Exercise: Sharpening for print.

Outline: Take an image that you have you have processed which includes some edge detail and some smooth areas. Make three more versions of it; each with a different degree of sharpening. Then print all four and compare with the 100% magnification images on screen.

Ok, so I'm using a basic shot for this exercise which is a close up of my friends face. I have done the basic editing of adjusting the levels then the brightness and contrast as well as a slight crop. I am using photoshop elements 9 for this exercise and this software has a slider that you are able to adjust for the different degrees of sharpness.

I have my original, which on the slider is set to 100% (middle of slider). I decided to make an extra 4 copies of this image with varying degrees of sharpness due to starting position on the slider and to make the results equal.

Here are the four photographs and also the screen shot showing the slider position for each.

The weakest end of the slider at 1% sharp

50% sharp - half way between week and original

The Original image - set at 100% sharp

150% sharp - halfway between original and full sharpness

Maximum sharpness 200%

While studying these images on screen, I would say that the 50% sharpness image is the closest to the original. The 1% isn't a huge difference either although you can notice the slight difference between this and the original. Looking further up the scale, the 150% is showing a lot more detail on the skin area but the eye looks noticeably clearer but then as we get to 200%, the photo is extremely grainy and has a drastic difference to the original.

After printing each of the above images, I notice slight differences to those on the screen. The original print appears slightly more blurred than it does on screen and seems closer visually to the 1% image. The others have the same qualities as their on screen equivalent. The 150%  image appears more grainy on print than it does on screen as well.

Conclusion: If I had to choose, I would say that the 50% image is the best image overall. This is due to the fact that this image is noticeably different once printed and slightly clearer in my opinion. The little extra detail wasn't as noticeable on screen, as it looked more like the original than the others,but makes a difference to the printed version. This has highlighted to me that occasionally, sharpening the image could possibly make a slightly better image for printing.