DPP: Exercise 24: Sharpening for Print

This exercise is intended as an experiment in sharpening, both for screen and print.  I expect I will be adding to this over the next two weeks as I experiment with new software, but for now I present the results of my first trial.

Sharpening is of two kinds:  1) to recover detail, and 2) to enhance an image for presentation.  It is can be applied 1) locally, to just a part of an image, or 2) globally, to the entire image.  Application is achieved 1) as part of the process of image processing, 2) at export, as part of document creation, or 3) both of these.

For the purpose of this experiment, four copies of the following image were produced in Lightroom using the following procedures:

1. Reference: Tonal and exposure adjustments only.  Zero sharpening.
2. Export:  Sharpening for printing on glossy at export.  No program sharpening.  
3. Program:  Global sharpening of 50 only.  No sharpening at export.  
4. Export-Program:  Global sharpening of 50 + mask of 25 on tree + printing on glossy at export

I used Lr because it has been my software of choice for the past two years.  As noted here in the blog, I have been studying and practicing with Photoshop for the past two months.  I will be using Ps to process Assignment 5 and am now in the midst of experimenting with sharpening and printing with Ps.  Samples from those experiments are forthcoming.

In the meantime, observations on this sharpening experiment.

1. No sharpening produces a flat image both on screen and paper.  
2. The image in this set with most sharpening (Export-Program) appears best on screen and on paper.  
3. None of the images in this set appear over-sharpened on screen, though the Export-Program version comes closest to being so.  
4. At high magnification, effects of chromatic aberration become increasingly exacerbated with the application of sharpening (see samples below). At 8x12 or full screen, these artifacts are not noticeable. 
5. None of the images in this set appear at all over-sharpened on paper.  
6. Sharpening is more apparent on screen than on paper, suggesting that when preparing for print sharpening on screen should be somewhat obvious.
7. A couple of detail areas where increased sharpening produced increased definition:  the boy on the bicycle, the mosque turret, the reflection of the mosque windows.  

And in a matter unrelated to sharpening:

• Brightness needs to be increased on printing.  These images are far duller on paper than on screen.

200% detail samples:

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