Don’t Sharpen That Image!

Sharpening is a normal part of the editing process, but keep your eye out for the right image to “mix it up” a bit.

We all know the best process to follow – always sharpen last . . . right?  That’s the way I do it (usually selective sharpening in Nik Define) – that is, until I stopped “always sharpening”.  Depending on the subject, maybe sharpening would ruin a budding image.  Consider the mood and feeling of each shot to determine how best to complete it – let it “talk to you”.

• In the opening image, I purposely softened the shot, along with “richening” up and warming the tones in Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
• The second image is a sharpened version with a little more contrast in the tones.  It’s not a bad image (at least I don’t think so) – it’s just different.  Given the warm glow of the cloudy sunrise – I just liked the moody (unsharpened version) better.

Just something to think about!

Stay in Focus!

Mark

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