Sharpen Your Tools in Photoshop

Among the many tasks Adobe Photoshop software allows users to complete is sharpening images so they really pop. When working with digital images, the images inevitably lose some of their focus and edge, becoming slightly soft and blurry. Sometimes photographs do not capture the true color of an object, making images look washed out and bland. Using Photoshop sharpening tools, you can take these images and make them crisp, sharp, and bright again.

One Photoshop sharpening tool that is often underused is the Unsharp Mask filter. Many people don’t quite understand how to make this feature work for them, but once you learn it, it can be indispensable in helping you clean up your images. This tool can be used across an entire image, or on specific sections of the image that you select. Leaning a few basic facts about the Unsharp Mask feature will help you make the right choices for your project.

Unsharp Masks works by reading the contrast levels between adjacent pixels. When the tool discerns a high contrast level, it reads that as an edge, and automatically increases the contrast. Of course, not all highly contrasted pixels represent edges, so you will need to create the settings for your tool based on the image you are working with. Close up images that require some amount of soft focus, like a close up shot of someone’s face, requires a much different amount of sharpening than a wide, landscape shot. You also need to consider how the image will be used – will it be printed with a continuous tone printer, like a Durst Lambda, a halftone printer, like an inkjet or printer, or will it be used online? You should make allowances for the quarks of the output method’s reproduction process.

To use Unsharp Mask, first you will need to set the radius. The radius will depend on the image you working with. Keep in mind that the radius does not directly correspond with the sharpening halo. A radius setting of two does not select two pixels, but rather tells Photoshop to look for contrast two pixels outward from a point. Larger radius settings will cover larger sections of the image, however.

Next, set your volume control, or amount. The amount tells Photoshop how much sharpening to use on the image. The smaller your radius setting is, the larger amount of sharpening you will need to use.

The last step is to set your threshold. The threshold tells the program how much contrast to ignore and stops you from over sharpening your image.

Most users start out with a base setting of 200% for the amount, zero for the threshold, and then they experiment with radius settings until the desired result is achieved. But remember, this is only a guide. You will be ruled by the image you are working with.

If you are a new user, and Unsharp Mask is a little complicated for you, you can still sharpen images by sharpening the layers. Simply duplicate the background and set the blending mode to Soft Light, for slight sharpening, or Hard Light, or increased sharpening. Then run the High Pass filter. If you need to adjust your sharpening, add a Hide All layer to make things sharper, or a Run All layer to make things smoother. You can use you paint brush to add local contrast and sharpening to the image.

Whichever tool you choose to use, remember to consider the image and how the image will be used before beginning. If you’re a new user, sharpening layers might be your best bet – Unsharp Mask makes permanent changes to your image, while sharpening layers allows you to un-do the work you have done without harm to your image.

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