In response to James G's sharpening action technique

[IzzieK]

I promise James and Dan K that I will upload an image using James G's sharpening technique... so here it is...this bird was outside my dining room window and stayed there for a while so I thought it wants me to photograph him/her. As you can see, the sun was already up and I was just whiling my time away before I go to the airport for my flight (to Oz) at the time and I thought nothing of this bird until I saw how awful I did shot this one and through the window made it a bit foggy...I thought this one will be a good candidate for James G's sharpening technique...same bird shot but different blurring...

1) Gaussian Blur 1.5



2) Gaussian Blur 5



3) Surface Blur -- I have never used this filter before...so I must have overdone this one...



4) Noise Filter -- I have not used this filter before too but I put my option to 6 because it is one of my favourite number...silly but this is just an experiment, what the heck? Just do it...



Sorry about the composition...this is just an experiment and I would like to thank James G. Edward for putting his action up...made me get my butt in the chair to do some PP again...

[HaseebM]

Final result is good Izzie though I would still do a bit more sharpening.

[IzzieK]

Thanks Haseeb...I was just playing around at my options. I like the action very much...

[James G]

Hi Izzie,
glad you like the action, as I said in my post, using a blur layer mask to sharpen is a bit of a chore if you have to manually do all the steps, so the action does take away the grind part of the process.

I tend to use the Noise/median option where there is a mixture of fine detail and 'significant' space (not sky/cloud). An example would be my shots of the moon, or in the example shots I posted, the textured rock area and the clothing patterns.

I think I use surface blur where there is finer more granular detail eg landscapes with trees etc.

Gaussian I tend to use less than the other two, because it produces more halos (noticeable) very quickly e.g. between horizon and sky where there is a sharp change in contrast.

My usual trick is to target areas for sharpening, apply the action at a level which probably overcooks it and then reduce the opacity till I find an acceptable level. One advantage is that because the sharpening is on its own layer, it can be switched off or deleted without any need to 'retrace' any process.

In the same vein, I often deselect the sharpening layer, and apply another, toggling between them to see which gives me the best result.

One final tip... and I'm not sure if this is just me or if it is something 'real', but when I use Surface Blur, I have found that a ratio of 1:3 for threshold to radius values seems to give the most 'pleasing' result i.e. 10 levels/30Pixels 20 levels/60 pixels etc

[IzzieK]

I will copy this message for reference. I have been editing quite a bit of shots from recent trip and using your sharpening method...I like both surface and noise options, noise more than anything. I've had good results from these last two on my flower and thought in the middle of it that it looks too much overdone but when I press the button to continue, it gave me the best sharpening on hand...actually, even my blurred shot of my granddaughter turned out OK and I am pleased with it..

Thanks again, James...this is god send. Makes my PP life easier...