Re: Resolution and print quality

[john gale <john@smadness.com>]

>And again, I find that photographers get seduced by sharpening producing a
>grainier less photographic results in the process.  In fact, at the Photo Expo
>last Fall, I found 90% of Epson's display prints objectionably over sharpened.
>
>There is no accounting for taste though....Yours, or mine.  ;-)
>
>Harvey Ferdschneider
>partner, SKID Photography, NYC


Sharpening is certainly something that some people tend to overdo... 
but then again, it's quite handy sometimes.  Sharpening is something 
that I think one ought to do right before shrinking an image in PS... 
the added noise is generally blurred with the downsampling, and the 
accented sharpness remains.

When I started this question, I was mainly thinking of sharpening a 
print before it got sent to the printer...  but I've also found that 
can lead to some interesting noise effects in dark areas.  I have to 
play around more...  maybe a smart blur is a good idea.

my taste, I think, would be favoring the *slightly* blurry side with 
no visible noise.  I think people generally won't notice it's blurry 
unless they see a sharper reproduction of it.  It's the whole "not 
seeing anything bad because there's nothing to compare it to" 
mentality.

thanks for everybody's input!  wonderful stuff to think about. 
Here's a helper to get through the Monday:

An amateur photographer was invited to dinner with friends and took 
along a few pictures to show the hostess.  She looked at the photos 
and commented, "These are very good!  You must have a good camera." 
He didn't make any comment, but as he was leaving to go home he said 
"That was a really delicious meal!  You must have some very good 
pots."



         !john
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