Sharpening

As we all know the digital process softens an image and from that knowledge has grown the created desire to sharpen our images. I say 'created' because there is no agreed criteria for what is considered a sharp image and one that is deemed to be 'soft'. Some images, particularly portraits of females, are seen to be in some way better if the photograph overall is soft and more specifically the face. Almost all training material offers advice on ways to soften the face whilst leaving the eyes, teeth and lips sharper than the surrounding area. With other images, where the texture is 'hard' such as buildings and hard landscape then the advice is to sharpen. Software sellers have seen this as an opportunity to create a market for their goods and we now have 'capture sharpening', creative sharpening' and 'output sharpening'.

The strange thing is that show the same image to two different assessors the chances are one will say that the image requires sharpening and the other will say that it is over-sharpened. This suggests that sharpening is a matter of personal taste and yet the disciples of sharpening continue to proselytise that there is a perfect outcome for each image. There may be agreement at the extremes but as we near the point of best possible outcomes there will be less and less agreement. What looks right to one viewer will look totally unacceptable to another.

Is the statement - "all digital images need sharpening" true. The answer is no. Some very successful images are deliberately left unchanged or may be made softer by deliberate blurring or other methods available in software programmes. Equally I would not agree with one writer who stated that he never sharpened an image and rejected the idea. My personal approach is to judge each image on its merits and the message that I wish to convey. Even when I feel that sharpening will enhance the image I usually try to keep it to a minimum. To me any image where sharpening is evident detracts from the overall image unless there is a contextual reason for increasing the level of sharpening.