Over Sharpening

[Sparrow]

{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.

I don't think age is an issue, most old guys I know are involved in it's appreciation ... I worked in a creative field where 'fashion' was an element in almost everything we did, I found no correlation of age ...

... gender maybe, and ability possibly, but it was more the older end that adopted early.

 

[Bill Clark]

I'm an old guy and the nice thing about being old is I can't tell if a photo has been sharpened or not because I forgot where I put my glasses!

 

[daveleo]

we need images of butterflies drinking coffee, reading the paper at the local watering hole...

Joe, this is the best that I can do on such short notice . . .
🙂
.

 

[back alley]

Joe, this is the best that I can do on such short notice . . .
🙂
.

excellent!

needs to be sharpened a bit though...😉

 

[jcrutcher]

if anyone reading this thread is also doing the postcard exchange...check my postcard and see if there is too much sharpening...let me know what you think...it would be greatly appreciated and useful to me.

I don't think it's over sharpened...

 

[back alley]

I don't think it's over sharpened...

thanks for the reply...

 

[lukitas]

Isn't sharpness a natural attractor, like symmetry, S-shapes in a landscape, and guitar-shaped ladies? A misty landscape can be a beautiful thing, but a brilliant view in clear air and sparkling light will invite more attention.

Exaggerated versions of these phenomena are even more attractive than the real thing, just look at comic book heroines : not just women, Super women. Any good drawing pushes towards more real than real, flirts with caricature.

Of course people are attracted to over-sharpening and HDR : it is realer than real, it gives a feeling of 'super' sight.

Frankly, my photos have to be a bit more than just a scientifically truthful representation of a scene. Blue skies are better when bluer, fluffy clouds are better when fluffier, and I want to feel the heat of the sun hitting stone. For portraits I'll simulate a green filter, to darken all the red bits, so all the moles, veins, flushed cheeks and lipsticked lips stand out. I want every wrinkle and follicle and hair to be there. To show what it really looks like, it has to be more real than reality.

I try not to overdo it, but I would rather err on the side of sharpness than blur, and I prefer to see more tone in highlights and shadows rather than less.

That said, most of the HDR I see makes my dinner want to go the wrong way.

cheers

 

[:: Mark]

Yes, but you can over do it... although each time I "over do it" my threshold for what is over processed vs just right keeps shifting.

Like eating chocolate, one piece never seems enough and you end up eating the whole bar, and then swearing that you will never do it again. Until the next time 🙂

My last set of scans were hugely over-sharpened. It seems that Epson scan keeps re-enabling the sharpening setting after each preview. While it looks "wow" at first glance, it plays hell with grain and shadow detail...

 

[kuuan]

..
Maybe we need to open our minds to what the new guys have to show us..

you speak my heart. Photography is such a vast field, better to open up one's mind and be surprised.
Personally I am guilty too but a bit the other way around: to me it seems that many only can appreciate a photo if is shows long established 'theoretical' signs of a 'good photo'. E.g. for my personal taste most street photos that are recognized as good ones around here concentrate too much on graphics ( and colors ) and too little care about content and / or 'spirit' of the photo.
Generally I much prefer to be surprised by something new and unexpected than again and again identifying ( or trying to reproduce ) the established.