Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
This sharpening technique is my most often-used technique, and it has replaced the
Lab Sharpening technique I've used in the past, because it's quicker and easier, and
Sharpening
pretty much accomplishes the same thing, which is helping to avoid the color halos
and color artifacts (spots and noise) that appear when you add a lot of sharpening
allows you to apply more sharpening than you normally could get away with.
to a photo. Because it helps avoid those halos and other color problems, it
Step One:
Open the RGB photo you want to sharpen,
and apply an Unsharp Mask just like you
normally would (for this particular photo,
let's apply these settings—Amount: 120,
Radius: 1, Threshold: 3, which is my recipe
for nice, punchy sharpening).
Step Two:
Immediately after you've applied the
sharpening, go under the Edit menu
and choose
Fade Unsharp Mask
(as
shown below).
TIP: Undo on a Slider
I think of Fade's Opacity slider (seen
here) as “Undo on a slider,” because if
you drag it down to 0, it undoes your
sharpening. If you leave it at 100%, it's
the full sharpening. If you lower the
Opacity to 50%, you get half the sharp-
ening applied, and so on. So, if I apply
sharpening and I think it's too much,
rather than changing all the settings
and trying again, I'll just use the Fade
Opacity slider to lower the amount a
bit. I'll also use Fade when I've applied
some sharpening and it's not enough.
I just apply the Unsharp Mask filter
again, then lower the Opacity to 50%.
That way, I get 1½ sharpenings.
(Continued)
