Point your browsers over to
http://photogipermarket.com/. Some excellent work there in various categories. Most of the photographs just grab you.
I've been poring over the shots that seem to leap out at you. All things being kept constant, the ones that jump out seem to have been sharpened well. Almost to the point where you would possibly edge over into over-sharpening. BUT, these stop just short of that point. Sure, if you're pixel peeping or if you deliberately set out to find something to criticise, you will eventually notice thin halos and other possible artifacts. But, look at the picture as a whole and it works.
I noticed the same thing with Tom Mackie's work tonight. It was excellent, to say the least. But what made the photos pop was the sharpening, again cranked up to that thin line, but not quite over-sharpened. Same thing in his books, which I've spent ages poring over since I got home.
Various tutorials suggest that, for print, you would actually slightly over-sharpen for pictures to appear properly sharpened.
I strongly feel that sharpening does make a big difference to the quality of the finished piece. Perhaps we should focus more on this important skill, too!
