How to Sharpen a Photo in Photoshop CS3
Sharpening is a way to correct blurriness in digital images when you are editing digital photography or restoring scanned pictures. You will almost never come across a digital image that won't benefit from sharpening. There are several ways to sharpen an image using Adobe Photoshop CS3 that are made easy using Photoshop's tools.
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Instructions
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Sharpening Using Smart Sharpen
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Open your digital image in Photoshop CS3.
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Zoom in on the image to 100% by left-clicking the "Zoom" tool in the "Tools" palette.
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Duplicate the image layer by right-clicking it in the "Layers" palette and selecting "Duplicate Layer" from the drop-down menu.
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Left-click "Filter" in the top toolbar. Hover your cursor over "Sharpen" and select "Smart Sharpen" from the fly-out menu. The "Smart Sharpen" dialog box appears.
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Set the amount of sharpening you want. The higher the amount of sharpening, the more contrast there is between the pixels along the edges of your image.
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Set the radius. The higher the radius, the wider the effect, so the sharpening will be more obvious.
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Left-click the black arrow next to "Remove" and choose one of the options from the drop-down menu: Gaussian blur, Lens blur and Motion blur. "Gaussian blur" is the same effect used by the "Unsharp Mask". "Lens blur" detects the edges and sharpens these edges automatically. "Motion blur" reduces the amount of blur caused by camera movement.
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If you have select "Motion blur", set the angle of correction by left-clicking and dragging the line next to "Angle".
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Left-click the box next to "More Accurate" to render the image more slowly and have a more accurately sharpened result.
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Left-click the "Advanced" button for the "Shadow and Highlights" tab.
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Left-click the "Shadow and Highlights" tab to adjust the amount of contrast in your image. Adjust the "Fade" amount to control sharpening in the shadows and highlights of your image. Left-click, hold and move the slider next to "Tonal Width" to adjust the tones in the shadows and highlights of your image.
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Left-click, hold and move the slider next to "Radius" to adjust the area around each pixel of the shadows and highlights in your image. The preview window documents and previews your changes.
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When you are happy with the preview of your sharpened image, left-click "OK".
Sharpen Using the Unsharp Mask
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Begin with your open and duplicated digital image in Photoshop CS3 zoomed in at 100%.
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Left-click "Filter" in the top toolbar. Hover your cursor over "Sharpen" and select "Unsharp Mask" from the menu. The "Unsharp Mask" dialog box appears.
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Left-click, hold and drag the slider next to "Amount" to increase and decrease the sharpening effect. The window displays a preview of your changes.
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Left-click, hold and drag the slider next to "Radius" to determine the amount of edge pixels affected by the sharpening. The window displays a preview of your changes.
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Left-click, hold and drag the slider next to "Threshold" to determine the number of pixels in the image to be sharpened. The window displays a preview of your changes.
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When you are happy with the preview of your sharpened image in the "Unsharp Mask" dialog box, left-click "OK".
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Tips & Warnings
Create a duplicate layer containing your image and apply the sharpening tools to that layer.
Set the blending mode of the new layer to "Luminance" to conserve color integrity.
Reduce image noise before sharpening to avoid intensifying image noise.
Press "Ctrl + Z" to undo unwanted changes when previewing your sharpened image inside dialog boxes.
Use Photoshop's "Selection tools" to only sharpen certain areas of your image.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Pixland/Getty Images
