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Defog vs. Sharpen
Here's a great little tutorial from our very own, Photoshop guru, Bill Guy. This gem was in a thread started by a NoBS member who wanted to understand the difference between defog and sharpen.
A Sharpen How and When
When many (including myself) say save Sharpen for last it is because size does matter (stop laughing girls). A large image file requires more sharpening than a smaller image file because with less pixels, less processing sharpening is needed. What sharpening is doing is finding the pixels with contrast next to smooth areas and increasing the contrast in these areas. However higher setting with fewer pixels means that Photoshop is finding more pixels to sharpen.
So if you are taking a file from a camera and making a 4x6 print you make a copy of the image and set the resolution for that size which means fewer pixels for most labs. Sizing the image you will look at it at 100% view and start to apply some sharpening to make it pop. An 8x10 copy of the same file would take a little more sharpening because it is a larger file with more pixels. A 20x24 would take a bit more than the 8x10 for the same look. Try this will yourself and see using the same image but set at three sizes. In fact you can even make Actions for different sizes to save even more time in your workflow or use Smart Sharpen (More on this later).
As for settings a few things to keep in mind. The old UnSharp filter has the three sliders: Amount, which is a percent; Radius, the number of pixels affected; and Threshold. A good starting point is the Radius set for 1 or 1.5 pixels then moving Amount for the look you want. Higher Radius is only needed for very blurry images. Threshold is backwards for photographers minds. Higher Threshold means smoother areas in transitions of tones while lower setting means more contrast.
CS gives us more and sometimes better choices. Sharpen and Sharpen Edges looks for contrast and bumps it up like the find edges like a High Pass filter does but at a lower setting. It also doesn't have any sliders and is just a one click wonder. It does help if you are using a 10% upsize action but that is another long tome. Sharpen More is a high setting and is also a one click wonder filter with no sliders.
Now we come to the newest sharpening filter, Smart Sharpen, which is really a great improvement. In the Basic mode, it acts just like the Unsharp Mask but only has Amount and Radius but you can use it for minor motion blur with an angle depending on which way the blur is moving or Lens or Gaussian effects. For those who like even more control, you can go to advance setting and even work the shadows and highlights. An added bonus is if you want you can even create presets for different sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10, and the like) and just use the drop down setting window after saving them.
Sharpening can also be done in ACR (PS raw converter)before you even move into Photoshop. This can be a big time saver by adding a little sharpening on larger files.