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    Selective Sharpening

    This is for Mark and any others who may be interested. When sharpening, particularly wildlife shots, it always looks better just to sharpen your subject rather than the whole frame. There are a number of ways to do it, the simplest is just to make a selection of the subject and apply unsharp mask to that area only. My preference is to use layers and masks which takes a little longer but is easier if you have more than one subject in the frame.

    This is one of my burrowing owl images where I need to sharpen just the two owls. For the tutorial I have oversharpened the subjects just so they show up better against the unsharpened background

    Sharpening should always be the very last stage in post processing, so having opened the image in photoshop and cropped, adjusted the levels etc and flattened the image, duplicate the background layer - "layer, duplicate layer"



    Apply unsharp mask - "filter, sharpen, unsharp mask" and vary the amount, radius and threshold to suit. At this stage the whole image is sharpened



    Now we apply a layer mask and paint over the areas we dont wish to sharpren - choose a soft edged brush around 4/500 pixels depending on the size of the image, press "D" on the keyboard to set foreground / background colours to black and white - pressing "X" on the keyboard will toggle from black to white and back again



    Now paint over the areas you do no wish to sharpen - pressing " \ " on the keyboard will highlight those areas



    If you make a mistake, press " X " on the keyboard to change the foreground colour from black to white and paint over the area you dont wish to mask

    Press " \ " again to remove the highlight and when satisfied flatten and save the image

    Stan - LRPS, CPAGB, BPE2*

    http://neptuno-photography.foliopic.com/
    flickr

    #2
    Re: Selective Sharpening

    Good post Stan; very clear and informative. I use almost the same procedure when softening skin tones by using Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur and then using a layer mask in the way you have described. The percentage fill option on the mask is also really useful for then adjusting the level of blur I want (in my example).
    - Tony

    6D Mk II, 17-40 F4/L 4 USM, 24-105 F4/L 4 IS USM

    www.premiumpics.co.uk

    Flickr

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      #3
      Re: Selective Sharpening

      It's always good to see others workflows, cheers.
      Andy
      _____________________________
      Canon EOS 5D MarkIV, 11-24mm f4, 24-70mm f2.8 II, 24-105mm f4, 70-200mm f2.8 IS II USM, 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM, 100mm Macro, 50mm f1.4, Speedlite 600EX-RT, Manfrotto tripod
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberdavis/

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Selective Sharpening

        Nice one. It's a very similar process in Affinity.
        Chris
        80D - 10-18 IS STM - 15-85 IS USM - 55-250 IS STM - 50 f/1.8 STM - 100-400L IS II USM - 100 f/2.8L Macro - 1.4x III

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Selective Sharpening

          I use almost the same procedure when softening skin tones by using Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur and then using a layer mask in the way you have described. The percentage fill option on the mask is also really useful for then adjusting the level of blur I want (in my example).
          I wanted to keep it simple but I would also vary the opacity of the mask in some circumstances and / or the opacity of the duplicate layer itself

          In addition you can also use this process to selectively reduce noise in an image, ie apply noise reduction on a duplicate area but this time you will we wanting the effect on the background so mask out the subject instead

          Stan
          Stan - LRPS, CPAGB, BPE2*

          http://neptuno-photography.foliopic.com/
          flickr

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Selective Sharpening

            great tips Stan and a way I also work
            :- Ian

            5D Mk III, 24-105 / 70-200 f2.8 L / 100-400 Mk II / 100 macro / 16-35 L / 11-24 L / 1.4 & 2x converters and a bad back carrying it all ;o)

            :- https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotosespana/

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              #7
              Re: Selective Sharpening

              Great tips Stan. Will certainly try it . Thank you.
              Canon 6D; Canon 760D;Canon G15;Canon 40mm f2.8(Pancake);Canon 50mm f1.8(ii); Canon 17mm-40mm f4L;Canon EF-S 10-18mm f4.5-5.6 IS STM;Canon EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 STM lens;Canon 24mm-105mmf4L IS;Canon 70-300mm f4-f5.6 L IS USM;Kenko 1.4x HD TC;Canon 430EX ii flash;Giottos tripod;Manfretto monopod;Cokin P filters + bits and pieces!

              www.flickr.com/photos/nathaniel3390

              North Wales where music and the sea give a great concert!

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Selective Sharpening

                Thank you Stan , it`s kind of you to take the time to share that with us . I will have a play when time allows .

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Selective Sharpening

                  Nice bit of instruction Stan

                  Tom

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Selective Sharpening

                    Good tips, thanks Stan.
                    Patrick

                    Find me on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/136664727@N04/

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Selective Sharpening

                      Thanks for posting this Stan, but it prompts a question - what advantage is there in this method over using an adjustment brush in LightRoom?
                      John Liddle

                      Backwell, North Somerset - "Where the cider apples grow"

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                        #12
                        Re: Selective Sharpening

                        but it prompts a question - what advantage is there in this method over using an adjustment brush in LightRoom?
                        cant really answer that as I never use lightroom, although any processing with Photoshop always starts off with the raw file opened in Adobe Camera Raw, which is quite similar to the lightroom interface.

                        Stan
                        Stan - LRPS, CPAGB, BPE2*

                        http://neptuno-photography.foliopic.com/
                        flickr

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Selective Sharpening

                          Pretty much as I do it Stan.

                          Nicely explained for those that have yet to try it.

                          Dave
                          Dave

                          Website:- https://davesimaging.wixsite.com/mysite

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Selective Sharpening

                            Very well explained Stan. To keep things simple on occasion I use a new brush in LR and use that to paint on sharpening where I want it. Quick and easy and saves flicking between LR and PS
                            Alan.

                            7D2, 24-105 L / 70-200 F2.8 ii L / 50 F1.8 prime / Sigma 10-20 F4-F5.6

                            Website www.alanreeve.co.uk

                            Please take a look https://www.flickr.com/photos/82149274@N07/sets & https://www.facebook.com/reevephotography

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