CCC Forum

As I have mentioned elsewhere on the forum, I had a fab few days last week in Barcelona and enjoyed taking lots of photos on the streets, including at night just using the available light. The 5Dm3 has really impressed me in low light conditions so I thought I would share some examples here, along with the EXIF data.

These two shots tell a story - I saw the girl standing alone using her smartphone and thought it made a good pic - then a couple of minutes later she was joined by the chap she was obviously waiting for. Both shots were taken at 105mm with my 24-105 lens at f/4.0, ISO 12800, the first one at 1/80 and the second at 1/125. I have processed both in LR and sharpened in PS12.

Impressive results from such a high ISO. The second shot was well caught.

Rose wrote:I have processed both in LR and sharpened in PS12.

You do know that LR has its own built in sharpening algorithms in the Export and Print functions? That way, you do not need to keep separate versions depending on how the image is to be output.

Yes, I do know - and I recall us discussing it at The Photography Show. My workflow is still based around the principle I was told (albeit a few years ago... and certainly before LR got so functionally rich) that sharpening should be the last thing you do to an image and certainly only after resizing. I output processed jpgs from LR to PS12 to resize them, as well as doing any final cloning, healing, dodging & burning which works better in PS, so that means I sharpen in PS too. I'll admit that my workflow habits are probably stuck in a rut. Up till now I haven't had the time to sit down and learn more, but hopefully that'll change very soon...

Hi Rose

We certainly did discuss this on the way back from The Photography. Doing sharpening last has been outmoded for many years now since some pioneering work by Bruce Fraser and it is beneficial to do some capture sharpening at the Raw conversion stage as well as at final output. My workflow these days is to do as much in Lightroom as I can, which often is most things, and only output to PS CC if I have to. Quite frequently, all I am doing is a Levels tweak and then creating a Smart Object layer in which I do my final processing in Silver Efex Pro 2, regardless of whether the image ends up as mono or colour. The benefit of using a Smart Object is that the SEP2 settings are maintained so I can go back in and tweak things if need be. The image is then saved and as it was created from within Lightroom, it is automatically added to the catalogue. After that, I create all my output from within Lightroom. It is a very convenient and flexible way of working.

Unfortunately PS Elements does not support Smart Objects, so it might be time to think about subscribing to Adobe Creative Cloud.

Do you not find the sharpening tools in LR are a little clunky? It's basically just a slider. I find PS much more effective and flexible usually, rather than simply picking one number on a sliding scale

davidc wrote:Do you not find the sharpening tools in LR are a little clunky? It's basically just a slider. I find PS much more effective and flexible usually, rather than simply picking one number on a sliding scale

????????

The sharpening tool in LR are very similar to unsharp mask and there are FOUR controls:

• Amount
• Radius
• Detail
• Masking

The last is very useful as it controls where the sharpening is applied, either across the whole image or in areas of highest contrast. In other words, the edges of the elements in the image which is where it is really needed.

I follow Adobe's advice and apply modest post capture sharpening, often using one of the the two provided presets for Faces and Scenic.

Yes but adobe themselves have also advised that unsharp mask is no longer the preferred or optimum solution. It was designed decades ago for different images. Their preferred option is Smart Sharpen, I think I posted links a few months ago?

davidc wrote:Yes but adobe themselves have also advised that unsharp mask is no longer the preferred or optimum solution. It was designed decades ago for different images. Their preferred option is Smart Sharpen, I think I posted links a few months ago?

There are two types of sharpening which are done at different stages during post caputure processing.

Capture sharpening is done at Raw conversion and it is that to which I am referring.

Output sharpening is done at, surprise, surprise, output and varies according to the use to which the image is to be put. An image for print will receive more sharpening than one which will end up on the web. If you output using Lightroom, there is an intelligent built-in sharpening algorithm which takes care of everything and that is what I invariably use on its standard setting. It is accessed either via the Print module or the Export function which is in the Library module. If you have previously undertaken Capture sharpening, less sharpening is needed at output. These days, if you are using Lightroom, there really is little need to sharpen in Photoshop unless you need to something specific.

If you want to know all the ins and outs of sharpening, I recommend this book* by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe as it contains everything you could possibly need to know. You do not actually have to read it as I have told you everything you need to know in this thread and Jeff Schewe was one of the brains behind the Lightroom sharpening utility.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Sharpenin ... 0321637550

* At around 350 pages, it is especially good for those suffering from insomnia.