Even though
digital camera photo quality is getting better and better
every year, there are still a few digital enhancements
that can be made to improve the digital photo's quality.
For the best print quality, especially if the digital
photo is to be enlarged, there is a certain order of
enhancement steps that should be followed. There are also
a few functions that should not be performed until after
the digital photo has been enlarged to target print size.
Very important, you should not sharpen a digital photo
until the image file is sized to the target print size.
Sharpening an image file has the same effect on the pixels
as resampling the pixels. This will degrade the original
image quality of the file if done before the photo is
enlarged to target size. Sharpening the photo should be
the last function performed before sending the file to
print.
After about a decade of specializing in processing,
enlarging and printing digital photos, I have found almost
every digital photo can use a bit of enhancing. This would
even apply to the newest DSLR models. Every once in a
while I'll come across and photo that is just about
perfect, but even these can always be enhanced to improve
the image dynamics and vibrancy.
Basically, there are three simple adjustments that can be
made to about any digital photo to improve it's visual
presentation. Once again, here I caution those who do not
have their monitors calibrated and profiled, with color
management policies in effect in their image editing
software, to be careful with image editing adjustments.
What you see on the screen may print very different to
what that screen displays.
The order of these three image adjustments is fairly
important. If you are planning to enlarge the photo for
printing, it does not really matter if these three image
adjustments are performed before or after the photo is
enlarged. The order of editing should be first, adjust the
photos tonal levels, then the contrast, brightness and
finally the image color saturation. Just these three
simple editing functions can make a big difference in the
digital photo's presentation.
Adjust the digital photo's tonal levels first. This can
balance the image's darkness to lightness, which with
digital photos that can many times have a slight darkness
cast in brighter shooting conditions, brighten the photo
considerably. Viewing the levels adjustment window, you
will see a histogram, or type of chart, that displays the
photos levels. There is a dark end adjuster on the left
side of the chart, a light end adjuster on the right end
of the chart, and a mid-tone adjuster in the middle of the
chart. Elements lacking in the photo will show as a flat
line on the chart.
If there are flat line conditions on either end of the
chart, start adjusting the levels by sliding the adjusters
in from the dark end first, then bring in the light end to
where it looks good while viewing the photo. Usually, the
best results will be obtained by adjusting the sliders
just short of the point where the chart area of the image
begins to peak upwards. The final adjusting should be done
with the mid-tone adjuster. Every image may not need
complete adjusting, but any flat line areas on the chart
usually need adjustment to optimize the appearance of the
photo. Making levels adjustments is entirely a personal
preference kind of thing. What looks good to you is what
will work best.
The next adjustment you should make is with the photos
contrast in the brightness/ contrast adjustment window.
Don't go overboard here, as it can cause brighter areas of
the photos to over-bright or flash, and colors to become
distorted. Over-contrast can also cause the photo to
become more grainy in appearance if your are considering
photo enlargement. With today's cameras, a contrast boost
of about +5 to +9 will optimize the image very nicely.
The next step is to check how a brightness boost will
work. Adjusting brightness is a purely visual adjustment.
While viewing the photo, boost the brightness about one
half the amount you boosted the contrast and see how it
looks. This is a pretty good rule of thumb adjustment
amount. If your contrast adjustment was +8, try boosting
the brightness about +4. The final amount will be just
what looks best to you.
The third basic enhancement will be to boost the color
saturation of the digital photo. Just about every digital
photo can use a little of this. Once again, don't go crazy
here, usually a saturation boost of about +5 to +10 will
enhance the vibrancy of the photo enough to really enhance
the colors when printed. If you prefer a softer look for
your photo, I would leave this adjustment alone, or maybe
even remove a little saturation.
After you have your photo looking the way you like, and
you also want the image sharp, the last thing you want to
do is to sharpen the photo. The photo should be at the
target printing size before you sharpen the image.
Sharpening should also be performed using the unsharp mask
filter. Using the universal sharpen filter can yield
over-sharpened results making the image appear jagged or
edgy.
To begin with, I would recommend setting the unsharp mask
at a threshold of 0 and a radius of one pixel. The degree
of sharpening would be adjusted by increasing or
decreasing the percentage slider. The effect of the
sharpening filter is different depending on the actual
pixel dimension density of the digital photo. The higher
the pixel resolution, the higher degree of sharpening
percentage the photo can take before becoming edgy in
appearance.
You should have your image at 100% magnification view when
sharpening. Try sliding the % adjuster up and down with
the preview box checked so the sharpening effects will be
displayed as you change them. When you get the image about
how you like, click the OK. I would recommend viewing
various areas of the photo after sharpening, at the 100%
magnification. Toggle between sharpened and not sharpened,
using the edit>undo and edit>redo to see how the
photo looks. It you don't like the results, stay in the
edit>undo and start over opening the unsharp mask
filter window and resetting the filter.
These simple photo enhancements should help you achieve
much finer presenting digital photos. There are many other
digital enhancements available to improve and edit photos
and using some of these more advanced enhancement tools is
really just a matter of understanding what the tool does,
and experimenting with the effects on photos. For the most
part, if you can master the three basic enhancement tools
described in this article, you will be surprised at how
good your photos can look. |
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