Autumn River View

[ajsmith]

These photos were taken from the road where the Ipswich river crosses under it, one from each side. The forecast was for rain moving in late afternoon. The sky was cloudy with breaks of blue sky and some sun.

I haven't taken many landscape photos and was wondering about sharpening. I didn't sharpen these very much, around 40-50 in Photoshop. Higher sharpening didn't look right. Is this typical of landscapes, do you use less sharpening? Did I use the right amount. All other c and c welcome.

1.


2.

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts, especially the second.

[FootLoose]

I like the composition of the first shot, Ali, but I think they could both stand a bit more sharpening. When you say you applied '40-50 in Photoshop': is that 40-50 in ACR or 40-50 pixels in Unsharp Mask?

[ajsmith]

Hi Greg,

I used unsharp mask. I will try making it higher.

[mugge]

I like your shots. I may be starting something here. Why sharpen images when the scenery is lovely as it is and the composition is good?

[Stagecoach]

Ali, both very nice images but they do appear over sharpened to me, which is something to be wary of with foliage.

Try an unsharp mask at Threshold 4, Radius 1.0, Amount 85%. Then if you want a boost to foreground areas use some Local Contrast Enhancement at Threshold 0, Radius 40, Amount 5-20% and apply to only areas that you want to emphasize.

After downsizing, use a small amount say 0.3 pixels at 50%.

There are many different ways suggested, this is just one I'm using at present for foliage that I got from a book and seems to work.

[dje]

Very nice scenes Ali.

Dave

[ajsmith]

John,
Thanks for viewing and commenting.

[ajsmith]

Grahame,

I will try your suggestions. Foliage is difficult to sharpen.

[ajsmith]

Dave,
thanks for commenting.

[ajsmith]

Ole,
At first view you might think a photo looks OK without sharpening, but when you compare the sharpened with unsharpened you will see the difference it makes. Maybe someone with more knowledge can give you a better "technical" reason.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice images Ali #1 looks a bit oversharpened to me too. When there is foliage I think it is better to sharpen less. You can also sharpen your image on another layer and brush out the oversharpened foliage with a brush with opacity to your taste for a better look if your image contains other subjects in addition to foliage

[ajsmith]

Thanks Binnur, I will try that.

[IzzieK]

I thought I like #1 better until I saw #2..Both are very good shots. The way they are...

[joebranko]

Both are great shots but I prefer #1 . its composition is great!