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Bicubic sharper has its attraction. After all, you're asking Photoshop to make sharpening decisions based on a larger number of pixels, which may theoretically produce crisper results.
But Bicubic Sharper falls short in two regards:
I use Bicubic Sharper fairly regularly for sizing Web graphics. Otherwise, I'm more likely to stick with the reliable old default Bicubic option.
But Bicubic Sharper falls short in two regards:
- Like any sharpening algorithm, Bicubic Sharper introduces halos and edge-enhancement artifacts. Those halos are typically slight, but any further sharpening (which you'll need when preparing an image for print, for example) will exaggerate them. I have many uses for multi-pass sharpening. But applying thick-halo print sharpening on top of hairline-halo Bicubic Sharper sharpening produces "crunchy" results at worst and strikes me as bad form at best.
- Bicubic Sharper doesn't let you control the amount of sharpening or the size of your halos—or any other parameters, for that matter. You get tiny edges all the time. It's analogous (but not exactly equal to) a 50% application of the old single-shot Sharpen filter. Which, as those of you familiar with Sharpen know, ain't all that useful.
I use Bicubic Sharper fairly regularly for sizing Web graphics. Otherwise, I'm more likely to stick with the reliable old default Bicubic option.
Both of these options are available as part of the Image Size dialog box (Image > Image Size) in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements) once you have the Resample Image check box turned on:
To learn more about optimizing your images, check out Deke's books Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One or the upcoming Photoshop Elements 8 One-on-One.
