Newbi questions

[Copy_Kot]

I've read in a couple of threads that an image is too sharp, what makes an image too sharp? Isn't a sharp image what we want? I haven't had this problem yet... only the opposite

And...

In my p/s program, there is an option to flatten an image. What happens to the image when it is flattened? I've tried it and cannot see difference once it is done.

Thanks for any answers.

[mjs1973]

I think that when people say an image is too sharp, what they are actually refering to is the amount of sharpening that was done to the image in post processing. When you apply too much unsharp mask to an image, it can make the image look worse and can also add halos around objects in the photo. Another example of an image beeing too sharp is in portraits, especially of women. A really sharp lens will pick up every blemish and pore on a persons face. Not what most people want to see in a nice portrait.

To flatten an image in photoshop (or whatever program you use) you must be working in layers. If you're not familiar with layers, I would suggest reading up on them. They are one of the things that make editing software so usefull and powerfull. Once you have severl layers in your image, you can choose flatten layers. This will flatten everything that is visible in all your layers, into one single layer. This will make your file much smaller, and allow you to save it in defferent formats. For instance, you can't save a file with more than one layer as a jpeg.

This is a pretty simplified explanation, but I hope it helps.

[Copy_Kot]

Wow, thank you mjs1973. That helped a lot.

[another view]

Hi and welcome. Here's two examples of one image. I generally don't sharpen in-camera because every shot is different and may take different amounts of sharpening for optimal results. This can also change based on use on the web or prints (size may change the sharpening too). This first one is, in my opinion, good - at least in the way of sharpening. The second one I oversharpened by way too much just to illustrate what can happen.

Photoshop is a very powerful tool. There can be too much of a good thing. I'd recommend that the first step with any image be to take a good look at it and see what you really want to do with it. This step isn't usually mentioned, but this will lead to the best quality work.