Over Sharpening

i dislike the whole bokeh thing but i love the sharp look of a digital image!
when i shot film i tried for sharp and grain free (as best as possible) and with digital i have that look. i use gentle (to me) unsharp mask on most every image i put on the net or print.
less sharp is fine if that is what you want and i certainly can enjoy it on others work...just not for me.
 
I have period lenses and modern super coated lenses and use them for different effects. But to the OP's point any overuse of a tool is amateurish and should be avoided even when John Q Public seems to value the worst possible look.
 
I was at a art fair yesterday. There were several photographers with a range of experience selling prints. Just watching casually, it appeared that the photographers heavily using selective color, heavy amounts of saturation and lots of over-sharpening constantly had the most people in their booths.

I don't know how this translated in to sales nor how much price point contributed to purchasing decisions. It did seem to resonate with a large number of buyers though.

Edit: One vendor was approached by an older woman who asked if he was using a panoramic camera. He explained that no - he prefers digital stitching and started to explain the benefits of the process. She lost interest immediately once he mentioned it was a conglomeration of images and that it was heavily photoshopped. Certainly an exception when it came to buyers but it was an entertaining moment.
 
To my way of thinking anything that makes a photo less nice to look at should be avoided, and, conversely, to not improve an image when improvement is available is an equal sin. Still, it is all subjective. There is no accounting for taste, and a photographer does well to work to his own standards and thus appeal to those who are fond of his style of imagery -and if lucky, make a few converts!
 
If only I spent half the time I spend on reading of crimes committed in photography... well, actually photographing!

Then again, the time spent on reading of crimes committed in photography actually can't be spent on committing the crimes in photography.





Oh, if only I was retired and had time for both.
 
brbo said:
If only I spent half the time I spend on reading of crimes committed in photography... well, actually photographing!

Then again, the time spent on reading of crimes committed in photography actually can't be spent on committing the crimes in photography.





Oh, if only I was retired and had time for both.
Click to expand...

Hehe 🙂

10carrots (sharpened ones)
 
Hehe 🙂 too. ^^

I am guilty of it, but I have virtually nil experience at this point.
An easy mistake to make. But I have ruined a lot of photo paper in the past overdoing corrections.
But then I am sure what is too much correction.
 
Maybe we should get fake grain, fake vignetting, split toning, fake flare and glow, fake film simulation..... etc....

Get All the other winges that can be the byproduct of digital manipulation into this thread.

Just get it all out.... A good purge so we can get back to looking at content 😉
 
I was just going to say, Joe: if anybody finds my stuff over-sharpened or over-clarified, send me a PM and I'll appreciate it. With film it was easy: I would stop by looking at the grain. With digital it's a constant struggle to find when good is good enough.

Then again, I often find other photographer's B+W way too contrasty, but attribute it to different tastes.

Roland.
 
Joe, Roland

If you don't see your images as over sharpened then they are not.

It's obvious to see true over sharpening where the edges become "jagged" .
Everything in between that effect and no sharpening at all is subjective and/or related to final output size and medium.

This sort of subject spooks a lot of people from manipulating their image to be what they envision.
Shapeneing is a taboo for some but just another tool for others.
My opinion is that this is a very slippery conversation and folks should be careful not to become to effected by any rule but their own.

For what it's worth, I never sharpen unless I'm going to print. Then, it depends on the size what paramemters I choose.
Flickr sharpens for me which is another story completely.
 
f16sunshine said:
Joe, Roland

If you don't see your images as over sharpened then they are not.

It's obvious to see true over sharpening where the edges become "jagged" .
Everything in between that effect and no sharpening at all is subjective and/or related to final output size and medium.

This sort of subject spooks a lot of people from manipulating their image to be what they envision.
Shapeneing is a taboo for some but just another tool for others.
My opinion is that this is a very slippery conversation and folks should be careful not to become to effected by any rule but their own.

For what it's worth, I never sharpen unless I'm going to print. Then, it depends on the size what paramemters I choose.
Flickr sharpens for me which is another story completely.
Click to expand...

fortunately, i have a mind of my own and know what i like...but i am not adverse to hearing what others might think of my stuff.
 
Ronald M said:
...

Generally speaking, if one can tell photoshop is done , I will not like it.
...
Click to expand...

Even more generally, if I notice the manipulation I will not like the image. It doesn't matter if it is an artifact of digital manipulation or overdone dodging and/or burning in when making a wet print. Both are equally obnoxious. While "sharpening" is somewhat digital specific, over manipulating is a flaw shared by both worlds.

Much of the "oversharpening" I see may well come from unskilled users sharpening for a small screen display and then enlarging that image when printing. What was marginally acceptable heavy sharpening at the original size becomes horribly excessive in the larger print.
 
Over sharping ... I have been guilty...
But in Lr, pressing <alt> while sharpening, I can see when it hits the sweet point..even better with radius and detail sliders...
It makes it easier not to over sharpen.

I don't know why over saturated, over clarified along with over sharpening prints are so appealing to the masses at craft shows...

It seems so many "Advanced" photographers feel the need to make this a major technique to advance their income..
read "Without presenting their work with such over done techniques, their popularity will dwindle with their income and status".

Look at all the this "Photo" feed from ViewBug: http://www.viewbug.com/fame?sort=rand
Other than the wild animal and model photos, much else is over done. And, the over done ones win most of their challenges and contests....

That is the way it is today.. Sad isn't it? :bang:
 
Brian Legge said:
I was at a art fair yesterday. There were several photographers with a range of experience selling prints. Just watching casually, it appeared that the photographers heavily using selective color, heavy amounts of saturation and lots of over-sharpening constantly had the most people in their booths.

I don't know how this translated in to sales nor how much price point contributed to purchasing decisions. It did seem to resonate with a large number of buyers though.

Edit: One vendor was approached by an older woman who asked if he was using a panoramic camera. He explained that no - he prefers digital stitching and started to explain the benefits of the process. She lost interest immediately one he mentioned it was an conglomeration of images and that it was heavily photoshopped. Certainly an exception when it came to buyers but it was an entertaining moment.
Click to expand...

The public have an increasing appetite for ever more dramatic images.

Content is not valued any more its all about presentation and the more extreme that is the better it would seem.
 
{Prologue}
Hopefully this will not be the posting that turns the thread toxic. If it turns out that way, I will delete it (as I did my previous posting).
{/Prologue}

I think we older guys (over 30 🙂) have become stuffy, rigid, intolerant, closed-minded in terms of "what we like". I think our critical "keep it in a small box, kid" attitude stifles (sp?) people's urge to do something different. We demand the same old crap while demanding new and exciting crap.

Does the world really need another standard, classic, ever-so-perfect picture of a butterfly, or people reading newspapers in cafe's, or .... or ... or ...?

Maybe we need to open our minds to what the new guys have to show us, and maybe a huge part of what they bring to the party is what they do to that butterfly picture to make it more interesting than the same boring crap we've been showing each other for the last XXX years.

Maybe you don't, but I really need a change of scenery.

I know that I'm going to be REALLY sorry that I typed this.
 
Not at all Dave ...you make a valid point.
I trot along to my local camera club every week where I`m subjected to montage images or HDR images ... don`t care for them myself but its interesting to see what other people are doing.

It will be a sad day when photography becomes a heritage museum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
HP5+....HC-110....grain
2 3
Replies
54
Views
3K
FotohuisR
FotohuisR
bulevardi
Talent vs Skills — where’s the magic coming from?
2
Replies
28
Views
873
chuckroast
C
B
The unloved Panasonic Lumix GF1
2
Replies
37
Views
5K
underlord
underlord
A
Cameras of Permanence - does anyone else feel this way?
2 3 4
Replies
60
Views
4K
Out to Lunch
O
Godfrey
return to Leica X...
2 3 4
Replies
79
Views
5K
splitimageview
splitimageview
Back
Top Bottom