Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, 
<Alan.Huntley@c...> wrote:
> Mitch,
> 
> I agree. FocalBlade is a very nice product which I evaluated 
before going with PhotoKit Sharpener. I went with PhotoKit because
> 
> 1. I happen to agree that sharpening should be done in more than 1 
pass.
> 2. I absolutely love the sharpening brushes.
> 3. Being a prior owner of the original PhotoKit product, I 
received a discount.
> 
> Had it not been for the above, I probably would have gone with 
FocalBlade.
> 
> As for Fred's website I do not participate in his forums, but I do 
find a couple of his tools very useful.
> 
> Alan Huntley

You do not need PhotoKit Sharpener to do sharpening in three passes. 
I typically also use two or three sharpening passes.

The first pass in PhotoKit Sharpener is just to restore sharpness 
lost during digital capture. You can use a quick USM on a separate 
layer in PS. Something like 300,0.8,2. If you want a little more 
control, you can use two layers, one with Lighten blending mode and 
the other with Darken blending mode.

You also do not need Photokit Sharpener to brush in/out sharpening 
effect. That's nothing more than a layer mask in PS using a brush 
with an opacity of around 20%. You could also get there with the 
History Brush, BTW, although I prefer a layer mask for future 
flexibility.

PhotoKit Sharpener is just a sophisticated version of a PS Action. 
It uses Automation in order to provide a little more UI flexibility 
and to protect itself with a trial period. I think $100 is too much 
for what it does. But that's just one opinion. (It literally does 
nothing you can do quickly and easily in PS with layers and layer 
masks. Once you learn the tricks and see you can use them as quickly 
and easily as using PhotoKit Sharpener, you're likely to feel 
burned. IE, why did I spend $95 on that.)

There are tools out there that do more than use layers and layer 
masks and edge sharpening. FocalBlade is one of those products. For 
example, with Focal Blade, you can divide the preview screen into 
multiple horizontal or vertical slices, with each getting different 
sharpening settings. This lets you compare different settings 
visually, so you do not wind up trying a setting and then deciding 
to step back and try again.

Push the logic of my statement about what you can do in PS, and I'll 
agree, you can get the same outcome in PS without ImageBlade. The 
big claim of ImageBlade is the ability to separately sharpen edges 
and surfaces and to control white and black halos. You could do the 
same with USM sharpening on four layers in PS. Black edge 
sharpening. White edge sharepning. Then invert the mask and use it 
for black surface sharpening and white surface sharpening.

FocalBlade does not use layers. You can get there, but you need to 
run FocalBlade on a copy of the image and then copy the result back 
as a layer. Kludgey, IMHO. Limits the usefulness.

What you cannot get in PS alone is the visual comparisons that 
FocalBlade provides, the ability to go from sharpening settings for 
a monitor and for print with a click, etc.

Both FocalBlade and PhotoKit Sharpener make you more productive than 
working with layers and layer masks on your own. FocalBlade is 
quicker to use, provides more visual feedback, has great customer 
service, and costs 50% of what PhotoKit Sharpener would cost me or 
33% of Nik! Sharpener. So, for me, it was an easy decision.

I agree that Fred Miranda makes some very useful actions and add-
ins. He does a fine job in crafting them, and they are very 
reasonably priced. If only his site was open and tolerant!!!! Or at 
least, did not pretend to be so!

Cheers,

Mitch