How to Sharpen a Photo part 2

This is part two of my tutorial on How to Sharpen a Photo. Check out part one

Step 1

Start the Adobe Photoshop and import the image you want to modify (do this by selecting File Open).

Step 2

Before starting any modifications to the sharpening level of the selected picture, be sure to do all the other changes to it (such as color correction, changes to the saturation, distortion corrections, etc). Adjusting the sharpness of the picture should be the final element you change at your image.

Step 3

After you have done all the other corrections to the image, save a copy of the image at that level so you do not lose that version in case something happens to the file you currently edit.

Step 4

You might want to convert the image you work on from the normal (RGB) mode to Lab Color space (you will find this option in Image->Mode->Lab Color). Then apply the Unsharp Mask to the Lightness Channel (before applying the filter, click on the Channels tab in the window with the Layers to be sure that the Lightness channel is the only one selected).

Step 5

When you have the image you want to modify its sharpness, click on the Channels palette and create a new Channel. The new created channel, which name you should change to “Sharpening Mask” will be your mask.

Step 6

The next step is to click on the RGB channel.

Step 7

By using the Select > Select All option, be sure you have selected the entire image you want to modify.

Step 8

After you have selected the entire image by following the above step, copy the entire image. Do this by clicking the Copy option found in the Edit tab.

Step 9

Click on the “Sharpening Mask” channel, channel you have created by following the instructions presented at Step 5.

Step 10

Paste the image (you can either use Ctrl+V, or Edit>Paste). Do not worry if the pasted image will be in black and white (or grayscale), because that’s the way we will work on the image for some time.

Step 11
What you want next is that the resulting image to have the black areas as dark as possible and the white ones as light as possible. Use the Levels settings (which you will find under Image > Adjust > Level) and modify the cursors under the histogram accordingly until you have reached the desired effect. The dark areas in the image are the areas which will be sharpened so do not rush into things and set the image accordingly to your needs.

Continue to Part Three

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