BASIC Sharpening
After color-correcting your photos and right before you save the file, you'll probably want to sharpen your photo. It helps to bring back some of the original crispness that gets lost during the correction process, or to help fix a photo that is slightly out of focus.
- Open the photo that you want to sharpen.
- Go under the Filter menu, under Sharpen and select Unsharp Mask.
- Use the following as a guideline for the proper settings for photo sharpening:
- Sharpening SOFT objects: (flowers, puppies, people, rainbows, etc.) Amount: 150%, Radius 1, Threshold 0.
- Sharpening close-up portraits (head and shoulders): Amount: 75%, Radius 2, Threshold 3.
- Moderate Sharpening: (home interiors\exteriors, landscapes) Amount: 225%, Radius 0.5, Threshold 0.
- Maximum sharpening: (photo is visibly out of focus but contains a lot of well-defined edges: buildings, cars, machinery)
Amount: 65%, Radius 4, Threshold 3.
- All-purpose sharpening: (you can apply it twice if your photo doesn't seem sharp enough the first time. Amount: 85%, Radius 1, Threshold 4.
- Web Sharpening: When you drop a high res photo to 72ppi for the Web, the photo can get blurry. Amount: 400%, Radius 0.3, Threshold 0.
NOTE: Keep the following in mind as you experiment with your own settings:
Amount: Ranges are typically between 50% and 150%
Radius: Most often you'll use 1; highest setting should be 2.
Threshold: Stay between 3 and 20. *The lower the number the more intense the sharpening - if you use 0, keep on eye out for the color starting to 'dot' (noise).
