Question about sharpening...unsharp mask

[sdewenter]

I am confused (again!)...I have been doing some portrait work lately, where I have been blurring the background or putting a vingette (sp) around the main part of the photo...should I still sharpen the image even though a part of it is intentionally blurry?

I have been making a duplicate layer of my background and adding a gaussian blur and then erasing the parts I do/do not want affected.

PSE5, XP

Thanks, Susan D

[jo]

Personally, I like to do selective sharpening. By that I mean I select the part of the photo I'd like sharpened a bit (a flower, maybe, or a person's eyes, nose, and mouth), feather the selection a little, then ctl > j to put that selection on a new layer for sharpening.

[sdewenter]

Personally, I like to do selective sharpening. By that I mean I select the part of the photo I'd like sharpened a bit (a flower, maybe, or a person's eyes, nose, and mouth), feather the selection a little, then ctl > j to put that selection on a new layer for sharpening.

Thanks Jo!
I guess I have been doing a little of that...
I have been selecting the eyes with a feather and the sharpening really makes them POP!

Susan D