Getting sharper images with my RED Epic Dragon

[Bill Totolo]

Shot per shot and only on the final pass.

In my experience, you can not "blanket sharpen" by say putting a .02 sharpening on every shot or on an output node. Every shot needs to be treated differently and different focal lengths need more or less sharpening depending also on subject matter. As a rough example, wide angles tend to be sharpened up a bit more than close ups.

Balancing sharpeness shot to shot is something I do as a final pass.

David

Thanks David,

I tend to sharpen the blue or green channel when skin tones are in the frame as I usually want to avoid sharpening faces, in fact I'll blur red one micron to soften wrinkles.
I wondered if anyone else had some rules of thumb to offer.

 

[David Battistella]

I think STD might also produce a sharper image. Or at least that is what some have reported. Shane has a nice write-up with videos on the standard OLPF.[/COLOR]

I would agree that the Standard is slightly sharper and really well named. It is for sure the "all rounder" that it is supposed to be which allows you to get great images in any situation.

David

 

[Marc Wielage]

I tend to sharpen the blue or green channel when skin tones are in the frame as I usually want to avoid sharpening faces, in fact I'll blur red one micron to soften wrinkles. I wondered if anyone else had some rules of thumb to offer.

I think a better strategy is to divide the screen up into different areas that you're trying to emphasize and de-emphasize, then very subtly sharpen the windowed/masked areas and soften the other areas. You can't do it as an "all or nothing" option, and it helps to be able to divide up the spectrum and only sharpen the mids or the highlights when necessary. It's also possible to use tracking windows on stuff like eyes or a car body to selectively sharpen just that image and ignore everything else. It requires some thought and planning, but it can be done.

Pulling defocus keys on skintone to soften wrinkles and blemishes is pretty standard stuff; one trick in Resolve is to use noise reduction rather than defocus per se, or to use negative midtone detail instead for the skin. There are some who are also fond of using H-only defocus or V-only defocus, and that can be useful in some circumstances.