Unsharp Mask or Smart Sharpen

[Trevor Ogle]

I recently have begun using Photoshop CS3. It has the option of Smart Sharpen whereas my older versions only had Unsharp Mask. What is the difference and what do you guys recommend as best for sharpening. I have been using the smart sharpen function and it appears pretty good

Cheers

Trevor

[Eadster]

Anything that says "smart" or the software tries to "correct" I generally steer clear of.

USM for me all the way...

[Moose135]

Anything that says "smart" or the software tries to "correct" I generally steer clear of.

USM for me all the way...

I'm still trying to figure out Smart Sharpen, but I think you have a misconception there, Eadster. According to the Adobe Help Center SS actually gives you more control:

The Smart Sharpen filter has sharpening controls not available with the Unsharp Mask filter. You can set the sharpening algorithm or control the amount of sharpening that occurs in shadow and highlight areas.

[Michael Wolf]

I use the Smart Sharpen tool, I didn't exaclty tried to look at all the features and differences, but the result just looks nicer to me.

[bjelder]

I've always used un-sharp mask because of how easy it is to use, your settings really never change much. If somebody posted up a guide on how to use the smart sharpen I'd give it a go

[Michael Wolf]

There's nothing difficult, actually. I don't use any other options but Amount & Radius. If the picture initially came out sharp and clear, after doing all the editing and resizing it to its final size, I use 0.2 radius, and the Amount varies - just get the picture look sharp enough but not too much. If the shot is a bit blurred, or you had to crop it significantly, I use radius 0.3 and vary the amount in the same way.
If the shot is too much blurred I just deal with the fact that I can't use it, or if its something really special - you can try step-resizing the picture while adding sharpness on those steps. Resize the shot to 2000-2500px in width, for example. Apply Smart Sharpen with the Radius 0.3-0.7, depending on how bad the situation is, Amount varies to get the shot look sharper on this size, but not getting it distored and preventing appearance of any artifacts. Then, resize the shot to the final size (i use 1200 or 1000 if its coming out too blurred on 1200 and I really want to add this shot), and once again apply Smart Sharpen with 0.2-0.3 radius.

Hope it helps! Will be glad to answer any questions.

[Michael Wolf]

Here's the level of sharpness you should come out with.
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...6324824&nseq=8