Because Unsharp mask widens the contrast im wondering which technique is correct. NOTE: I am using Levels on my output Com to stud rgb in these screenshots
1. Using only Unsharp (The white dots lie perfectly between 100 - 0
2. Using Brightness and contrast + Unsharp mask (The white dots seem a bit squashed near 0%)
Now in my opinion Brightness/contrast and unsharp mask together seems alot better on my eye. I dont know if that squashing is the correct way to edit?!
If my basic understanding is correct, from years ago. Unsharp Mask adds white and black dots in various areas to make an object look more detailed. It's the white and black dots that fool the graphs. You still have to use your brightness and conrast to get things looking correct to the eye
i know unsharp adds alot of dark lines to make things appear sharper, but i dont know the proper way...
The Unsharp Mask derives from a trick used in black and white printing. If you had a negative that was not quite sharp enough you made a copy of that negative and then put the two together but very slightly out of alignment and printed from there to the paper. It was a tedious process and a bit hit and miss but if you were lucky you ended up with a sharper print.
If I have a slightly unsharp event I tend to use the Unsharp Mask as my first choice and prefer it to the Sharpen Filter or the option available in Convolution Kernel. My judgement on its success or otherwise tends to be made by eye rather than via the measuring options --- after all, if it passes the eye test it must be reasonably acceptable unless you are in ultra critical mode when technicalities can sometimes, but only sometimes, be counter productive.
Richard
Misregistering negatives can reduce grain and contrast, but it's not a true analog unsharp mask because it can soften detail as well, as is common in portraiture.
To make one the traditional way, a negative shadow mask exposed and processed at almost imperceptible levels is sandwiched with the original in perfect registration, then printed a bit contrasty but with just enough light diffusion to cover the grain edges. This buffers the lowermost levels just enough to give the appearance of cleaner detail farther up the zone ladder. It was quite effective in art printing, but took a lot of trial and error and wasted sheet film.