Terry,

You were right about the blemish tool causing the weird blur.  I do think i errantly clicked in the preview trying to move the image.

  So it turns out i've been using qimage smart sharpen and never knew it.  A little bit of smart sharpening and the unsharp mask i typically used in gimp give excellent results.   I notched the smart sharpening up to 10 and now i'm seeing results in the prints without gimp sharpened photos. 

Definitely dont see any qimage USM changes in the preview, no matter how much or how magnified. Its just going to take some trial and error, settings right now are radius 3, strength 5, equalizer 20.  Interpolation is set to vector, cant find "hybrid" setting available, is that outdated info? 

Figured out cropping issue.  However crop scissors setting is set going into the queue is how it remains, cant be changed without deleting file from the queue.  I tried removing from  "delete associated filters" option.  its just stuck however it goes to the queue. 

Thanks, probably wouldnt have muddled through this without the help.  Now printing jpegs without saving a print file.  yaahoo.     

Carl

Carl,
You need not remove the image from the queue to toggle back and forth scissors on or off.
You need only click once on the large image, top right, in the preview panel to select it, and then uncrop and crop away to your heart's content.
The theory is perfectly logical and works this way since many folks have 4 or 5 different shots on a page. Some might require crop off while the others need crop on.
The images are selectable for the adjustment.
Fred

Carl-
I'll jump in the frey.

A lot depends on subject.  However, it's pretty rare I go over 1.7 Radius.  Usually 1 to 1.5.  It keeps the "digitized" or over-sharpened look away.  (No that there aren't times that 2-2.5 aren't needed.)   The strength for faces is about 75%--especially on women. 

Landscapes or "things" is 125-175, as Fred said. 

Regardless of what you settle on, find an initial setting to always start with so you have a frame of reference.  Whatever you do, WATCH FOR HALOS.  They are not a good thing thing.

2 more USM previews.
No.1 has a modest amount of USM.
3 is the same as 2 in previous post except with equaliser applied too.
Terry

First of all you are making good progress!
Unless you are shooting in RAW mode, not all images need the same amount or any sharpening. So you do it by eyeball.
It depends on the scene and the F stop and the quality of the lens.

Smart sharpen to default (5)...USM settings check and recheck as you experiment....Interpolation is correct...... I would use HYBRID as the interpolator, but Vector is good too.
Here's a basic explanation of the Equalizer. Again not every shot needs the equalizer, but you try and decide yourself when and how much!

Sharpening is really the increase of contrast on objects with edges of some
sort; e.g. grass, trees, pebbles, anything like that.
When using USM in a normal fashion, you realize the grass and trees look
fake when you reach a certain degree of USM.
When you add the EQ, the focus or strength of the sharpening lessens on the
edges and allows the softer items like flamingo feathers, even some faces, to continue to get
sharpened without over sharpening the edges part.
It makes a 3D effect when you get it right!
It works!!

I used flamingo feathers as an example, (living in sw florida) because they are very soft and smooth. Pelican feathers are the opposite. They have all hard sharp edges and will over sharpen easily.
So play with the controls and gain experience.
If you want to try Hybrid, simply click on EDIT and Interpolation (top selection) and select Hybrid.
Never asked what version of Qimage you were running. Hopefully, you are up to date.
Fred

A caveat here, Fred.  Just, (IMHO) a take on DIT images.  ALL digital images need an initial USM.  They lose something in the interpolation, the Bayer filter, etc.

I know it's a broad statement, but here's my take:  JPEGs really should not be shot with in-camera sharpening (RAW doesn't matter).  At least, nothing you want to save and love.  It just does not give you the control that PS and QI give.  And, it is not reversible.

Now, ratting myself out, in the news game--what the heck!?!?!  Newspaper reproduction is pretty low anyhow; and it saves you time.  Even then I keep the boxes on low.  (Keep in mind I got jumped on only because my JPEGs were set to "quality" instead of "size."  They said the files were too big. 

Again, for good quality I'd leave the camera sharpen off. 

I am talking about the SLRs with the big sensors, not point-and-shoots.

Do you folks want to drag this to a new thread since this is really about Smart Sharpen?  I have some questions/observations based on Mike's theory.  I do not want to confuse anybody not wanting to get that techie.