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Forums _ Showcase Booth _ Beenly's Sharpening Guide

Posted by: Beenly Jan 22 2010, 08:03 PM

I'm surprised there aren't any tutorials like this on Createblog. Sooo, I took some time to go over two different methods of sharpening, Regular Sharpening and High Pass Sharpen for Photoshop CS3 and up ( which should be familiar if you're a designer ). Oh yeah, btw Smart Sharpen is not included because I don't use that and some people don't even have that option. I WANNA KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK! *Gets into serious mode*.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/ninjabeenly/tutorials/1-2.pnghttp://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/ninjabeenly/tutorials/1-2.png


First, you should open the image you are working. I highly recommend high quality pictures because they are much easier to work with and it looks much more professional compared to a blurry, grainy, yucky low quality picture. Here is what I am going to be using for this tutorial. You may use this image throughout the tutorial as a guide.




Next, you want to duplicate the layer. The reason why is because we all make mistakes. So if you made a big mistake or just want to compare the images as you progress, it's highly recommended to duplicate.


Now, you go to the tabs in Photoshop. They should be listed as "Files Edit Image Layer Select Filter Analysis 3D(only for cs4) View Window Help". Click on the one that says "Filter". You should now have a drop down box full of different effects. You need to go to Sharpen and then another side drop down box will appear. Click Sharpen on the side drop down box which will have your first effect. Before I show you the effect, here is an image that will help you go through this whole process if my words were not clear!

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/ninjabeenly/tutorials/3-3.pnghttp://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/ninjabeenly/tutorials/3-3.png



Here is the Before and After:


End of First Method
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Before I begin the second method, I'd like to say that this the method I mostly use now. This method has a different range of sharpening. After I show you the Before and After of this method, I will also show you the comparison between the After images from both methods.

Let's get things started. Open up your image. For this method, you have to duplicate the image in order for this method to work. I am going to be using the same first image we chose in the beginning of the tutorial.




Now, set your duplicated layer to Overlay. To set it to Overlay, all you need to do is change the Layers mode. You can change the Layers mode by clicking where it says "Normal" and a drop down box should appear, then click on Overlay. This method is also compatible with Soft Light, but Overlay has a much more better effect. Your picture should now look more contrasted or darkened. That's fine. Before we move onto the next step, I provided an image of what I just went over if anyone was confused.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/ninjabeenly/tutorials/5-3.pnghttp://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/ninjabeenly/tutorials/5-3.png



Now go to the tabs above(Remember, Filter, Analysis, Window, etc.) and click on Filter. A drop down box should appear and you need to click on Other. Another drop down box should appear to the side and you should now go ahead and click on High Pass. A window with a slider and a box of your image should pop up. Gray colors should appear on the small box(which is fine). The grays represent the things that are going to be sharpened. You should now click on slider or manually type it to set it to 2.0 pixels. You could always adjust the slider to your personal interests if your image isn't sharp enough. Remember though, the more pixels you choose, the more it will look contrasted and less sharpened. Try to aim for low pixels! Once you're done adjusting, click OK. Congratulations, you just finished the second method. Before I show you the Before and After images, here is another picture is you were lost throughout this paragraph.





Here is the Before and After:


End of Method
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the After Images from the two methods(Left one is 1st method and right is second method):


-------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reading my tutorial. Please post any feedback or any questions and I will reply ASAP.

End of Tutorial



Posted by: tcunningham Jan 22 2010, 11:11 PM

_unsure.gif This belongs in the Tutorials section of the site.

Posted by: iDecay Jan 22 2010, 11:21 PM

QUOTE
wanna get some feedback before submitting


I'll read through this later.

Posted by: ArjunaCapulong Jan 23 2010, 12:43 AM

QUOTE(iDecay @ Jan 22 2010, 11:21 PM) *
I'll read through this later.
doubtful

Posted by: Beenly Jan 23 2010, 05:24 AM

QUOTE(tcunningham @ Jan 22 2010, 08:11 PM) *
_unsure.gif This belongs in the Tutorials section of the site.



Did you not read my post at all? cry.gif

I wanted to show this to everybody and get some critiques / comments before I submit this.

Posted by: iDecay Jan 23 2010, 12:32 PM

QUOTE(ArjunaCapulong @ Jan 22 2010, 09:43 PM) *
doubtful

You're right. The first one isn't even a tutorial because all he's teaching you is how to go to the filter menu and click sharpen and I'm too lazy to read his novel on the second one.

Posted by: technicolour Jan 23 2010, 12:47 PM

I think you need to research some other ways to Sharpen photos and combine them all together. Such as Filter > Sharpen and then going Edit > Fade Sharpen. There are still many many ways to do this shtuff.

Posted by: tcunningham Jan 23 2010, 01:32 PM

QUOTE(Beenly @ Jan 23 2010, 05:24 AM) *
Did you not read my post at all? cry.gif

I wanted to show this to everybody and get some critiques / comments before I submit this.

Yeah, I did. Nowhere did you say you were looking for feedback before you submitted. The comments part of the tutorial (at the bottom of it) are for feedback for the actual tutorial. My mistake you're not being clear and direct. It does seem very wordy however.

Posted by: Beenly Jan 23 2010, 03:07 PM

QUOTE(iDecay @ Jan 23 2010, 09:32 AM) *
You're right. The first one isn't even a tutorial because all he's teaching you is how to go to the filter menu and click sharpen and I'm too lazy to read his novel on the second one.

Gee, are short blocks of text really tire you from reading? Maybe I should skip less spaces so it doesn't seem that lengthy. Like I said, this is just a work in progress. There will be more ways, strategies, and tips to boost the tutorial. Or maybe that's going to be too long enough for you to comprehend. ermm.gif



QUOTE(tcunningham @ Jan 23 2010, 10:32 AM) *
Yeah, I did. Nowhere did you say you were looking for feedback before you submitted. The comments part of the tutorial (at the bottom of it) are for feedback for the actual tutorial. My mistake you're not being clear and direct. It does seem very wordy however.

Oh wow, how big do you want me to make the side description say "wanna get some feedback before submitting". And thanks for the comment, I was thinking about LJ, so I wanted to describe the tutorials in detail. This is more directed towards people new to Photoshop..guess i should include that in the tutorial also.


QUOTE(technicolour @ Jan 23 2010, 09:47 AM) *
I think you need to research some other ways to Sharpen photos and combine them all together. Such as Filter > Sharpen and then going Edit > Fade Sharpen. There are still many many ways to do this shtuff.


Yeah, I totally forgot about that, haha. But this about general sharpening though. I mean you can also reduce the opacity of the layer too, but this guide is like general sharpening without fine tuning and etc. I should have also mentioned about the Sharpen Tool (duh!), which I will. Thanks for the feedback, I'll start making the third method very soon.

Posted by: Beenly Jan 23 2010, 03:22 PM

High Pass Sharpening can also make it look HDR and less work instead of the usual sharpening.

Posted by: iDecay Jan 23 2010, 04:28 PM

QUOTE(Beenly @ Jan 23 2010, 12:07 PM) *
Gee, are short blocks of text really tire you from reading? Maybe I should skip less spaces so it doesn't seem that lengthy. Like I said, this is just a work in progress. There will be more ways, strategies, and tips to boost the tutorial. Or maybe that's going to be too long enough for you to comprehend. ermm.gif

No need to get all defensive. Do you not understand what a joke is? Skipping spaces would be helpful though. It might seem like nothing, but it makes reading a tutorial easier.

Anyways, I find the first method to be unnecessary. You're putting too much effort into such a simple process. I recommend just explaining that method as a side note. And as Kristina said, you might want to do a little more research on different ways of sharpening.

BTW how do you make an image look like HDR that way? HDR's a bitch to perfect and many people easily f*ck it up.

Posted by: Beenly Jan 23 2010, 04:58 PM

QUOTE(iDecay @ Jan 23 2010, 01:28 PM) *
No need to get all defensive. Do you not understand what a joke is? Skipping spaces would be helpful though. It might seem like nothing, but it makes reading a tutorial easier.

Anyways, I find the first method to be unnecessary. You're putting too much effort into such a simple process. I recommend just explaining that method as a side note. And as Kristina said, you might want to do a little more research on different ways of sharpening.

BTW how do you make an image look like HDR that way? HDR's a bitch to perfect and many people easily f*ck it up.



Well..it's hard to distinguish what's a joke and what's an actual statement if it's on the interwebz. And for the HDR part, that's what Method 2 is also used for.

I tried to sum it down in the best words I can, but I don't know how to make it more simplified. Can you liek, give an example of how you would put the first method in your own words?

Posted by: iDecay Jan 23 2010, 05:07 PM

QUOTE(Beenly @ Jan 23 2010, 01:58 PM) *
Well..it's hard to distinguish what's a joke and what's an actual statement if it's on the interwebz. And for the HDR part, that's what Method 2 is also used for.
I tried to sum it down in the best words I can, but I don't know how to make it more simplified. Can you liek, give an example of how you would put the first method in your own words?

Mmmm, I don't see the HDR working out well with that method, but whatever, it's sharpening, not HDRing. (Not a word, I know.)

I actually included a summary of your first method but I accidentally exited and lost it. I was trying to say what Mike said. To sum it up, you open up an image, duplicate the image, click on the filter tab, and click on sharpen. There really is no technique to this.

Posted by: Tomates Jan 24 2010, 01:09 AM

tbh i dont see much of a difference in the before and afters.

Posted by: ArjunaCapulong Jan 24 2010, 01:33 AM

dunt worry beenly, tina cunt read good

Posted by: Mikeplyts Jan 24 2010, 06:29 PM

I think it sucks and http://www.secondpicture.com/tutorials/photography/photoshop_hdr.html.


Sorry for the rude criticism/feedback.

Posted by: Beenly Jan 24 2010, 07:06 PM

Gee, thanks. And don't be sorry.