IMPROVE APPARENT SHARPNESS
Use software tools to overcome lens quality challenges
1 PERFORM LENS CORRECTIONS With lower-quality lenses chromatic aberration is often more visible, which can impede fine detail towards the frame edges. Always apply lens corrections as standard in RAW processing to remove edge fringing, to reduce the illusion of softness.
2 STAGE 1 SHARPENING Use your RAW processor’s sharpening tool to apply a first round of global detail enhancement. Use the Radius slider to work on different types of detail (use a lower setting for finer detail) and employ Masking to exclude flatter tones, to minimise noise.
3 SOFTEN BACKGROUNDS An alternative method of increasing the apparent sharpness of an area of the frame is to actually soften the background. If your shot is slightly misfocused, you can use the Adjustment Brush in Camera Raw, set to negative sharpness, to introduce greater separation.
4 LOCALISED TWEAKS Use the Adjustment Brush in ACR or Lightroom to sharpen smaller parts of the frame. This can also be done in Photoshop using Unsharp Mask applied to an Adjustment Layer or by using the Sharpen Tool. This enables stronger application where it is most needed.
5 ADD NOISE If your focus is imperfect over essential areas of the subject, consider adding noise in Photoshop. Use Filter>Noise>Add Noise, choose Gaussian and check Monochromatic. Apply a small amount to give the impression of detail. Mask out the effect from the rest of the frame if necessary.
6 OUTPUT SHARPENING If you are printing from within ACR or Lightroom you can apply sharpening for specific output destinations. Alternatively apply another round of moderate sharpening in Photoshop, lowering the opacity to 50%. This will compensate for further detail loss during printing or resizing.