At 12:48 AM 3/27/2004 -0500, you wrote: >Thanks to everyone who replied to my questions. :-) > >My conclusion is that sharpening is not really needed for sky/clouds, but >that a >small amount may be beneficial to offset scan-induced softening and/or to help >minimize the effects of downsizing to jpegs. My workflow takes 55mb TIFFs >down >to ~1mb TIFFs in a 5-step downsizing. These files are then used as >"webmasters" >to create several sizes of jpegs. I do not print from the large TIFFs >(yet) but >use them for stock, while all jpegs are for web or previewing. > >With the above in mind, at what stage would a small sharpening or contrast >enhancement make the most sense *IF* I only want to do it once, at one >point in >the process? Should I leave the TIFFs alone but do something to make enhanced >jpegs... or should this enhancement occur earlier on the TIFFs? > >Is there any consensus on which software for sharpening (excluding PS) offers >the best results in the most simple, automated way? > >Thanks! >Ed Verkaik
Well, given your "once" constraint the simple answer is . . . "USM treatment should be the last thing you do before you save your otherwise-completely-edited" file to whatever format (presumably JPEG for online display) you use. As for the best one-step USM process: Fred Miranda's IS action for PS is the "best easy" (i.e., one-step) USM utility that I'm aware of. And it's reasonably priced. And if you decide to buy it, please use my site's link to get it, as then I'll receive a modest kickback from Fred. (All of this money goes directly back into the maintenance of my site.) You could find that link here: http://tristanjohn.com/inkstwo.htm My first page was devoted to a simple comparison test of the FM IS action versus the one-shot USM utility offered by Picture Window Pro. I'm not trying to pick on the latter, but it will give you a good idea of the difference between USM utilities (the majority) which use a shotgun approach as opposed to USM techniques which look rather only (or at least primarily) to the _edges_ of the target image. You can find that comparison here: http://tristanjohn.com/USMtest.htm Happy sharpening! Tris ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe by mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with 'unsubscribe filmscanners' or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the message title or body
