| This technique is useful for images with smooth edge content, such as portraits of people or animals. It's a multi-step technique, therefore I recommend that, you record an action containing all the steps. Note that I have tried this on Photoshop CS3. The image I took in the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Kenya) depicts 2 young lions mating. I loved the expression on the lioness' face, but she was moving her head, so her face is a bit blurred. The whole point of this technique is to automatically find the soft edges and apply the sharpening only there, leaving the rest of the image untouched. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:02:42 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: This technique is useful for images with smooth edge content, such as portraits of people or animals. It's a multi-step technique, therefore I recommend that, you record an action containing all the steps. Note that I have tried this on Photoshop CS3. The image I took in the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Kenya) depicts 2 young lions mating. I loved the expression on the lioness' face, but she was moving her head, so her face is a bit blurred. The whole point of this technique is to automatically find the soft edges and apply the sharpening only there, leaving the rest of the image untouched. |
| Make a copy of the background layer by dragging the background layer on the New Layer button. Then set the opacity to 66 and the blend mode to Luminosity. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:34 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Make a copy of the background layer by dragging the background layer on the New Layer button. Then set the opacity to 66 and the blend mode to Luminosity. |
| Double-click on the copy layer to open the Layer Style dialog. In the Blend If section, you have to position the sliders on both scales so that the values are (ALT-click on a slider to split it into 2) - Minimum Black = 20, Maximum Black = 75, Minimum White = 185, Maximum White = 235. Click OK. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:39 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Double-click on the copy layer to open the Layer Style dialog. In the Blend If section, you have to position the sliders on both scales so that the values are (ALT-click on a slider to split it into 2) - Minimum Black = 20, Maximum Black = 75, Minimum White = 185, Maximum White = 235. Click OK. |
| Apply the Unsharp Mask filter to the copy layer, with these values - Amount = 200, Radius = 0.3 and Threshold = 0. Click OK. Note that the Radius value is good for 10 megapixels and up images. For less than 10, try increasing the Radius, but don't go over 1. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:48 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Apply the Unsharp Mask filter to the copy layer, with these values - Amount = 200, Radius = 0.3 and Threshold = 0. Click OK. Note that the Radius value is good for 10 megapixels and up images. For less than 10, try increasing the Radius, but don't go over 1. |
| Add a new layer with a merged copy of the 2 existing layers. You can do this with the CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-E keyboard shortcut. Select the new layer and apply a Gaussian Blur filter with Radius = 10 pixels. Click OK. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:53 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Add a new layer with a merged copy of the 2 existing layers. You can do this with the CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-E keyboard shortcut. Select the new layer and apply a Gaussian Blur filter with Radius = 10 pixels. Click OK. |
| Click Image -> Calculations and make sure that the 2 Sources point to the new layer and that they use Red and Green as Channel and Pin Light as blending. Click OK. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:57 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Click Image -> Calculations and make sure that the 2 Sources point to the new layer and that they use Red and Green as Channel and Pin Light as blending. Click OK. |
| The purpose of the next (till the 11th) steps is to find the smooth edges of the image. Now select the new Alpha 1 channel. Apply the filter Stylize - Find Edges. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:04:01 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: The purpose of the next (till the 11th) steps is to find the smooth edges of the image. Now select the new Alpha 1 channel. Apply the filter Stylize - Find Edges. |
| Apply a level (CTRL-L) adjustment (200 - 1 - 255) and click OK. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:04:07 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Apply a level (CTRL-L) adjustment (200 - 1 - 255) and click OK. |
| Create a negative by inverting the image (Image -> Adjustments -> Invert) and then apply a Gaussian Blur filter with Radius = 10 pixels. Click OK. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:04:12 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Create a negative by inverting the image (Image -> Adjustments -> Invert) and then apply a Gaussian Blur filter with Radius = 10 pixels. Click OK. |
| Apply a level (CTRL-L) adjustment (5 - 1 - 200) and click OK. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:02:47 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Apply a level (CTRL-L) adjustment (5 - 1 - 200) and click OK. |
| Drag the Alpha 1 channel to the Make Selection button (the first from the left). You can now delete the Alpha 1 channel. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:02:52 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Drag the Alpha 1 channel to the Make Selection button (the first from the left). You can now delete the Alpha 1 channel. |
| Select the Layers palette. With the copy layer selected, click on the Add Layer Mask button (the third from the left). You can now delete the Layer 1 layer. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:02 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Select the Layers palette. With the copy layer selected, click on the Add Layer Mask button (the third from the left). You can now delete the Layer 1 layer. |
| Select the copy layer (not its mask) and apply the Unsharp Mask filter, with these values - Amount = 180, Radius = 3 and Threshold = 0. Click OK. This is an harsh sharpening, but you're sharpening only the edges that the mask is revealing. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:11 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Select the copy layer (not its mask) and apply the Unsharp Mask filter, with these values - Amount = 180, Radius = 3 and Threshold = 0. Click OK. This is an harsh sharpening, but you're sharpening only the edges that the mask is revealing. |
| Now we have finished, but you can fine-tune the sharpening further, depending on the image you are working on. In my case, to obtain maximum effect, I changed the layer opacity to 100. This made the head of the lioness as sharp as possible, but the rest of the image was too sharp. So I used a large black brush with a low opacity to paint on the mask (I ALT-clicked the mask to make it visible) to diminish the effect on all the image apart from the head of the lioness. In general, you can play with the layer opacity to adjust the intensity of the sharpening effect. Remember to flatten the image at the end. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:16 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Now we have finished, but you can fine-tune the sharpening further, depending on the image you are working on. In my case, to obtain maximum effect, I changed the layer opacity to 100. This made the head of the lioness as sharp as possible, but the rest of the image was too sharp. So I used a large black brush with a low opacity to paint on the mask (I ALT-clicked the mask to make it visible) to diminish the effect on all the image apart from the head of the lioness. In general, you can play with the layer opacity to adjust the intensity of the sharpening effect. Remember to flatten the image at the end. |
| You can now see the difference between the original (on the right) and the sharpened copy (on the left). |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:25 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: You can now see the difference between the original (on the right) and the sharpened copy (on the left). |
| Note - if you create an action, pay attention when executing steps 11 and 12. Delete the channel and the layer in the specified sequence, otherwise the action may fail. Note 2 - if you use an action, you can check the -Toggle Dialog OnOff- on certain actions, such as the Unsharp Mask ones to have the action pause and the dialog of the filter appears so you can tune the values differently. |
 Date:Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:03:26 GMT Album Category:Smooth Edges Sharpening/ Click here to view album containing this image. Tags: Description: Note - if you create an action, pay attention when executing steps 11 and 12. Delete the channel and the layer in the specified sequence, otherwise the action may fail. Note 2 - if you use an action, you can check the -Toggle Dialog OnOff- on certain actions, such as the Unsharp Mask ones to have the action pause and the dialog of the filter appears so you can tune the values differently. |
