Selectively Sharpening in PS

At the PS Conference last week, I learned a sharpening trick that's becoming standard.

If you're looking to sharpen only certain parts of your image, you can create a Layer Mask and paint over it in the opposite color in selected areas to reveal a sharpened layer. I'm posting the steps below in case anyone needs the same effect. I have CS5

Using a model pic as an example, you want her eyes, lips and hair to be sharp, but not necessarily her entire face.

http://www.gregbulla.com/Photography..._Crop1_800.jpg
The original image.

http://www.gregbulla.com/Photography..._Crop2_800.jpg
Make a duplicate layer of the background and sharpen it to where you want the eyes etc to be. As you can see here, it's not especially flattering in other areas as is.

http://www.gregbulla.com/Photography..._Crop3_800.jpg
Next, add a Layer Mask over the sharpened layer. You can do this by selecting the sharpened layer and then making the following menu selection: Layer->Layer Mask->Hide All. You will see a black rectangle icon in that layer line.

http://www.gregbulla.com/Photography..._Crop4_800.jpg
To reveal only the areas of sharpness you want, you paint over that layer using a white brush. Just select the brush, make the foreground color white, select your size and type brush (use a soft brush), and paint over the areas you want sharp. The instructor said that you generally want to sharpen areas of detail that are flattering, like eyes and hair. I hit the eyes, mouth, eyebrows and hair. You will now have a selectively sharpened image!

http://www.gregbulla.com/Photography..._Crop5_800.jpg
What it does is create a mask with holes. I turned off the main background layer and took a screen shot to show what the layer mask looks like with the model's features showing through. :)

Right,it creates a sort of 'sharpening brush' that's way more effective than the PS tool of the same name. And it's useful for more than just sharpening- you can create noise reduction brushes, contrast brushes, et al.....

Another tip: Using a Levels command on the layer mask acts the same way as the opacity slider on the normal layer.

- Joe U.

These two post together are excellent! Thanks to you both. - Terry

Yep, pretty neat! The only disadvantage I can see on this process is that all areas of the image that you expose will get the same level of sharpness set in the copied layer. But I guess one could do this trick with many different layers of different sharpening and create different masks of different pieces; that will just take more time and memory.

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Originally Posted by GB1

Yep, pretty neat! The only disadvantage I can see on this process is that all areas of the image that you expose will get the same level of sharpness set in the copied layer. But I guess one could do this trick with many different layers of different sharpening and create different masks of different pieces; that will just take more time and memory.

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You could control this by adjusting the opacity/flow of the brush you use when painting in your mask.

I use this process all the time with one difference. I gave up on using the "sharpen" filter a few years back. I create my duplicate layer, go to Filter > Other > High Pass. I set radius to somewhere between 2 & 5. You will be able to see exactly what is going to be sharpened because it will turn your layer gray with the details visible. Once that's done, change the blending mode of that layer to either Overlay or Soft Light, (soft light is a little more subtle) then I add my mask and brush in/out whatever I don't want sharpened.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GB1

Yep, pretty neat! The only disadvantage I can see on this process is that all areas of the image that you expose will get the same level of sharpness set in the copied layer. But I guess one could do this trick with many different layers of different sharpening and create different masks of different pieces; that will just take more time and memory.

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GB, the easiest way to control this is by altering the brush from white to some percentage of grey when working on the layer mask. White equates to 100% opacity, 50% grey to 50% opacity, etc. The method I found that I like best is to start with soft white brush, set to white, and about a 10% opacity, then build the effect up.

- Joe U.

I am kind of a noob but can't you just use the sharpening tool that is stacked together with the blur and smudge tool?

Great post guys! I've been doing this for years and it works great. Thanks for starting this thread, Greg :)