Sharpening using high pass

[Bob_Benner]

I am sure many people know this technique but thought I would post it for those who do not. It works quite well.

Open an image you want to sharpen
Control J to duplicate it
Change the blend mode to overlay (you can also use hardlight for a more intense sharpening, or soft light for a less intense sharpening).
Choose filter, high pass
set the amount between 2.0 and 3.0
click okay
double click on your color pallete to open the menu
type in 0 for hue, 0 for saturation, and 50 for brightness, click okay
Now, choose a soft edge brush and paint over the parts of the image that do not need the sharpening, (skies, water, skintones, etc)By painting over the areas that do not need sharpening you getting rid of any noise that the sharpening may have caused. You can also duplicate this high pass layer for a greater effect, and then lower the opacity. Every photo requires different amounts of sharpening, so experiment. Hope some people try this technique. I learned it today from a professional photographer and it really works.

[quillabee9]

Bob, I've got to try the hipass filter. It's shown up a few times in things at which I've been looking. Now your tut intrigues me. Thanks.:D

[Bob_Benner]

Gail, your welcome. Give it a try and see what you think. I think it works really well.

[Norwester]

Bob,
I just tried it and thought it worked great! I copied your instructions to a Word doc. to save. Thanks!
Jeff

[Bayla]

There's a video in the Subscriber section showing this method (Feb 15th 2007). Also one of the videos in the Layers course demonstrated it.

Bayla

[Bob_Benner]

There's a video in the Subscriber section showing this method (Feb 15th 2007). Also one of the videos in the Layers course demonstrated it.

Bayla

opps, didn't realize that.

[TonyW]

One of the questions i've often wondered is that there are lots of different sharpening methods around. USM, Enhance Sharpness (PSE5 only), High Pass, Graffi has a LAB sharpening action I believe and lots of plug-ins that claim to do wonderful things. But I don't recall ever seeing a comparison and suggestions on what works best in different situations.

Anyone know of one?

BTW my current favorite is Enhance Sharpness (which is almost the same as Smart Sharpen in full Photoshop)

Tony

[Bob_Benner]

One of the questions i've often wondered is that there are lots of different sharpening methods around. USM, Enhance Sharpness (PSE5 only), High Pass, Graffi has a LAB sharpening action I believe and lots of plug-ins that claim to do wonderful things. But I don't recall ever seeing a comparison and suggestions on what works best in different situations.

Anyone know of one?

BTW my current favorite is Enhance Sharpness (which is almost the same as Smart Sharpen in full Photoshop)

Tony

Tony, I would like to see a comparison also. I often wonder what method I should use, espaecially when working on RAW images. I saw a plugin last night on a website but didn't want to purchase it if it does what I am already doing to my images.

[msbrad]

Thank you Bob, for putting it in writing. I did view the video and I am anxious to try it. Following a written tutorial usually works better for me, as it keeps the highlighter and fingerprints off the monitor.
m

[Bob_Benner]

I also prefere written tutorials:)

[TonyW]

One of the interesting things I did read (on Jeff Schewe's website http://www.schewephoto.com/ ) was that you can't use the screen display to judge the amount of sharpening (except presumably for images that are going to be displayed on the screen). For inkjet printing for example he suggests viewing at 25% which seems to go against conventional wisdom of viewing at 100% when sharpening (in fact one book I have says it's "absolutely critical" to view at 100%. Another myth maybe :confused:

Tony

[GaryK]

Tony

I wonder if that (25%) might be a way to go.:confused:

In any of the videos here, when they talk about sharpening, they always say oversharpen on screen, if you will print the image.

[TonyW]

Tony

I wonder if that (25%) might be a way to go.:confused:

In any of the videos here, when they talk about sharpening, they always say oversharpen on screen, if you will print the image.

Gary: Been thinking about this while painting trim (hate the job :( ) and I'm having a hard time with the logic. I assume Elements/Photoshop when it shows a 25% image on screen combines 4 pixels into 1 by averaging vs the 100% view. Quite how that relates to what the printer does escapes me. But it does seem reasonable that what things look like on the screen at typically around 100 ppi screen resolution isn't going to look like what the printer does spraying dots around on a piece of paper to come up with (in my Epson case) a 240 ppi image.

So me :confused: too

Tony

[Bob_Benner]

That is very interesting. Makes me want to try viewing at 25% and then trying a test print to see how it comes out.

[TonyW]

Bob: Do let us know how it works out. I want to try some of the alternative sharpening methods to compare them but I'm still looking for a good image to test with.

Tony

[Daviskw]

Hi there

Here is another technique using the high pass filter. Rather than sharpen directly you use the high pass filter to isolate just the edges you want to sharpen. Otherwise you make a sharpening mask.

Duplicate your background layer…I named mine” Highpass Threshold sharpen mask”

Apply the high pass filter…Filter>Other>High pass….to this duplicate layer. I used a high amount about 15 pixels. You want to see all the edges you want to sharpen.

Now to this same layer apply a threshold adjustment. This will turn the picture black and white. Adjust the slider until you get close to the edges you want. Sliding one way will reduce black and the other will increase it.

Now on this same layer choose a white hard brush and paint out any area you do not want sharpened. I often paint out what is left of the background… any area I don’t want highly sharpened. I often leave little in the face except the eyes, mouth and nose but experiment.

When it looks right just select the magic eraser. Be sure continuous is NOT checked. Now click on any white are of the layer. The white background is removed leaving only the edges.

To this layer apply a gaussian blur… I used 2 pixels. We want to blur the mask edges so the sharpening blends better.

Now make another copy of the background layer . Move it to the top of the layer pallet above the Sharpen mask layer.

This new duplicate layer is where we can apply our sharpening. To make sure we only apply this sharpening to the edges we must group this layer to the sharpen mask below.

With the top layer active press “Layer>Group with previous. This makes a clipping mask and assures that any sharpening used will only be applied where there is black in the High pass Threshold sharpening layer below

Now apply unsharp mask to the to duplicate layer. With the edge mask in place you can apply much higher sharpen amounts then normal.

As with the first high pass technique you can adjust the sharpen area. In this case use an eraser and erase parts of the sharpen layer... or reduce opacity on the eraser and gently refine the sharpening amount in various areas as needed.

Below is an example and layer configuration for the mask.

This is a technique often used by Mark Galer and detailed in his book

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1X3cfpmrNqgJiPGaVMBSH9wL5NKoy0_thumb.gif (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1X3cfpmrNqgJiPGaVMBSH9wL5NKoy0)

[Robyn]

Thank you Bob and Butch. I've saved both techniques for future reference.

[Bob_Benner]

Bob: Do let us know how it works out. I want to try some of the alternative sharpening methods to compare them but I'm still looking for a good image to test with.

Tony

Tony, I will lwt you know how it works out. I still am having a little problem with bringing in noise when sharpening my RAW images. I do open CS2 and convert to lab color, run a gausian blur on the A and B chanels and then go back to RGB and that seems to help a little. I like shooting RAW, but finding the right sharpening technique is my biggest problem right now.

[nkeevers]

I learned that in my recent class "How to Make your Photos Pop" at the Eclectic Academy. It works really well.