What is Unsharp masking USM?
The most commonly used method of the sharpness of an image in Photoshop is to use the USM or unsharp mask filter. The Unsharp Mask filter has its roots in the traditional darkroom printing and involves increasing the contrast at the edges of the detail. On the other hand, this increase produced a perceived increase in sharpness.
How much USM should I use?
The amount of USM used to a specific image depends on several factors: as is the original image file, as is the pressure to be how good is your printer, you with glossy paper rough occurred.
There is not a set amount of USM, which are right for all photos. For example, an image with mostly smooth sounds and very little detail can raise required more as a very detailed photo where too much sharpen can ruin the image.
Sharpening for print
Sharpening for the pressure is really, where we need to know what's going on. The only sure way to know how much USM to use is to make a T-shirt! I know this sounds wonky, but the point is, must see the limits of your printing process can only do this and learn prints. I suggest you think about the typical resolution, on which you print and a few tests to do. For example, if you regularly make prints at 300 dpi then you choose compatible thumbnail with this size. This is the de-facto standard for print, but is not always required. For inkjet, you can may be as low as 200 dpi and still excellent results. This depends on the details in the image; Photos with less detail and smooth tones is lower print resolutions need as the higher resolution printing images with fine details. That is why digital paintings often a lower resolution than very detailed photos can be printed.
The problem is, we see the image on the screen at 96ppi and this has us say how it will look when printed at a higher resolution. You will find an impressive image to a decent size (say A3 @ 300 dpi or a file size of 20-50 MB) and cut a small area and paste it into a new file. Use you to experiment with different USM this then and make small prints. You can save time by several versions of this detail section at different levels in an A3 300 dpi empty image and various USM at each level as a lot of pressure to make. This will show you, how far can you push the USM (or how little you can get away with) and to get a great result. You have found the ceiling, compare the print to screen of image and make a mental note how sees "crunchy" in the screen image. This will be a good visual reference for the future.
Now you do sounds and less features, like the one same painted with a section of an image with smoother, and compare the printed results. You can find, that more USM take the less detailed image than the detailed, or vice versa.
If you receive your prints done to a photo lab/shop, ask the machine for optimal results have which DPI and assign your tests accordingly. They then get print your test images for you.
This all should learn these simple unique tests, thinking about how much do you know about USM without or must use little. This is also your system calibration!
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Copyright (c) Les Meehan 2010.
Les Meehan is the author of seven books published digital photography and as a qualified teacher workshops taught for over 20 years.
