In this tutorial, you're going to learn all the different types of sharpening
and several methods to apply sharpening to a photo.
Let's start right at the beginning.
Generally speaking, there are three types of sharpening:
capture sharpening, creative sharpening, and output sharpening.
Capture sharpening is the sharpening that you apply to an image to bring back the detail lost
through the lens, and the process of capturing the image to a sensor,
converting it to a digital format; known as the "demosaicing process."
To offset this loss of detail.
When you open up a raw file in Camera Raw or Lightroom,
you'll see that the sharpening amount is set to 25 by default.
Instead, if you open a jpeg,
the amount will be set to 0 because the device that captured the image
adds the sharpening when it outputs it as a jpeg.
Next, we have creative sharpening,
which is a sharpening that is applied selectively based on an artistic look.
Usually it's not a subtle or realistic effect.
The third type of sharpening that you can
apply is output sharpening, which is the sharpening that is applied
to a photo when you export it out of Photoshop.
It is usually done when you scaled down
and export it as a jpeg or when you're sending your image to print.
Both printing and downsizing an image may
soften it and you may need a bit of sharpening to enhance the details.
In this video, we will focus on enhancing the capturing sharpening of a JPEG photo.
You can download the sample image in the description if you like.
If you're working with your own raw photo,
then make sure that you skip to the Camera Raw example.
OK, let's jump right into the editorial.
This is the image that we're going to work with is just a regular JPEG photo.
I'll duplicate that by pressing Ctrl J on Windows, Command J on the Mac
and I'm going to right-click and convert it into a Smart Object.
And in case you don't know,
a Smart Object is a container that allows you to apply
adjustments, distortions, filters and transformations nondestructively.
In other words, you can always come back and edit it.
Make sure that you're in the 100 % view.
Any other view could be misleading when you are sharpening your image.
So I like to get close in there, to the 100% view,
and then go into Filter, Sharpen, Smart Sharpen.
Now, if you're in an older version of Photoshop, you can select Unsharp Mask.
The Smart Sharpen is just the newer version with more features.
And what I'm going to do now is talk about the sliders here on this filter.
First of all, let's look at the Amount slider.
The Amount controls the intensity of the sharpening effect.
When I drag the slider all the way to the right,
you can see how it applies a sharpening effect.
You can see it here in the eyes.
I can click-and-drag on the preview window
and you can see the sharpening effect here.
Next, let's talk about the radius, this is a very important slider.
I'm just going to drag it all the way to the right to 64 pixels.
And notice the edges that we get.
We get 64-pixel pixel edges.
The edge on her nose is bright and the edge outside of her nose is dark.
Photoshop is adding the illusion of detail
and sharpness by applying contrast to edges and you can clearly see it there.
It's a 64-pixel edge.
It is dark on one side and bright on the other.
So as you can see, Photoshop is not really bringing back detail,
it is merely enhancing edge pixels.
So, if I bring the radius down, you can see that that stroke gets much, much smaller.
Obviously you don't want anything that big for an image like this.
Next, we have the reduced noise slider.
So let me zoom in into an area here in the background.
And then I'll zoom in really close.
And if I increase Remove Noise, you'll notice how the noise gets reduced.
So, that's what this slider is controlling,
just reducing the noise that is created by the sharpening effect.
But it keeps important edges unaffected, which is really, really cool.
So, before.
And after.
Next, we have the sharpening algorithm that is used to sharpen the image.
Lens Blur detects the edges and detail in an image,
and it helps you apply contrast without creating edge halos.
We also have Gaussian blur, which is the algorithm used in the Unsharp Mask.
So if you prefer how that old filter works,
the one I showed you before opening this one,
then you can simply select Gaussian blur
and it'll give you the same algorithm.
And then we have Motion Blur;
It tends to reduce the effect of blur due to Camera or subject movement.
And you can set the angle of the movement here
so that Photoshop can try and remove that blur. In this case,
And in most cases, Lens Blur is the algorithm that you're going to want to set.
Then you have the Shadows and Highlights Advanced Options.
This basically removes the sharpening effect
from either the shadows or highlights.
In this case, I don't need to worry about this for this image.
So I'm going to collapse the shadows and highlights.
So what I'm going to do now is just fine,
tune the Amount and maybe increase the Radius a tiny little bit.
And I can see the before and the after,
and I'll press OK notice that I also have a Layer Mask here.
So if I wanted to reduce that sharpening effect from the image,
I can do so by painting with black on that Layer Mask;
and it removes it from the areas that I painted on.
The other filter that I wanted to show you is the Camera Raw filter.
So I'm going to duplicate this layer
by pressing Ctrl J on Windows, Command on the Mac.
I'm going to right click and convert it to a Smart Object
and now that is a Smart Object.
I'm going to go into filter Camera Raw filter.
From here, I'm going to click on the Detail tab
and you can see the Sharpening slider here.
You can click on this arrow to expand these options.
When you click-and-drag on the Sharpening slider,
you can see that I'm adding sharpening to an image
If you can't see it, you can click on this icon and see the before and the after,
just like everywhere else in Photoshop,
you want to make sure that you're in the 100% view.
I always mentioned that in my tutorials,
and I'm actually happy to see that Adobe is now telling people to do the same.
So, this is what this notice is saying.
As soon as I change my view to the 100% view,
you'll notice that that notice goes away.
So this is the image at 100%
and I can adjust the sharpening to bring the detail back in that image.
And you can see that happening here in the hair and over her eyes.
Also with the Camera Raw,
if you hold Alt and Windows, Option on the Mac
and click on the sharpening slider,
Notice that you lose the color information.
That way, the sharpening effect is easier to see.
Next, we have the Radius slider,
which controls the thickness of the edge where the contrast is applied.
Also to get a better visual representation of what's going on,
you can hold Alt Windows Option in the Mac as you click-and-drag
and you'll be able to see the edges as you make them larger or smaller.
Next, we have the Detail slider,
which controls the amount of sharpening applied to the details in your photo.
Low values sharpens only larger edges,
while a high value sharpens even the smallest details.
But it could create noisy results.
So keep the Detail low.
I probably wouldn't set it to more than 25.
And finally we have the masking slider.
If I click-and-drag it to the right, you really can't tell what's happening.
But if you hold Alt Windows, Option and the Mac,
you'll notice it by default the masking slider is white
and the mask in the Camera Raw filter is exactly like a Layer Mask and Photoshop;
White reveals. Black conceals.
Currently, the mask is completely white,
so it's applying the sharpening effect to the entire image.
But watch what happens as I drag to the right
while still holding Alt and Windows, Option and the Mac;
Photoshop starts finding the edges of the photo
and it starts making those other areas that are not edges black.
So now, this sharpening effect
is not applied to the background or to the areas of her face
and hair that doesn't have a lot of detail.
So the sharpening effect is mainly applied to the areas with detail.
before and after.
And you can fine tune the masking slider any way that you want.
So, that the appropriate areas in the image get the sharpening effect apply to them.
It's a really great way to work.
Next, let me show you how I would add a local sharpening adjustment.
Start by selecting the Brush Tool
and then paint over the area that you would like to adjust.
I'll just paint over her eye.
Then scroll down and drag the sharpness slider to the right.
When you're done, you can simply press OK.
And since we apply the Camera Raw filter to a smart object, we can always edit it!
All you need to do is double-click on the Camera Raw filter label.
The filter comes back up and you can make any adjustments that you like.
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Thank you so much for watching,
I'll talk to you again in the next video!