Which software do you deem the best

for sharpening photos? I want my pics to be as sharp as possible- which is your go to program? Paul

Nik or Topaz....................

I have NIK tools as well as a lot of software from Topaz labs for this but I keep coming back to Photoshop's Unsharp Mask, personally. Mainly because of the degree of flexibility and control it offers. Getting the most out of USM requires you to learn a few simple things but it really puts you in the drivers seat when it comes to sharpening an image once you do. If you can't do what you need to get done using USM it probably can't be done, at least not well. But this assumes you're starting with a good, clean image that can be properly sharpened to begin with.

Another good application many may not have heard of, though, is one called Focus Magic. I don't know if it's still around but it's a great application that works differently than USM. As I recall it's kind of a combination of Adobe's "Camera Shake Reduction" combined with standard micro-contrast sharpening... Or something.

Macphun Intensify CK takes some beating IMHO. Can handle layers and masks allowing different amounts of sharpening to be applied to specific areas using its brush tool.
Acts stand alone or as a LR and PS plug-in.

Actually Lightroom had sharpening and clarity that works wonders. Over Sharpening can look very bad so you really want to be careful. I was very guilty of over sharpening for a long time and since I have scaled it back I think I photos actually look a lot better

Capture One. don't need anything else

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Acr 9.6

Sharpening tools are fine for enhancing the already sharp shots, which you can get by mostly with good technique.

I like to use PS unsharp mask mostly and Topaz labs sharpening tools . I only use Topaz when I want to bring out some part of the shot that I think needs a little extra oomf.

I very seldom sharpen the whole image all together. I never sharpen sky and I only sharpen water seldom. Mostly with action shots, like if the bird is taking off the water, or a white water rafter is getting splashed on the face. That sort of thing.

Don Kuykendall said:

Actually Lightroom had sharpening and clarity that works wonders. Over Sharpening can look very bad so you really want to be careful. I was very guilty of over sharpening for a long time and since I have scaled it back I think I photos actually look a lot better

Click to expand...

I do not sharpen until I output to size. I use a resize action in Photoshop that's a part of Jimmy McIntyre's Raya Pro Panel that includes a sharpening layer in the derived file. It defaults to 50% opacity and I'll play with that before flattening. I'll then invoke the Camera Raw Filter, which is the same set of tools Don mentions from Lightroom, and adjust sharpening again there, usually with a small radius and the Unsharp Mask slider ending up somewhere in the 90's, which winds up functioning much like the Unsharp Mask already in Photoshop, but I may also use the CRF to tweak any light and color issues I see after the resize so it's killing two birds with one stone.

Thanks guys for the useful info- I'd like to ask what are the symptoms of over-sharpening besides increased noise? Paul

tea2085 said:

Thanks guys for the useful info- I'd like to ask what are the symptoms of over-sharpening besides increased noise? Paul

Click to expand...

What I see most commonly are halo artifacts; these are very light, bright outlines near the edges. Over-sharpening also creates jagged edges and pixelization.

Over sharpening can create background pixelation and also light glows along high contrast edges.
This site has some very good info and examples.

Guide to Image Sharpening