Digital BW, The Print

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> How do you use genuine fractals if you know you will be making many
> different sized prints? Can't you just make one master file, save it,
> and print it at any size?
> 
> If not, what is the proper order to sharpen files that you know will be
> printed at sizes from 5 inches wide to 24 inches wide, and many sizes
> inbetween?


I don't use GF so this point is outside of that particular discussion (BTW,
does GF support layers?), I'm discussing sharpening for different output
sizes.

I dupe my background layer and sharpen my duped layer to the largest extent
I'd need , then just decrease the opacity of the sharpened layer to be
appropriate for smaller sizes. It works well for me as I don't resample my
file for smaller print sizes, I just send it all along to the print driver,
which has no problem processing it. Thus scan once, manipulate once, sharpen
once, print many sizes...

Todd

PS, I'm getting good sharpening results using some of Johnny Deadman's
"smart sharpener" actions. They're free and very effective. I don't have a
link handy but I'd check his site (pinkheadedbug.com) or do a web search.
Most of these sharpeners (he offers a few, are based upon sharpening edges
to a greater extent than flat tones, much like Bruce Fraser's two pass
approach, or UltraSharpen.