Ultimate Guide to Image Sharpening with DxO
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лип 2024
- Ultimate Guide to Image Sharpening with DxO
A detailed look at image sharpening across the DxO portfolio including
DxO PureRAW 4, DxO PhotoLab 7, Nik Presharpener and Nik Output Sharpener
We start with a look at the camera sensor, explain why RAW files are not as sharp as the in-camera jpeg and move on to input sharpening in software describing the process for each product. We go on to look at creative Sharpening and assess the strengths of each approach to sharpening.
--------------------------
Software that I use for Post Processing:
DxO Pure RAW (Pre Processing When Necessary)
Adobe Lightroom (Catalog Management and Editing)
DxO PhotoLab (RAW Processing)
Adobe Photoshop (Layer Based Processing)
Nik Collection (post edit polish)
Try out DxO PureRAW 4: tidd.ly/47lwlI5
Buy DxO PureRAW 4: tidd.ly/3wGqhfN
Try out DxO PhotoLab 7: tidd.ly/47lwlI5
Buy DxO PhotoLab 7: tidd.ly/47PI81e
Try the Nik Collection free for 30 days at: tidd.ly/4a18yi4
Buy the Nik Collection at tidd.ly/3TpQTcJ
--------------------------
Newsletter Sign Up: subscribepage.io/f68d1e
My Gear: chriswright.photography/about...
MUSIC: Epidemic Sound - share.epidemicsound.com/939dk9
--------------------------
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:54 What is a RAW File Really?
4:43 Sharpening in DxO PureRAW 4
10:54 Sharpening in DxO PhotoLab 7
19:14 Nik Sharpener
#landscapephotography #photoediting #phototutorials #photographygear
Chris this was a great video. I do a lot of editing usually in . Just rediscovered Photo Lab and NIK. Your video helped me a lot. I particularly liked the idea that sharpening can be overdone. So used to getting the sharpest image which can be far sharper than the natural scene.
Great Job
Thanks Chris. This is a great video. I have done a lot of editing mostly in photoshop. Just rediscovered PL7 and NIK. Particularly appreciated your comments on over sharpening.
Great Video!!
Thank you!
Hi Chris. Thank you so much for this informative video. There is so much to learn here. I will surely follow many of your tips on sharpening my pictures.
My pleasure!
Thanks. Always good to get more insight into how the use of DxO's powerful (=learning curve) tools. I rarely used presharpening (plus I also prefer to use PL from RAW to print-ready), but this may affect my workflow. I'm a bit confused regarding the "DeepPRIME XD2 / XD" choice, as XD and XD2 are supposedly different (have you compared them?). How do you specify which one is used? Also, when I open a RAW file in PL, I'm presented with a button to "Apply preset" if I choose to do so (and I rarely do), so my understanding is that no NR or sharpening is being applied automatically, as I've selected "DXO Optical Corrections only" in Preferences as my default.
BtW, have you used Topaz Sharpen AI (or Photo AI)? Those use refinable AI masking for local adjustments and can identify "subjects" in the image. Of course, you need a deft hand to avoid overdoing it as it can look nasty. DxO needs to match competitors in this regard, although neither methodology is foolproof, as the "subject" isn't always radically different for the background in terms of luma, chroma, or any other readily machine-identifiable variable.
Also, what defines "HighISO?"
Good questions! XD2/XD - I believe XD2 cannot be applied to some types of RAW file. I’ll try and find the reference for that but my understanding is that XD is the fallback option. There is some corrective sharpening applied in the demosaicing process. I haven’t tested this across all the options but I have no reason to believe the newer versions of noise reduction would behave differently. I too use optical corrections only. HighISO sets a threshold below which no sharpening is applied. This is simply to avoid sharpening noise. I don’t know what metric is used to define the threshold.
I’ve never used Topaz. I hear such mixed reports about it that I’ve never been tempted to add it. I also resolved to simplify my workflow. Between PureRAW, PhotoLab, Lightroom and Nik I feel I have enough noise reduction!
Learned alot from your video. I primarily take wildlife photos so sharp eyes with feather or fur detail are most important. From your video it would seem that the Nik localized sharpening could be my best bet. Backgrounds could be left more out of focus while the main subject is sharper. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Glad it was helpful! I think you’re right about wildlife photography, local adjustment in Nik Sharpener would give more choices than PL 7
just a note that the last bit on output sharpening you were applying the sharpening to the whole picture rather the using the controls under the control point 1 - otherwise very useful
Quite right and well spotted. The controls on the control point mirror the ones under the control point list. These are local controls but their effect is merged by the diffusion slider at 100% with the area of the picture local to the control point. The output sharpening strength slider I used in the video would apply to the whole picture without diffusion.
Hi Chris, Thanks so much for this sharpening explanation. It has demystified much of the 'art' of sharpening for me. One thing I have noticed is that importing a raw file in PL7 and then exporting to Nik Input Sharpening, a TIFF file is produced (as seems to be normal). Does this conversion from raw to TIFF make any difference? Once again, thanks for making these videos!
The conversion from RAW to Tiff doesn’t make any difference in itself. The only sharpening outside of lens sharpening is the corrective sharpening applied in demosaicing. But the image keeps the settings applied in PL7, so if you apply a preset that includes sharpening then that will be carried across. So always check to make sure the lens sharpness correction isn’t applied.
Thanks for this excellent explanation which I will save to my Photolab and Nik collections. I have some questions:
Which preset do you start with in Photolab? Neutral?
I have been using Topaz AI up to now if I needed extra sharpener. Have you compared Topaz AI Sharpening with DXO Photolab / Nik
You explained very well presharpening in Photolab which I had not previously understood. Would you recommend doing presharpening in Photolab with the Neutral preset defaults and then doing output sharpening in Nik.
Thank you! I start with optical corrections only. I'm going the route of using Nik for output sharpening. It seems to allow more control and it's nicely calibrated, so easier to get a natural looking finish.
If the Colour Rendering panel is deactivated then Photolab is using the Neutral Colour Profile as a default. For me, you need to choose the best Colour Profile for the shot as a first step as it impacts colour and tone of the image. Don't forget that DXO lets you use dcp profiles in Photolab. If you have difficult images eg overexposed and want to recover highlights a Linear dcp profile will give you the best starting point. It's a 2 min job to create a linear profile using the free Adobe DNG converter and DNG Editor.
Personal opinion, but If you have Topaz Photo AI then this is far superior to NIK Presharpener, I have both so.. Topaz will take care of any motion blur in a shot, has AI masking to quickly and accurately target sharpening to specific parts of the image etc.
I have found it best to always use DeepPrimeXD noise reduction (lower the force details slider if you see any artifacts) on all images as DeepPrime/XD changes the rendering engine (uniquely in DXO, noise reduction is applied during the demosaic process and you achieve a better raw conversion, which is also why you can't see the effect of noise reduction on the whole image only in the Noise reduction preview window🙂). I also reduce lens Softness to -3 so that Topaz can do the majority of the sharpening. I get better results like this but YMMV.
@@ianyorke2617 All good but note for Apple users ,the Adobe DNG Profile editor hasn't been updated since 2012 and no longer works on Mac OS. I used to use it to generate profiles for my IR converted camera.
Very good information, well-presented....thanks.
I've just purchased the Nik7 collection during the 20th anniversary sale and have been experimenting with several of the programs, including the pre sharpening and output sharpening. I was also happier with the output sharpening results and am currently using this instead of Topaz AI on any images that require sharpening, especially since, as you point out, you can choose an area of the image to be sharpened very selectively using the luminance and chrominance sliders - something that cannot be done in Topaz.
I'm very happy with the Nik7 collection so far - my only wish is that I could apply more than one control point and have separate values/controls for each. Perhaps you can, but I've not sussed it out yet?
Thank you, You can create new control points - where it lists the control points there are four icons, control point, control line, polygonal mask and luminosity mask. Below the list of control points there are three icons, invert selected local adjustment, duplicate local adjustment and bin local adjustment. You need to be in the top row above the list of control points, simply click the control point icon and drop it on the picture. The only setting that will be applied is diffusion at 100%. which smooths the control point settings into the neighbouring pixels. You can alter this setting to taste.
@@chriswrightphotographs Thanks Chris - I'll check it out. I have applied more than one control point in the past, but they were all linked to the same settings.
Success - I just tried it again and all was fine....each control point was separately controlled. I was probably using the upper sharpening controls earlier and getting a global effect, rather than the bottom (below the list of control points) for a local effect.