Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

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The Digital Photographer's Software Guide
Methods
The classic method for improving edge definition has long been unsharp masking,
which replicates a darkroom effect in which a negative is masked by a slightly out-offocus
(unsharp) duplicate. It creates a deliberate halo effect at edges by accentuating the
intensities of adjacent pixels.
Most software now offers alternatives to the unsharp mask, mainly because an exaggerated
halo effect can be unattractive, especially when applied right across the image. Two
alternatives are edge masking, to isolate the edges before applying any sharpening routines,
and the high-pass sharpening filter, which can be applied to a Photoshop layer.
Human error is the cause of much unsharpness in photographs: poor focusing, motion
blur, and camera shake. To some extent, these can also be corrected with specialized processing,
as proved by Focus Magic from Acclaim Software. Other packages provide RAW
pre-sharpening, camera-specific settings, and even a different kind of sharpening routine
for each stage of the workflow. It is all here, in the packages described in this chapter.
See also the section entitled “Picture Cooler” in Chapter 17, “Noise Reduction”.
CrispImage Pro
Vendor: SoftWhile
Purpose: Sharpening tool with six algorithms, including a proprietary method
Description
CrispImage Pro is sharpening software that offers six algorithms and improves on unsharp
masking with “the CrispImage proprietary algorithm.” The control panel gives you four
slider controls: strength (affects the intensity of change in pixel values), threshold (sets
level below which no change to a pixel is made), halo limit (controls halo size), and standard
deviation (modifies the influence of surrounding pixels at varying distances).
As a Photoshop Action, CrispImage applies a standard sharpening process. When you
open an image in it, you can then use the controls to modify the sharpening as you please.
There are three CrispImage editions: a basic plug-in for Windows, the Pro plug-in
(discussed here), and a marginally more expensive Advanced plug-in with 16-bits-perchannel
support in grayscale, RGB, Lab, and CMYK.
Comments
CrispImage Pro has been used by photo enthusiasts for several years and is now available
in various editions at a range of prices. It is easy to use, creates crisp-looking output,
and is definitely worth adding to Photoshop Elements. Typical comments from three
users are: “[CrispImage Pro] makes natural looking images,” “makes a big difference,”
and “[provides] good halo control.”