• Members 973 posts
    Aug. 9, 2025, 1 a.m.

    Some editors allow one to sharpen an image several times, one on top of the other, e.g. FastStone Viewer or the GIMP but not RawTherapee.

    With several overlaid steps of USM sharpening, it is possible to avoid halos for a greater degree of sharpness.

    Original:
    tractor before.jpg

    Then apply three or more steps of USM, e.g. in FastStone:

    1,7px, amount 13
    0.7px, amount 17
    0.3px, amount 29

    Voila:
    tractor after.jpg

    Open both in separate tabs and click back and forth ...

    tractor after.jpg

    JPG, 1.7 MB, uploaded by xpatUSA on Aug. 9, 2025.

    tractor before.jpg

    JPG, 1.1 MB, uploaded by xpatUSA on Aug. 9, 2025.

  • Members 38 posts
    Aug. 9, 2025, 4:21 a.m.

    Sorry, not understanding this one.
    That, is a crunchy mess.
    What are you viewing these on, a phone ?

  • Aug. 9, 2025, 1:03 p.m.

    Maybe, but not on your image - even without zooming there are halos visible everywhere.

    Do some of your softwares allow so called high pass sharpening? Corel PSP includes such option - this creates less visible halos. Without halos - maybe some AI tools are able to sharpen this way; all usual (frequency manipulation) tools create halos arund sharp boundaries by default.

  • Members 973 posts
    Aug. 9, 2025, 7:45 p.m.

    Unfortunately, when I look again, the original image has halos which were exaggerated by the method because I overdid it for illustration.

    I am aware of other methods.

  • Members 973 posts
    Aug. 9, 2025, 7:50 p.m.

    Apple Watch 😉

  • Aug. 9, 2025, 8:53 p.m.

    Sorry, not impressed: white halos are too obvious.

  • Members 973 posts
    Aug. 9, 2025, 9:04 p.m.

    Reason explained above.

  • Members 973 posts
    Aug. 9, 2025, 9:08 p.m.

    Tried again:

    Before #2
    before.no.2.jpg

    'Before' image is not intended for critiquing (color cast, lightness, composition, etc.).

    After #2
    after.no.2.jpg

    after.no.2.jpg

    JPG, 943.7 KB, uploaded by xpatUSA on Aug. 9, 2025.

    before.no.2.jpg

    JPG, 750.7 KB, uploaded by xpatUSA on Aug. 9, 2025.

  • Members 319 posts
    Aug. 9, 2025, 9:17 p.m.

    Because they are made up of a series finite dots sharpness in images is apparent and dependent on viewing distance. Take a magnifying glass to the image on your screen and you will see that it behaves quite differently to taking a glass to a real tractor. On a screen the tractor loses the impression of detail and sharpness, it disappears as the true nature of your computer screen becomes visible. Move away and the impression of detail and sharpness reappears. So sharpness isn't absolute, it changes in relation to your viewing distance, it's apparent and an illusion achieved only when you view from a set distance or behind.

    Sharpening tools don't sharpen images, they create the illusion of sharpness by increasing the acutance across the higher contrast boundaries. They tend one side towards black and the other towards white, hence the halo. Whether you do this in one go or many if you increase the "sharpness" you increase the contrast on the boundary and so produce the same halo of white against the black. And chew detail in achieving this.

    View over-sharpened images at closer distances and that detail and apparent sharpness disappears, stand even further back and the sharpness reappears.

    If you want sharpness, realise that it's only "apparent", an illusion in images and stand back. Lean into the screen or print and it will disappear again.

  • Members 1508 posts
    Aug. 9, 2025, 11:56 p.m.

    I have used this method before. Credit to xpatUSA who introduced it to this forum quite some time ago.

    I found it depends on the original image how well it works - sometimes not at all.

    I also found it is mostly necessary to keep the USM sum of the amount in the steps no higher than what you might use in a single step.

    For example, in FastStone, my usual level of sharpening is 20 with 1.0 radius. This generally works ok but if there is plenty of sunlight I need to check that any specular highlights haven't blown up or that any small light areas look too bright. I also check things like feathers as they will often look like they have had hot wax combed through them.
    So every now and then I might need to reduce the amount to 15 and maybe 0.7 radius and occasionally even less - at that point it generally means I have a pretty crappy image to start with and there would have to be something else about the image to entice me to continue.

    Sometimes multiple stage sharpening does help though. Lets say I have a bird whose feathers are not standing up too well even with 15 and 0.7 but I do want to sharpen the image.
    There are times when say amount 7 at 0.5 radius, 7 at 0.7 and then 7 at 1.0 might help. It is not a given and needs experimentation with the radius values. But in general, if the amounts add up to greater than what I would normally use, it will be at best the same and otherwise worse than a single stage.

  • Members 38 posts
    Aug. 10, 2025, 1:04 a.m.

    So, do you Gents save the JPEG at each sharpening, or do you keep revisiting the sharpening tool for each variant prior to a final save ?

  • Members 1508 posts
    Aug. 10, 2025, 2:56 a.m.

    You have to save the jpg after each step... Obviously not the same as editing a raw unless you went to tiff or other

  • Members 38 posts
    Aug. 10, 2025, 3:24 a.m.
  • Aug. 10, 2025, 8:03 a.m.

    I never save in jpg format until after the final step, otherwise I operate on 16 bit tiffs, after the inital conversion from raw. My single unsharp-masking is this final step. This works for me and needs no experimentation from image to image. Life is too short to do otherwise! 😀

    Of course, as one of my audio students once said to me after he had spent a lot of time “improving” one of his recordings: “You cant polish a turd”.

    David

  • Members 319 posts
    Aug. 10, 2025, 8:57 a.m.

    8 bit sRGB doesn't sound like an optimum way of sharpening, also have to be aware of default settings such as sharpening and noise reduction when opening again.

    Couple of points.

    If you view two images in succession with the human eye then your eye will key on on the differences, it will not see either as absolute quantities but it will see the "relative" difference. If you want to see an image then you will have to view it in isolation for at least 30 seconds. I could add a third, hideously over sharpened, example and it would make the second seem softer. For a short while...

    Sharpening in images is still an illusion, you don't actually sharpen but instead trick the eye. And like all tricks it doesn't stand close scrutiny, my over sharpened example would fail the 30 second viewing.

    And there is the key to sharpening, in those two statements. Actual sharpness and detail come at the point of capture only, in terms of editing sharpness is relative and apparent only. If you want to make something look sharper then you could just as easily contrast it against a softer background, this is essentially how flicking between the two images above works (see below). In images you also have to go with "consistent with memory". We expect high acutance subjects to look sharper, like eyes against softer cheeks, smooth reflections on water, highly polished cars, etc. If you go against this then you kill the illusion, if the eye is slightly softer than the nose then your initial impression is soft no matter how much you sharpen. Get it the other way round and it's instantly much sharper without even touching the USM. Also applying a global USM and equalising the differences can destroy the illusion as a universal level of apparent sharpness is not consistent with our memory, it looks fake.

    (combine the foreground of one with the background of the other in a single shot and you create the effect of flicking between the two in a single image, do you think you might even be able to tone the sharpening down a little more and still create the same effect?)

    I like this effect, in landscape it can create the closest illusion to actual sunlight.

    My preferred method in Ps has always been the High Pass Method. Being on a separate layer it can be masked and so applied locally and with a gradient. Besides, sharpness is not the only quality of images.

    Which Coo has the softer and finer coat?

    Local High Pass:
    Coo-1.jpg

    Universal USM:
    Coo-2.jpg

    Coo-1.jpg

    JPG, 1.6 MB, uploaded by Andrew546 on Aug. 10, 2025.

    Coo-2.jpg

    JPG, 2.0 MB, uploaded by Andrew546 on Aug. 10, 2025.

  • Members 829 posts
    Aug. 10, 2025, 11:13 a.m.

    Every time you re-save JPEG, it looses IQ. Saving same JPEG files 5 times...

  • Members 973 posts
    Aug. 10, 2025, 1:29 p.m.

    I do not save at each step. I can also apply the method to any format supported by FastStone or GIMP, not just JPEG, with an unlimited number of steps.

    In the GIMP, I'm 32-bit floating-point Linear for all editing. FastStone - not sure.