Retouching Errors Made By SO MANY Photographers | Over-sharpening photos - when is it too sharp?

Summary

In this Five Minute Friday episode, photographer Jessica McGovern discusses the common mistake of over-sharpening in photo retouching. She uses the example of a portrait of Nala, a dog, to illustrate the pitfalls of excessive sharpening, which can make images look unnatural and even lead to pixel breakdown. McGovern advises photographers to apply sharpening subtly and selectively, focusing on key areas like the eyes to draw the viewer's attention without overdoing it. She emphasizes the importance of a 'less is more' approach to achieve a natural look in retouched images.

Takeaways

• 📅 The video is part of a 'Five Minute Friday' series that continues a topic discussed in a previous episode.
• 🔍 The focus is on common mistakes made by photographers in the retouching process, specifically over-sharpening.
• 👩‍🏫 The speaker, Jessica McGovern, is an international multi-award-winning portrait photographer who shares her expertise and observations.
• 📸 The script uses a photo of Nala, a dog model, as an example to illustrate the effects of over-sharpening.
• 🇮🇹 The photo was taken in Italy during a Pet Photographers Retreat where Jessica was teaching.
• 🍂 Jessica chose an autumnal edit for the photo and finished the edit with her usual sharpening procedure.
• 🔍 Over-sharpening can make an image look unnatural, as if hairspray has been sprayed all over the subject.
• 🚫 Over-sharpening can lead to pixel breakdown and edges that are too sharp, which can be detrimental to the image quality.
• 🛠️ The use of action packs from other photographers can exacerbate the over-sharpening problem if not used carefully.
• ⚠️ Over-sharpened images can be rejected in awards competitions or look poor when printed large.
• 🎨 The advice is to apply sharpening subtly and selectively, focusing on areas like the eyes or other key features to draw the viewer's attention.
• 👀 The importance of a 'less is more' approach in retouching is emphasized, advocating for a gentle touch to maintain a natural look.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the Five Minute Friday video?

The main topic of the video is discussing common mistakes in retouching, specifically over-sharpening in photography.

Who is the speaker in the video?

The speaker is Jessica McGovern, an international multi-award-winning portrait photographer.

What is the significance of the 'Bell icon' mentioned in the video?

The Bell icon is important for subscribing to the channel and receiving notifications for every new YouTube video release.

What is the issue that arises after finishing retouching, as discussed in the video?

The issue discussed is over-sharpening, which can make a photograph look unnatural and unappealing.

Why is over-sharpening a problem when using bought action packs from the internet?

Over-sharpening can be exacerbated when using bought action packs because most of these actions may automatically apply excessive sharpening if not adjusted properly.

What is the visual effect of over-sharpening as described in the video?

Over-sharpening can make the subject of the photograph look like it has been sprayed with hairspray, especially noticeable in animals.

How does the video demonstrate the difference between appropriate and over-sharpening?

The video shows a before and after comparison, highlighting the pixel breakdown and the unnatural sharp edges that result from over-sharpening.

What is the advice given for sharpening in the video?

The advice is to apply sharpening subtly and selectively, focusing on areas like the eyes or other features of interest, and avoiding overdoing it.

What is the potential consequence of over-sharpening if a photograph is submitted to an awards competition?

Over-sharpening could lead to the photograph being disqualified from winning in an awards competition due to its unprofessional appearance.

What is the suggested approach to retouching according to the video?

The suggested approach is to be gentle and use a 'less is more' philosophy, ensuring the final image looks natural and not over-processed.

How does the video conclude the discussion on over-sharpening?

The video concludes by emphasizing the importance of recognizing over-sharpening as a problem and adopting a lighter touch in retouching.

Outlines

00:00

📸 Avoiding Over-Sharpening in Photography

In this Five Minute Friday video, photographer Jessica McGovern addresses a common issue in photo retouching: over-sharpening. She begins by introducing the topic as a continuation from a previous video, where she discussed common mistakes made by photographers. Jessica emphasizes the importance of avoiding over-sharpening, especially when using action packs from the internet, which can exacerbate the problem. She uses an example of a photo of Nala, taken in Italy, to illustrate the point. Jessica explains that over-sharpening can make an image look unnatural, like it's been sprayed with hairspray, and can be particularly detrimental when entering competitions or printing large images. She advises photographers to be subtle with their sharpening and to consider masking it to specific areas of the image.

05:04

🔍 The Pitfalls of Over-Sharpening and How to Correct It

Continuing the discussion on over-sharpening, Jessica McGovern provides a detailed critique of the issue, using the same photo of Nala to demonstrate the effects of excessive sharpening. She points out that while the image may appear fine at a glance, zooming in reveals pixel breakdown and unnaturally sharp edges, which are indicative of over-sharpening. Jessica shows the dramatic difference when a sharpening action from a popular action pack is applied at full power, resulting in haloing and an overall unpleasant appearance. She advises viewers to be gentle with their sharpening, applying it only to key areas like the eyes and tongue to draw attention, while keeping the rest of the image soft. Jessica concludes by encouraging photographers to recognize and correct over-sharpening to improve their work, and she looks forward to seeing their progress in future Five Minute Friday sessions.

Keywords

💡Five Minute Friday

Five Minute Friday refers to a series of short, focused video sessions that are released every Friday. In the context of the video, it's a continuation of a previous topic, indicating a recurring educational format. The script mentions 'Five Minute Friday' as the format of the video, suggesting a quick, digestible lesson for the viewers.

💡Retouching

Retouching is the process of editing and enhancing photographs to improve their quality or appearance. It is central to the video's theme as the speaker discusses common mistakes made during this process. The script uses the term to introduce the topic of the video, which is to avoid over-sharpening in photo retouching.

💡Over-sharpening

Over-sharpening is a term used in photography to describe the excessive application of sharpening filters or techniques, which can lead to an unnatural look in a photograph. The video's main theme revolves around this concept, as the speaker warns against over-sharpening and demonstrates its negative effects on a photograph of Nala.

💡Action Packs

Action Packs refer to pre-recorded sets of actions in photo editing software that can be applied to automate certain tasks, such as retouching. In the script, the speaker mentions that using bought action packs can inadvertently exacerbate the problem of over-sharpening, indicating a common source of the issue discussed.

💡Pixel Level

Pixel level refers to the smallest unit of digital image data, and examining an image at the pixel level means looking at it in great detail. The script emphasizes the importance of checking the image at the pixel level to identify over-sharpening, which may not be apparent when viewed at a normal scale.

💡Hairspray Effect

The term 'hairspray effect' is used metaphorically in the script to describe the visual outcome of over-sharpening, where the subject's hair or fur appears as if it has been sprayed with hairspray. This vividly illustrates the unnatural look that over-sharpening can create.

💡Haloinig

Haloing is an undesirable effect in photography where a bright or dark fringe appears around the edges of objects in an image. The script uses 'haloing' to describe a consequence of extreme over-sharpening, which can make the image look unprofessional and unappealing.

💡Judgy McJudgyson

Judgy McJudgyson is an alter ego used by the speaker, Jessica McGovern, to add a playful and critical tone to her analysis of photography mistakes. It's used in the script to introduce the speaker's persona and to set the tone for the critique of common retouching errors.

💡Less is More

The phrase 'less is more' is a design principle that advocates for simplicity and minimalism. In the context of the video, it's used to advise photographers to apply a subtle touch when sharpening their images, suggesting that a gentle approach is often more effective than an aggressive one.

💡Masking

Masking in photo editing is the process of selectively applying effects to certain areas of an image while leaving others unaffected. The script suggests using masking to apply sharpening only to specific parts of the image, such as the eyes or tongue of the subject, to draw the viewer's attention without over-doing it.

💡Gentle Retoucher

A 'gentle retoucher' is someone who applies editing techniques with care and subtlety. The term is used in the script to encourage photographers to be mindful and restrained in their retouching process, avoiding the common mistake of over-sharpening.

Highlights

Introduction to a Five Minute Friday session continuing a previous discussion on common photography mistakes.

Emphasis on the importance of subscribing and enabling notifications for weekly educational content.

Jessica McGovern introduces herself as an international multi-award-winning portrait photographer.

The session focuses on the common mistake of over-sharpening in photography retouching.

Explanation of how over-sharpening can make an image look unnatural, similar to being sprayed with hairspray.

The problem of over-sharpening is often exacerbated by using pre-bought action packs from the internet.

Illustration of the over-sharpening issue using a portrait of Nala, a dog photographed in Italy.

Discussion on the appropriate level of sharpening and the importance of not pushing it to the extreme.

Highlighting the issue of pixel breakdown and the creation of unattractive sharp edges due to over-sharpening.

Warning about the negative impact of over-sharpening on image quality, especially when printed large or entered into competitions.

Demonstration of the extreme effects of over-sharpening using an unnamed action pack creator's sharpening action.

Advice on applying sharpening subtly and selectively, focusing on key areas like the eyes or tongue in a portrait.

Recommendation to use a 'less is more' approach when sharpening to maintain a natural look.

The importance of recognizing over-sharpening as a problem to improve one's photography skills.

Encouragement for photographers to be gentle and careful with their retouching to avoid common errors.

A before-and-after comparison to illustrate the impact of gentle retouching versus over-sharpening.

Concluding remarks emphasizing the need for a lighter touch in retouching to achieve natural results.

Transcripts

Hey guys welcome and welcome back thanks so  much for joining me today we're going to do a  

Five Minute Friday that's kind of a continuation  onwards from a topic that we covered a few weeks  

ago so back then essentially we covered two of the  main mistakes that nearly every photographer makes  

within their retouching that they should always  always always try and avoid and seeing as though  

you guys thought that was great theoretically  I thought why not expand on that a little bit  

so I'm going to continue along kind of like in  a mini series I guess and therefore this is part  

two if you're new here please don't forget to  hit the Subscribe button go ahead and hit the  

Bell icon Bell icon will help you out because  I'll give you a notification every single time  

we release a YouTube video which is every single  week on a Friday at 12 noon on a Friday at 12 noon  

which I've just said so I've said it again to  drive it home please do join me in the future  

I am Jessica McGovern International multi-award  winning portrait photographer Judgy McJudgyson  

with the alter ego of picky Patricia and so  these little things that I'm going through are  

things that I see personally all of the time  whether that's through judging whether it's  

through critiquing whether it's through one-to-one  education whether it's just perusing the social  

media accounts on the Internet it's it's really  really common and it's so frustrating because it's  

so easy to avoid so without further ado let's  put five minutes on the clock and get stuck in

on my screen you can see the gorgeous freaking  drop dead gorgeous Nala so this is Nala she is  

absolutely beautiful we will all hopefully agree  with this now this issue that I'm discussing today  

tends to come about after you've finish your  retouching okay right at the end always tends  

to happen at the end however if you use bought  action packs aka actions that you've bought off  

of the internet from another photographer then  you will probably be inadvertently multiplying  

this problem with most of those actions that  you press okay stick with me stick with me it's  

important stuff this is important important stuff  so we can see Nala's here she sat on a pathway in  

Italy okay so this was shot over at The Pet  Photographers Retreat where I was teaching in  

Italy Nala was one of our dog models for one of  the classes and I shot this shot down a alleyway  

I've gone with an autumnal edit because I felt  it was appropriate and I finished this edit off  

with my usual sharpening procedure which if we go  into 100% zoom leaves us here now this for me is  

already borderline we're borderline on the problem  that we're going to discuss and the problem that  

we're discussing today is over sharpening over  sharpening is sharpening on some form of a kind of  

express service to disaster okay if you look at a  photograph and think that looks like somebody has  

sprayed hairspray all over the subject especially  if it's an animal then the chances are that image  

is so over sharpened it's painful now for me if  I look at this and zoom in even further we're  

now at 225% so a little bit of of leeway given  on that you can see that these hairs up here  

are almost looking and here too like we've given  them a good dose of the Elnet hairspray but this  

is kind of my absolute top level of sharpening  okay and if we go back to 100% I'm going to go  

in a little bit more just for you guys because  you might not have a super big screen so I'm  

going to go into 150% ish I want to show you  what I see most frequently okay I see this  

now from zoomed out from zoom out wider wider  wide this doesn't look bad in fact it looks  

fine it looks actually appropriately sharpened  however it's not real because we need to go into  

the actual pixel level and even at 100% this looks  like I've gone and thrown so much hairspray on it  

it's painful if we go in further you can see  that we have almost like pixel breakdown the  

pixel breakdown is happening and we have this kind  of horrendously sharp edge situation this is over  

sharpened this is not good this is bad if this  image was submitted into an awards competition or  

was printed large the image would look horrendous  okay it would look horrendous it would never win  

purely because it's over sharpened but this isn't  even as bad as you can get because on a well-known  

action-pack creator okay I'm not going to name  any names but on their action pack there is a  

sharpening action and most people are going to  go ahead and leave this on 100 that leaves you  

here so let's go for a before and after on that  that's the already horrendously over sharpened  

one this is that action on full power can you  see how that's gone wrong I'm really hoping  

you can see how that's gone wrong we even have  haloing introduced around the edges that's the  

level of sharpening that we've got to the whole  dog looks like it was dipped in hairspray and  

left out to solidify in the sunshine it's not  a good look guys this is a major major error so  

if we revert back to where I was mine now looks  like super soft by comparison and even mine was  

verging on over sharpened in places so if we  deviate between what most photographers are  

outputting at the moment which is this one which  is the the over sharpened version and my one  

mine looks soft as a pancake but mine's actually  almost over sharpened in itself so that's why I  

really wanted to cover this off today sharpening  is perfect you want to do it give it a little bit  

of a kiss at the end of your retouching 100% but  don't crank it all the way up don't do it keep  

it subtle and if you can if you can try and mask  it and apply it only to the areas that you really  

want the viewer to look at so in this case with  this subject it's just going to be the eyes maybe  

the tongue as well because it's kind of adorable  but you want to keep it really specific on those  

areas and get rid of it everywhere else you don't  need the floor sharpening to the nth degree okay  

you don't need it it just doesn't need to be done  so always go in with a less is more approach less  

is more lighter gentle be careful be accountable  to what you're doing to the image you want to end  

up with something that just looks great looks  natural you don't want to overcook it so hold  

back on the hairspray please guys this is the I  guess the third major retouching error that pretty  

much every photographer makes just lighter touch  lighter touch gentle be a gentle gentle retoucher  

wait I mean you can still do crazy things and  go from our proverbial before to after which  

I will show you because why not so that's the  before and that's after I wouldn't particularly  

say that was a gentle touch but the sharpening  the finishing tweaks gentle gentle gentle okay  

hopefully that was useful are you a culprit of  over sharpening do you put that hairspray on a  

little bit too hot sometimes if you do that's  fine because you at least accept that you do  

that's okay because I feel like the first step to  improving is recognising that we have a problem  

so hopefully this has helped really looking  forward to seeing your images gentle on the  

sharpening gentle gentle gentle I'll see you  back next week for another Five Minute Friday