Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

Sharpening

Now that you’ve finished your other corrections, it’s time to sharpen, or improve the focus, of your photo. Most digital camera photos need some sharpening, since the sharpening your camera applies is usually deliberately conservative. Once again, a Quick Fix Auto button is at your service. Give the Auto Sharpen button a try to get things started.

You should understand, though, that the sad truth is that there’s really no way to improve the focus of a photo once it’s taken. Software sharpening just increases the contrast where the program perceives edges, so using it first can have strange effects on other editing tools and their ability to understand your photo.

If you don’t like what Auto Sharpening does (and you very well may not), you can undo it by clicking the Cancel button on the Sharpen palette. Try the slider instead. If you thought the Auto button overdid things, then go very gently with the slider. Changes vary from photo to photo, but usually Auto’s results fall at around the 30 to 40 percent mark on the slider.

Figure 11-9. Top: The greenish tint in this photo is a drastic example of a very common problem caused by many digital cameras.Bottom: A little adjustment of the Tint slider clears it up in a jiffy. It’s not always as obvious as it is here that you need a tint adjustment. If you aren’t sure, the sky is often a dead giveaway. Is it robin’s egg blue? If ...