330 Digital Printmaking & Output
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the depth of field includes the closest parts of our scene that appear
sharp, to the farthest parts that appear sharp. As our prints are
enlarged, the distance from the closest part to the farthest part that
appears in focus gets smaller and smaller, eventually just to the single
plane that was focused onto. Overall our prints can seem to get softer
and have less contrast as we enlarge them. Conversely, smaller prints
from the same image appear to have more depth of field, overall
sharpness, and contrast. Besides being aware of this effect from
enlargements, it also means you will often need to add contrast and
additional sharpening to your larger prints.
Types of Sharpening
As mentioned before, our last step, after sizing our images and before
making our print, should be to sharpen it. To say it another way, do
not resize the image after sharpening ! That being said, let’s start by
talking about sharpening generally. Sharpening is the use of different
techniques to enhance edge contrast within an image with the goal
of bringing out detail and improving the perceived sharpness. An edge
is any area of an image where you have a difference in tone from light
to dark or from dark to light. There are three main types of sharpening:
input, creative effect, and output.
Input sharpening is used to compensate for the degradation of
sharpness that can come from lenses, infrared absorbing filters, anti-
aliasing filters, and color-filter arrays on digital cameras—or the optics
of different print or film-scanning systems. Input sharpening should
occur early in the workflow, during the initial processing of the image.
Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw, along with scanner software
packages, allow you to introduce sharpening for this purpose.
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Creative-effect sharpening is applied to enhance or obscure different
elements within an image through selective blurring or sharpening.
A common example is to slightly sharpen the eyes in a portrait, which
you do in order to help guide and hold the viewer’s gaze to this
important facet of your subject.
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Output sharpening is the final step you take before saving an image
to either view on the web or send to your printer or printing-service
provider. Output sharpening is used to compensate for the inherent
softening of the image that results from resizing, converting, half-
toning, dithering, exposing, processing, dot gaining, or any of the other
things that happen in the process of translating your image to the
final output.
All three types of sharpening can be overdone or underdone.
Over-sharpening can be apparent as dark and light lines (on either
side of the edge) that are too distinct or exaggerated. At times the
light edge on over sharpened images can be described as having a
halo effect or artifact. As a general practice, we photographers are
timid with sharpening and tend to under-sharpen, whereas pre-press
and printing professionals are more aggressive and tend to over-
sharpen. The trick is to find the right balance.
Next, we’ll discuss different methods for output sharpening in
Photoshop and Lightroom and steps to use in determining the optimal
amount of output sharpening.
Output Sharpening Methods
There are a number of different methods for sharpening: three standard
filters in Photoshop—Unsharp Mask, Smart Sharpen, and High-Pass;
two third-party software plug-ins—PixelGenius PhotoKit Output
Sharpener, and Nik Software Sharpener Pro; and the sharpening in
Adobe Lightroom. These filters and other techniques, we will discuss,
find edges (like the light gray/dark gray in the graffiti image in Figures
15.23–15.28) and then lighten an area on the light side of the edge,
and darken an area on the dark side of the edge. Photographers,
printers, imaging companies, and even painters have known for a long
time that this localized increase in edge contrast makes images
appear sharper. Figure 15.23 shows the edge and image without any
sharpening.
 Resizing & Sharpening 331
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FIGURE 15.23 Image and artificial edge at 200% with shown Adobe Photoshop’s FIGURE 15.25 Image and artificial edge at 200% with shown Photoshop’s Unsharp
Unsharp Mask Filter settings with no sharpening. Mask Filter settings with sharpening including a higher radius than Figure 15.24.
Credit: Portion of photograph by the author Credit: Portion of photograph by the author

Unsharp Mask Filter

The Unsharp Mask filter (see Figures 15.23, 15.24, and 15.25) has
three controls: Amount, Radius, and Threshold.
The Amount slider controls how light and dark the corresponding
sides of the sharpened edges will become. The higher the amount,
the more contrast will be created at those edges. The lighter side will
have a lighter edge, and the darker side will have a darker edge.
The Radius slider controls how far (in pixels) from the edge this
lightening and darkening will occur. Figures 15.24 and 15.25 show
the effect of sharpening with the same Amount and Threshold, and a
change in the Radius setting from 2.0 pixels to 6.0 pixels. The larger
the image file, the larger the radius should be.

FIGURE 15.24 Image and artificial edge at 200% with shown Photoshop’s Unsharp
The Threshold slider controls the difference in tone that is required,
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Mask Filter settings with sharpening. between the light and dark sides of the edges, to apply the sharpening
Credit: Portion of photograph by the author effect. With a Threshold setting of 0, every edge will be sharpened,
regardless of the difference between the dark side and light side of the
edges. The problem with setting the Threshold too low is that you can
possibly get unwanted sharpening of noise and grain-like patterns. Some
people describe the effect of over-sharpened images as being “crunchy.”

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FIGURE 15.26 Image and artificial edge at 200% shown with Photoshop’s Smart Sharpen Filter settings.
Credit: Portion of photograph by the author

Smart Sharpen Filter
The Smart Sharpen filter, as shown in Figure 15.26, gives somewhat
more control than the Unsharp Mask filter. It does this by allowing a
difference in Threshold in sharpening for the shadows and the
highlights. This is especially helpful, since digital camera noise is so
prevalent in the shadows.
High Pass Filter
The High Pass filter is used for finding and accentuating high-frequency
edges, while suppressing low-frequency edges. This is the opposite
effect of Gaussian Blur filter. The High Pass filter is especially useful
when sharpening portraits, where you would want to accentuate high-
PixelGenius PhotoKit Output Sharpener
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3. Launch the High Pass filter from the menu bar, Filter > Other
> High Pass.
4. Select the desired Radius, depending on the size of the image
(anywhere from 0.3 to 5.0), as in Figure 15.27.
5. Desaturate the layer using the keyboard shortcut Command-
Shift-U (Windows Control-Shift-U) or from the menu bar, Image
> Adjustments > Desaturate. This will reduce color effects on
the edges.
6. Change the Blend mode to Overlay, Soft Light, or Hard Light,
depending on the image.
7. Reduce the opacity of this layer to fine-tune the effect, if
necessary.

frequency details like the eyes and hair, but not low-frequency details
like pores on skin. To sharpen images and accentuate detail using the
High Pass filter, apply the following steps:
1. Duplicate the main flattened image or background layer.
2. Select this duplicate layer.
Since every variation in output type, image resolution, and image size
will optimally require different amounts of sharpening for each image,
it can be more efficient for you to start with the automated and
optimized sharpening in the Photoshop plug-in PhotoKit Output
Sharpener by Pixel Genius.

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Once installed, the plug-in can be selected from the menu bar,
File > Automate > PhotoKit Output Sharpener. The interface will show
a preview, but it will allow you to select the type of output by changing
the Sharpener Set, which contains the following choices: Contone
(for photographic or dye sublimation output), Halftone (for electro-
photographic output or graphic arts printing presses), Inkjet (for inkjet
prints), and Web and Multimedia (for displays).
The Sharpener Effect setting can then be refined for the type
of paper and the resolution of the image. In Figure 15.28, the
Sharpener Effect is being optimized for an image resolution of 240
pixels per inch with matte paper, which typically requires more
sharpening than glossy or luster-type papers. Even photographers who
usually shy away from automated techniques often find this tool to be
FIGURE 15.27 Image and artificial edge at 200% with the effects from the shown useful, because of the efficiency and intelligence it uses in optimizing
Photoshop High-Pass Filter settings. the sharpening for the specific type of media.
Credit: Portion of photograph by the author
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FIGURE 15.28 PixelGenius PhotoKit Output Sharpener plug-in for Photoshop.

Credit: Photograph by the author

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(for electrophotographic output or graphic arts printing presses), and

Nik Software Sharpener Pro
Like PhotoKit Output Sharpener, Nik Software’s Sharpener Pro has an
algorithm to calculate the optimal sharpening for the type of output,
paper, resolution, and size for the print you are making from your
image.
Once installed, the plug-in can be selected from the menu bar
in Photoshop by clicking: Filter > Nik Software > Sharpener Pro:
(2) Output Sharpener. (There is also a Raw Sharpener for input
sharpening.) Sharpener Pro’s interface will show a preview and, like
PhotoKit Sharpener, it will allow you to select the type of output:
Display (for web and multimedia), Inkjet, as shown in Figure 15.29,
Continuous Tone (for photographic or dye sublimation output), Halftone
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Hybrid Device (for output that combines different output methods).
Sharpener Pro setting can then be refined further for the type
of paper and the resolution of the printer. In Figure 15.29, the
Sharpener Pro is being optimized for a resolution of 1440 x 1440 DPI
with a Textured & Fine Art paper, which, along with Canvas, Plain
Paper, and Luster, in addition to Glossy and Matte, are the only choices
in PhotoKit Output Sharpener. Notice that you are also able to select
the assumed viewing distance for your print, which will affect the
amount of sharpening you would use. In addition, Sharpener Pro also
includes Nik Software’s Control Point technology for intelligently adding
the sharpening to select areas of your final print.

FIGURE 15.29 Nik Software Sharpener Pro plug-in for Photoshop. (There is also a version for Adobe Lightroom.)
Credit: Photograph by the author

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 Resizing & Sharpening 335
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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Testing Sharpening

The newest version of Lightroom also offers sharpening customization
settings (similar to the ones found in PhotoKit Output Sharpener). You
can apply output sharpening when you’re sending images to the printer
from the Print module. Options include: resolution in pixels per inch;
standard, high, or low amount of sharpening; and either glossy or matte
paper type.
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Since fine-tuning the sharpening levels and determining what
constitutes over- and under-sharpening is very subjective, we often
need to test the level of output sharpening on an actual print. It’s
best not to depend solely on viewing the sharpening effect on the
monitor. For those times when you do judge a sharpening effect on
your monitor, it’s generally recommended that you view the image at

FIGURE 15.30 Output sharpening print test to help determine the opacity to use for the sharpening layer created with PixelGenius FIGURE 15.31
PhotoKit Output Sharpener. The Photoshop layers used to create the test are shown in Figure 15.31. Photoshop Layers palette used to
Credit: Photograph by the author create the output sharpening print
test in Figure 15.30.

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