Sharpness and Contrast

[Samurai_ag]

I am familiar with the unsharp mask features and playing with the contrast in photoshop CS2...but I don't feel like I am getting the maximum sharpness and enough contrast to make the colors pop...does anyone have any suggestions...are there some plug-ins i need to be using??????????
any suggestions would be great...trying to take it to the next level!!

[canoflan]

This is quite a general question. I find that DVD tutorials and books are a cheaper route to PS techniques than plug ins, but I have my fair share of plugins as well, but for good reason after I already know the PS techniques. The plugins speed things up and possibly do a better job since so much is done behind the scenes.

I suggest you get a couple books: Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby and then Lab Color: the Canyon Conundrum by Dan Margulis.

These will get you moving in the right direction. I tell you both of these because one is a "do it this way to get this" book, and the Margulis book tells you why things work the way they do and how to get the most out of photoshop for your efforts.

If you want to go the plug in route, I would look at the Nik Color Efex 3.0 and the OnOne Phototools. These are both fantastic, but about $500 worth of plugins. Kevin Kubota has some really good plugins as well and specializes in helping wedding photogs get the most out of their wedding portraits and images in minimal time.
Pat

[Samurai_ag]

I will look into those...i have a couple of books....i'll have to check and see which ones i have...I will certainly look into the lab color book since i know very little about lab color

[erisian pope]

I personally prefer to use smart sharpen in photoshop to sharpen my images. I also only sharpen my pictures after resizing for whatever medium I will be displaying them (sized for web or sized for print). I also sometimes sharpen the RAW file in the RAW conversion before I edit the picture in Photoshop. I also adjust the colors in the RAW conversion to the level of saturation I desire as well. You might also want to look at using curves in photoshop (especially as an adjustment layer).

If you don't already shoot in RAW I would recommend it. You can to tremendous things to sharpen and improve colors when adjusting RAW files.

All the terms I underlined are worth googling if you aren't already familiar with them.

[luis_relampago]

What is your technique for sharpening and adding contrast to a picture? there is more than a few techniques and some of them work for specific sharpening needs or contrast ratio needs, remember with photoshop there is always more than a couple of ways to get certain result. Please let us know about your techniques and maybe we can give you some pointers and help you make it better, before you spend some money on plugins.

[Samurai_ag]

i usually use unsharp mask for sharpening and then really just modify the contrast in bridge or with the contrast slider in adjustments....i'm sure that is not the greatest method lol

[luis_relampago]

I use a very simple technique for sharpening, what I do is I duplicate the BG layer and change it's mode to luminosity then I apply an unsharp mask filter to a nice and sharper look, then after that i will flatten the image, you will definitely have a sharper image so next what i do is apply an "curves adjustment layer" and set up my darkest point, my brightest point and my midpoint, that will give the picture a more contrast look with out compromising the highlights if it does I'll just pull back the opacity of the adjustment layer to a desire level. that is a simple but effective way to get my image to look better. I hope this helps you, if not feel free to ask more questions as need it.

God Bless!

[Duffy Pratt]

Sharpness doesn't have much to do with colors popping. Contrast can have something to do with it, but it generally refers to tonality and not to color. Of course, there is also a concept called color contrast, and that will have a large bearing on making colors "pop." But, from what you have said, its not very clear to me what you are trying to do, other than make your pictures look better.

Duffy

[3n-Out]

Contrast then Sharpen or USM. I always sharpen or USM Last. It is always the last step.

[luis_relampago]

Duffy has a good point there, color correction it's a world of it's own, There is techniques to get a better color over all your images but for this techniques you need to be more photoshop fluent, it involves complicated procedures and it would probably confuse you more than help you if you are not that involved in photoshop.
If you are please let us know and we will be more than glad to help you out.

[Samurai_ag]

I am getting more fluent every day...if you wish to take the time try me and I can let you know if it goes over my head...

Also, do you guys use any plugins to help out...I have heard that Noise Ninja is great and I think Photokit and Nik has some sharpening plug-ins that are usefull???opinions??

[brad]

Noise Ninja is great, but not for popping colors...

Experiment with layers and changing the blend modes of those layers... for example (as someone said above), create a duplicate layer and change the blend to Luminosity and see what it does... do the same for other blend modes... some that I like are Burn, Hard Light, and Soft Light. If the effect is too strong, you can change the opacity of the blended layer...

Play with it and find something you like.

[PIC]

You cant Photoshop a bad photo into a good one.
You cant Sharpen a soft photo into a good one.
You cant Color Pop a dull photo into a good one.

Its all about seeing and not applying rules.
"They are no rules - only good photos" said many a great photographer.
Not enuff photogs start with planning Color Contrast Lighting etc before the shoot.
The best most poping photos are straight from the eye of photographer
to eye of the viewer.
Great photographers say the camera is only like a radio to sound
and often gets in the way of their ability to see and hear the world.

Real Photographers use Great Optics, Correct Sensitometry, and Larger Format to get sharper images.
Has the world gone software madd

Then the gear heads ask what camera and technique was that anyway...

EL

[brad]

True.. next level can't be achieved with Photoshop alone. Lighting and exposure have more to do with it than post processing... and there is no saving a lousy photo. But good post work can turn a good photo into a great one.. and a great photo into a fantastic one.

Just like your darkroom techniques had an impact on your prints... PS has an impact on your digital files.

[jeffkohn]

Two quick tips for contrast

1) Duplicate background layer. Change blend mode to soft light, hard light, or overlay (usually softlight is best). If your image already has shadows/highlights this may push them too far, it works best with low-contrast images dominated by midtones.


2) Duplicate background layer. Change blend mode to Luminosity. Apply USM with amount in the 10-20 range, and Radius anywhere from 30 to 120. The larger the number, the more 'global' the effect, you just have to play around with it to see which works best for a given image. High contrast edges could develop halos with this technique, in that case mask them out (which is why it's best to do this on a duplicate layer).