Sharpening An Image Using Layers

[George Tyndall]

One of Bob's posts got me interested in experimenting with layers. Here is a technique for sharpening an image that does not require use of any of the sharpening filters and which therefore does not affect the background image itself. This method is said to give one the ultimate possible control when one has an imperfectly focused image to work with and the goal is to create the illusion of a sharper image.
1. Create a duplicate of the background colored image by dragging the layer over the Create New Layer button.
2. Click Enhance>Adjust Color>Remove Color and the copied layer is converted to grayscale.
3. Drag the grayscale layer onto the Copy New Layer button.
4. Click Filter>Adjustments>Invert and the result is a negative of the grayscale image.
5. Click Blending Mode>Color Dodge on the list arrow of the Layers Palette, and the negative image changes to white.
6. Click Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and blur the image by enough pixels to give a soft-ghosted outline of the image then click OK.
7. Click More Options>Merge Down (Ctrl+E).
8. Click Blending Mode>Multiply and the darker lines of the ghosted image are blended with the original image to give the illusion of sharpness.
9. If the sharpening effect seems overdone, reduce the opacity of the top layer to reduce its effect.
10. If the sharpening effect seems inadequate, duplicate the top layer to double the effect.
11. To remove the sharpening effect from only portions of the image, use the Paintbrush tool and paint the top layer with white in the areas you want removed.
Source: Photoshop Elements 7 On Demand: What you need, when you need it! by Steve Johnson, Perspection, Inc., Kate Binder (pp. 502-503), Que Publishing 2009.

[Bob]

Good find, George.

Here is a second method, called High Pass sharpening, you may also wish to try.

1. Duplicate the background layer.

2. Click Blending Mode>Overlay on the list arrow of the Layers Palette.

3. Click Filter>Other>High Pass. Make sure the Preview checkbox in the High Pass dialog is checked then adjust the radius slider until the image in the preview window of the filter dialog turns gray and you see a fine ghosted image. With Preview on, you can see the effect of the radius adjustment on the image. Fine tune the radius slider until you get the sharpening you want. The value of the radius needed will vary with the pixel dimensions of the image. Small web sized images will only require a low setting while full sized images from a large megapixel camera will require substantially more. But images vary, find the setting that works best for your image. Click OK to accept the setting.

4. If desired, fine tune the sharpening layer using blending modes. Hard light gives a stronger sharpening, Soft Light gives a softer sharpening, and Overlay is in the middle. You can also reduce the opacity of the layer to reduce the strength of the sharpening.

5. If you want to remove the sharpening from a portion of the image, paint on the sharpening layer using the brush tool set to a 50% gray. 50% gray is a neutral color for the Overlay, Soft Light, and Hard Light blending modes. Areas painted 50% gray will not affect the image.

Enjoy.

[George Tyndall]

Here is a second method, called High Pass sharpening, you may also wish to try.

I tried your method with the same file, and yours is clearly (pun intended) better. In fact, just adding the Overlay layer gave a better result than the method I described.

Thank you.

[George Tyndall]

4. If desired, fine tune the sharpening layer using blending modes. Hard light gives a stronger sharpening, Soft Light gives a softer sharpening, and Overlay is in the middle. You can also reduce the opacity of the layer to reduce the strength of the sharpening.

My, my, my what a fabulous technique. I could actually watch some "dust spots" that did not appear at all in the original become progressively more conspicuous as I moved from Soft Light to Overlay to Hard Light.

Thank you!