Photoshop 101: Guide To Use Sharpening Tools in photoshop

SHARPENING IS DESIGNED to increase the clarity of an image by increasing the contrast between pixel. The aim is to sharpen each image just enough to compensate for the loss of sharpness that naturally occurs when an image is captured. Sharpening should be done with a scalpel: not a hammer. While there are myriad ways to sharpen an image most of which can be found via the Filter>Sharpen menu - for ultimate control, photographers should use smart sharpen. The filter builds upon they excellent Unsharp Mask, providing the tools you need to get rid of certain types of blur and work on the shadows and highlights independently. As a rule, do not sharpen in-camera as you cannot correct it later, and while Adobe photoshop raw, you are working directly with the pixels of the image.

1) Sharpen and Sharpen More: While these may seem the most obvious filters to pick from the list, they are actually the worst. The sharpen more filter applies a stronger sharpening effect than sharpen, but both offer no control over the way you apply them and directly affect the pixels.

2)Sharpen Edges This filter again directly affects the original pixels of an image and targets areas in the image where significant color changes occur and sharpen them. Unlike the other filters, it only sharpens the edges of an image while preserving its overall smoothness.

3)Unsharp Mask: This is probably the most widely used way of sharpening and, until smart sharpen appeared, was the best method. While smart sharpen is considered the better option for photographers as it offers more control, you can still get great results from Unsharp Mask. It adjusts the contrast of edges details and creates the illustration of a sharper image. you can also add a smart filter to make your adjusts non-destructive to your image.

You have three sliders: Amount which determines how much sharping is applied, radius that threshold, which determines how far different pixels must be from the surrounding area before they are considered edge pixels and sharpened to access unsharp mask in photoshop elements 10, go to Enhance>Unsharp Mask

4) Smart Sharpen... Stated to be the best way to sharpen photos by Adobe due to its precise control, smart sharpen builds on the features in Unsharp Mask, Similar settings found in smart sharpen can accessed element 10 by clicking Enhance>Adjust Sharpness., although you cannot target shadows and highlights independently, but you can target areas in need of sharpening by clicking More Refined

THE SMART WAY TO FILTER Whenever you use a filter, it's a good idea to convert your image to a smart filter first by Clicking>Convert For Smart Filter . Like an adjustment layer. A smart filter allows you to make alterations without affecting the original pixels of the image and allows you to revert back to editing the filter later, no matter how far you have gone into the editing process. Once you convert your image layer to a smart filter, you can pick your chosen filter. in this case, Filter>Sharpen and make your adjustments. When you click layers palette has an extra layer called smart filters and below that the name of the filter you have applied (eg Unsharp Mask) If you ever need to make further adjustments.double click labeled Unsharp Mask.

Unsharp mask is an age-old favorite from most photographers and can great results, but for ultimate control and ability to reduce destruction artifacts it's time to smarten up about the way you sharpen.

For the majority photographers, this filter offers adequate control over sharpening. Before you make any adjustments, enlarge the preview image to 100% too see the effects of the Sharpening. While each image is different, for a high resolution images it's best to adjust the Amount between 150-200%, set the radius to 1-2 pixels and Threshold between 2-20 When sharpening for web, increase the Amount to around 400% reduce the radius to less then 1 pixel and the Threshold to 0, as there less information.

Smart Sharpen dialogue box has several controls. So you can focus on the basic adjustments first, click on the advanced tab and set all sliders to 0. Back t the sharpen tab, at the bottom of the dialogue box drop-down menu called Remove, which offers three ways of sharpening : Gaussian blur, lens blur and motion blur, there's actually little Gaussian blur in an image and more lens blur which, if reduce targets halos and the finer details. Motion blur is brilliant for reducing ghosting and slight camera shake. Unfortunately, it's not very intuitive, or use Ruler Tools in the toolbar to measure the direction of the motion blur and then input the degree in the Smart Sharpen Angel box. Check the Accurate before you adjust the settings.Slider work as the same as Unsharp Mask in there's an Amount and Radius (1-2 pixels).

DIALOGUE BOX: You can set the sharpening algorithm to control the amount of clarity in the shadow and highlight areas.