have that extra pop, courtesy of Stage 2.
As a small aside, I remove my Noise during RAW conversion, as you don't want to be working on a noise image, either by creating Layers and putting Noise on top of Noise, or sharpening Noise at three separate stages. Noise can also have the effect of apparent sharpness reduction, - so get rid of it early.
Be wary of over sharpening, it can lead to artefacts, jagged edges or fringing, in worse cases it can also promote haloing or banding separation. Sometimes, less is more and I usually 'back-off a bit' on my final sharpening, rather than push a sharpening boundary.
Have a try with small amounts of sharpening, on different Layers (always on a working copy file, not the original primary jpeg) and pick something out that you want the viewer to look at. I have done my 3-Stage approach on this image of the Kingfisher, with selective sharpening applied to the head and leading edge of the wing.
Louth Photographic Society
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our Print Of The Year (POTY) competition, it's one of our highlights of the year and judged by Grahame Dunkin, it proved to be an excellent night with some very good prints on show. The results are on our website under competitions but the highlights were Dave Turner being placed first in the Pictorial, landscape and best Mono print in show; Robin Begley, First in the Record section, Keith Rossington first place in Portrait, Harry Kerman first in the photo/journalism (including Street) and myself taking first place in the Nature as well as overall Print of the Year. My photograph of a Hairy Shield bug was taken at Chambers wood on a camera club outing. This week, Wednesday 19th February, we are sorting out Prints for our 70th anniversary exhibition at Louth Museum. Please bring along any local prints you may have and maybe a few further afield for selection. Please also bring along any prints you may have that you think will be ok for the LPA Foster challenge and LPA Battles. They need to be mounted on a 500mm x 400mm mount and a maximum print size of A3. Don't forget to take a photograph of water if you are doing this years project, no real excuses at the moment. Regards Graham
Our highlight competition, Print Of The Year (POTY) competition was held last night, with our judge Grahame Dunkin giving his experienced critique on the excellent images submitted. Congratulations to Dave Turner for his Monochrome image of the year: West Pier Watchtower - Whitby, and Graham Harrison for his Colour image: Hairy Shield Bug.
Good Morning All Last week we went to have a look at the Lancaster sculpture at Norton Disney, it is open for visitors at certain times and although work is still ongoing the main Lancaster is finished and a car park in place. The sculpture is full size weighing 100 tons and honours WW2 RAF crews. Last week at the club Derek Smith ran an editing night, members were asked to bring their laptops in and Derek gave us all an SD card with some images to edit and information regarding the free editing software. A different and interesting night and hopefully we all learnt something and anyone new to photography would have learnt quite a lot. Thank you Derek for running the evening. This week, Wednesday 11th February, we have one of the clubs yearly highlights, the Print Of The Year (POTY) competition to be judged by Grahame Dunkin, all the entries are now in and you should have checked the scoresheets to make sure yours are included. Dave Turner is also asking for prints to enter into the Foster Challenge and LPA Print Battles. He will ask to use prints that are in the print of the year but if you have any prints that you think would be good to enter in the two competitions please bring them and hand them into Dave Turner. The following week we are having an evening collecting everything in for our exhibition at the Louth museum, if you can sort out any prints especially local prints that could go into our exhibition please bring them in on the 18th February. Regards Graham
Last Sunday I was in Stockton on Tees working with Izzy, a favourite model of mine she enjoys cosplay, that’s dressing up as a character from Marvel, Hasbro, or film titles. This photo is of Fey, a woodland sprite, pictured against a woodland backdrop that I bought for the photoshoot. I stayed overnight at a Premier Inn, and in the morning drove to Staithes, as I had always wanted to visit this fishing village, Staithes in the February rain wasn’t much fun, and the tide was out, but I did manage to take a few photos, and I captured one for the “Water” project so I was pleased with that. I was quite surprised how vibrant the colours were in the drizzle, and misty light. Driving back over the North Yorkshire Moors in rain, and fog, didn’t allow for much photography either. Yesterday, walking along the harbour front in Bridlington the high tide, and strong winds had thrown lots of debris onto the promenade, seaweed, nets, tree branches, and cuttlefish kept council workmen busy clearing up the mess. With the right clothing, and a weatherproof camera photography can still be enjoyed even in poor conditions.
A photo editing workshop was held last night, with members bringing in their laptops, and post processing sample images. Members were able to practice processing bracketed, and focus stacked images. Simple editing tasks of cloning unwanted items from images, cropping, and resizing of images were shown. The excellent FastStone photo viewer, and editor was able to accomplish most tasks apart from developing of RAW images, this free software is a “must have” for those with Windows computers. The Affinity photo editor has now been acquired by Canva, and the changes applied by Canva have made the software very confusing to use, and on my 14” Lenovo Thinkpad, it was very difficult to view the master layer to apply adjustments. PhotoScape X is a simplistic photo editor, for all that the software was easy to use, and the RAW processing was seamless. It was an interesting evening, and hopefully members will have attained some new skills in post processing, some of the images edited are shown here.
Good morning All I did manage to get to visit Gibraltar Point last week, very few birds to photograph at this time of year but I took a few and a Grey Squirrel. Last week member Dave Mann showed us photographs from his visit to Beamish, it's a great day out and Dave went round most of it and showed us some photographs from the new 1950's town as well as the farm, pit village, town and trains. Thank you Dave, and Harry for helping out with refreshments. This week, Wednesday 4th February, Derek is running an editing night, he has sent us all information on what we could download, if you have a laptop remember to bring it along. Print of the year is fast approaching, if you are entering make sure you send Dave Turner a list of your entries with which subject they are in and bring your prints along this week. Regards Graham
Fed up with watching the rain coming down, I set out yesterday into the rain to Normanby Hall to try and get a photo for the “Water Project”, I have one potentially good image, but I always like to see if I can get something better. My OM Systems OM-1 camera, and 12-40mm Pro lens are weatherproof, but obviously I wasn’t, but really lovely to get out.
Last night Dave Mann gave an excellent talk on his visit to Beamish in May last year. Dave explored much more of the Beamish site than when I visited in April last year, Dave mentioned the difficulties of getting on some of the vintage transport around the site, I experienced the same during my visit. It's a fascinating historic working museum and well recommended for a visit. Many thanks Dave for an entertaining evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we had our yearly project night, last year it was one photograph a month with the same focal length, there is a full report on the evening on our blog page, but four members did last year's project with newer member Sam Collet showing photographs at the club for the first time, some excellent photographs taken in Japan. It would be good if a few more members took part this year, just one photograph a month with the subject being water. Attached is my January photograph from last year, it would work for this years project as well. This week, Wednesday 28th January, our catering manager Dave Mann will be having a week off and showing some of his photographs. His presentation will be a mixed bag of photographs. Don't forget to send Dave Turner an email with your titles for the print of the year. Entries will need bringing in on the 4th February. Regards Graham
We held our "Project Night" last night, the theme being "Prime Time", one photo each month taken over the previous 12 months, using the same focal length "prime" lens. Myself, Harry Kerman, Keith Rossington, and Graham Harrison, had each completed the project and were able to show their results as projected images at the meeting. The results of the project were very interesting, seeing how each photographer had approached the theme, and their interpretation of the project. I have posted here one image from each photographer. The evening was rounded off by one of our newer members, Sam Collett, displaying some of his images taken on a visit to Japan, his wildlife photography was stunning in detail, and quality, well done Sam.
