1
00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:07,150
One of the last things I'll tend to do when I'm working on an image is apply sharpening.
2
00:00:07,150 --> 00:00:12,370
Very often I'll apply that sharpening as the last step as part of my output workflow.
3
00:00:12,370 --> 00:00:15,394
In other words, when I'm preparing an image for final output to be printed or
4
00:00:15,394 --> 00:00:18,870
shared online. But with old photos that need a lot of
5
00:00:18,870 --> 00:00:23,970
work, I'll often apply at least a little bit of sharpening during the workflow process.
6
00:00:23,970 --> 00:00:27,420
In other words, during the optimization process for the photo.
7
00:00:27,420 --> 00:00:30,616
It's important to keep in mind, however, that sharpening can be a dangerous thing
8
00:00:30,616 --> 00:00:33,812
when it comes to older photos, and that's because they tend to lack the detail that
9
00:00:33,812 --> 00:00:38,950
sharpening is going to enhance. Sharpening can, therefore, simply
10
00:00:38,950 --> 00:00:42,500
exacerbate noise or grain or other problems in the photo.
11
00:00:42,500 --> 00:00:46,030
With this image though, we have a fairly clean image.
12
00:00:46,030 --> 00:00:50,760
We've got a lot of good detail and so I think sharpening will work just fine.
13
00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,408
I want to apply some basic sharpening to the original image so that the master
14
00:00:54,408 --> 00:00:59,230
image contains sharpening. But I want sharpen all pixels in the image.
15
00:00:59,230 --> 00:01:02,290
You can see for example, that I have a background image layer.
16
00:01:02,290 --> 00:01:05,125
As well as an image clean up layer, I also have an adjustment layer but that of
17
00:01:05,125 --> 00:01:09,174
course does not contain any pixels. But I want to make sure that the pixels
18
00:01:09,174 --> 00:01:13,540
on both the background layer and cleanup layer are sharpened.
19
00:01:13,540 --> 00:01:16,360
That means I'm going to create a composite layer, because I don't want to
20
00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:21,430
have to apply sharpening multiple times to all of the images layers for a photo.
21
00:01:21,430 --> 00:01:24,466
To create that composite layer, I'll go to the Layers panel and then click on the
22
00:01:24,466 --> 00:01:29,286
thumbnail for the top most layer. I'll then hold the Ctrl+Alt+Shift keys on
23
00:01:29,286 --> 00:01:33,510
Windows or the Cmd+Option+Shift keys on Macintosh.
24
00:01:33,510 --> 00:01:36,982
And while holding all three of those keys, I'll press the letters N for a new
25
00:01:36,982 --> 00:01:41,051
layer and the letter E to merge visible onto that layer.
26
00:01:41,051 --> 00:01:45,083
I'm essentially stamping all of the contents of all of the layers below onto
27
00:01:45,083 --> 00:01:48,660
this new layer. To keep organized, I'll go ahead and
28
00:01:48,660 --> 00:01:51,772
rename this layer. So I'll double-click on the name for the layer.
29
00:01:51,772 --> 00:01:55,737
I'll just type composite as the new name and then press enter or return to apply
30
00:01:55,737 --> 00:02:00,104
that change. I can now apply sharpening to this layer,
31
00:02:00,104 --> 00:02:05,240
I generally use smart sharpen. So I'll go to the Filter > Sharpen >
32
00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,610
Smart Sharpen. That will bring up the Smart Sharpen
33
00:02:09,610 --> 00:02:13,290
dialog and I can adjust my settings as needed.
34
00:02:13,290 --> 00:02:18,118
Generally speaking, I'll want to use a relatively small radius, and a moderately
35
00:02:18,118 --> 00:02:21,238
high amount. Keep in mind that at this point I'm
36
00:02:21,238 --> 00:02:25,310
really just trying to compensate for the overall appearance of the photo.
37
00:02:25,310 --> 00:02:28,265
I'm not trying to exaggerate the sharpening for print.
38
00:02:28,265 --> 00:02:30,272
for example. I just want to improve the base
39
00:02:30,272 --> 00:02:34,405
sharpness, for the photo. If I have a high degree of detail, I'll
40
00:02:34,405 --> 00:02:39,130
definitely want to use a low radius. Generally, about 1 pixel or lower.
41
00:02:39,130 --> 00:02:43,650
And then my amount will generally be in the vicinity of 100%.
42
00:02:43,650 --> 00:02:48,050
That amount will vary based on the resolution of the image and the degree of detail.
43
00:02:48,050 --> 00:02:51,767
In situations where the detail is relatively course, in other words where I
44
00:02:51,767 --> 00:02:55,897
don't have a lot of fine detail where the transitions and contrast occur relatively
45
00:02:55,897 --> 00:03:01,110
over large amount of pixels. Then I'll tend to use a larger radius
46
00:03:01,110 --> 00:03:05,410
setting, generally between about two and perhaps 4 pixels.
47
00:03:05,410 --> 00:03:08,842
But as a result of that larger radius for the contrast edges, I'll need to reduce
48
00:03:08,842 --> 00:03:13,374
the amount somewhat significantly. For this photo though, I think a radius
49
00:03:13,374 --> 00:03:16,580
of right about 1 pixel will work out well.
50
00:03:16,580 --> 00:03:19,730
I'll increase the amount just a little bit in order to optimize the effect in
51
00:03:19,730 --> 00:03:22,640
the photo. At any time I can click on the preview
52
00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:26,244
image to see the before version without any sharpening and then release the mouse
53
00:03:26,244 --> 00:03:31,668
to see the after version. Note that I'm using the Lens blur option
54
00:03:31,668 --> 00:03:34,926
for removing. That's the only option I ever used with
55
00:03:34,926 --> 00:03:37,914
smart sharpen. The Gaussian blur option will give you
56
00:03:37,914 --> 00:03:41,242
the same affect as the unsharp mask filter for sharpening, which is not quite
57
00:03:41,242 --> 00:03:46,088
as sophisticated as smart sharpen. And motion blur, frankly, is not going to
58
00:03:46,088 --> 00:03:48,955
give you a great result because, if there's motion blur in the image, it's
59
00:03:48,955 --> 00:03:53,710
very difficult to compensate for. So I leave that set to Lens blur.
60
00:03:53,710 --> 00:03:57,112
In situations where I really want to enhance detail, I could turn on the More
61
00:03:57,112 --> 00:04:00,514
Accurate checkbox, but with older images, I never do that because that more
62
00:04:00,514 --> 00:04:04,132
accurate options is really just going to enhance any texture and other problems
63
00:04:04,132 --> 00:04:09,040
within the image that I don't really care about.
64
00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,432
I don't want to enhance film grain, for example, so I leave that More Accurate
65
00:04:12,432 --> 00:04:16,506
option turned off. With my settings established, I'll go
66
00:04:16,506 --> 00:04:20,000
ahead and click the Ok button. Now keep in mind, because I've applied my
67
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,050
sharpening to the composite layer, if I later decide that I want to change
68
00:04:23,050 --> 00:04:26,250
anything else about the image, I'm going to need to throw away this composite
69
00:04:26,250 --> 00:04:29,600
image, make whatever adjustments I need, and then create a new composite layer,
70
00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:34,370
when I'm ready to sharpen the image again.
71
00:04:34,370 --> 00:04:37,505
But I think that's a small price to pay in terms of making sure That our
72
00:04:37,505 --> 00:04:41,570
sharpening is applied evenly to all pixels in the photo.