New PPW panels

[imported_julie]

hi
coming in a bit late but I downloaded the panel to try the sharpening action

my question is
after using the sharpening action why can I only save in JPEG 2000 and not just in JPEG

julie

[imported_ganna]

Julie, make sure your image is in 8 bit, you cannot save 16 bit images to jpeg. Secondly, after sharpening the image may still be in Lab, convert to RGB.  :)

[ggroess]

The action leaves the image in LAB mode.  Switch back to JPG and you are good to go.

Greg

[imported_julie]

Hi all

thanks very much
changed to RGB in PS and it worked a treat

You are a wonderful resource

Julie

[imported_julie]

Hi
I have been using the sharpening action in the PPW panel.
I am impressed, but also not sure I am making good decisions
I view at 'actual pixels' when trying to decide how much sharpening to do

At this point I am making guesses and switching between actual pixels and fit on screen while making decisions.
I am not sure how much 'noise' I can tolerate at actual pixels
I'm not sure I even have the language to describe what I am seeing
Does sharpening look different on screen to print?

I tend to prefer under sharpened rather than over sharpened as a personal preference but would appreciate any help that might make decision making more consistent and knowledge based rather than haphazardly gut based

[ggroess]

Julie can you post an example of what you think is over sharpened?

Greg

[imported_julie]

HI
Thanks for the quick reply
the first image I have decided on 66%
At 100% sharpening it just looks too weird when viewed at 'actual pixels"
Maybe that's ok and I just need to learn how to 'see' a that magnification
I use the slider to adjust the strength on the top layer
I delete the layer that is called 'unsharpened merged'


the second one is where it gets harder for me
it was taken in a museum with no flash using iso 2500
So I know I am going to have noise issues
I was juggling the noise and increase in sharpening
One is at the strength I chose the other at 100 %

I would just really appreciate your eye
Both look over sharpened to me at at 100%
But am I under sharpening at the levels I am choosing?

thanks for your time
Julie

[imported_julie]

Here are the other two
I was reluctant to compress too much in case you could not see what I was talking about
The other option is I am looking at the small picture rather than the big one (figuratively not literally). I have a tendency to get bogged in the details and forget the whole.

Julie

[imported_ganna]

If I may share a breakthrough for myself that I learned from Trey Ratcliff. Use sharpening just as jou would use dodge and burn, selectively. I used to just sharpen the whole image and thats it. Rather look at what part needs most sharpening, ie the eyes and then use layers and masking to select the areas that you want to stand out most. (Some areas 100%, some 60, some 20% and the resr 0). This way you can avoid the noise problem overall. In the same way do noise reduction, shadow/higlight and often even selective  colour saturation of just specific areas. Sorry for perhaps this boring point, but I missed it for a long time. 

[ggroess]

This is a very interesting aspect of the image process...

Julie,
Your question about this really goes back to some of the things we have talked about in the past.  What are your goals for the image?  What is the output destination?  The reason I answer this way is that the goals and destination should help YOU determine the right amount of sharpness. 

That being said I did not find either of the images to be too badly sharpened at 100% size.  While there is noise in the frame most of it on my monitor was due to the JPEG artifact rather than pixel troubles.  For me I usually see over sharpening with PPW in the subtle details.  See shots 1 and 2 below.  Shot 1 is my normal image which has already been sharpened by the PPW sharpening and de-tuned until I was satisfied.  Shot 2 is the same image sharpened by PPW and the red circles show the trouble areas. 

The same image at 30% does not seem to show the same things...Image 3 is the normal image and Image 4 is the PPW sharpened.  Image 4 looks great at 30%.  But as they used to say in Russia..."Russia is Beautiful country...Just don't look too close." (joking) I hope you see my point. 

All that being said Julie as we build you into a great image analyst and post processor.  Your judgement is your best tool.  What do you see?  If you find something "offensive" then try a different method.  Try smart sharpen or unsharp masking.  Try Martins suggestion...I do have some concerns about it... but try it...I personally have 3 different methods I use and sometimes one is better than another and sometimes I do one then another.

Remember your output path and your goals and see if you can decide what you like best.
Greg