How to sharpen an image in photoshop

In this tutorial, you will learn how to sharpen images in Photoshop.

Almost every photo that you take can benefit from some amount of sharpening.

Photoshop gives you several options on applying sharpening to an image as you will see in the corresponding video for this tutorial.

But no matter what method you use, you have to understand that Photoshop CC cannot bring back or add any new detail to the photo.

Photoshop, can only create the illusion of sharpness by increasing the contrast of edge pixels. Making it seem as if there is more detail in the image.

The tools that we will look at to sharpen images in Photoshop are the Smart Sharpen Filter, and the Camera RAW filter.

There are three types of sharpening that you can apply to a photo, Capture Sharpening, Creative Sharpening, and Output Sharpening. But in this video, we will mainly focus on capture sharpening.

Types of Sharpening

Capture Sharpening

The sharpening that you apply to an image to bring back the sharpness lost through the process of capturing the image to a sensor and converting it to a digital format. The demosaicing process.

To offset this loss of detail, when you open a RAW file in CameraRAW or Lightroom you will see that the Sharpening “Amount” is set to 25 by default.

If you open a JPG, instead you will see that the Amount is set to 0, because your camera or the device adds sharpening during the compression process.

Creative Sharpening

Applied selectively based on artistic intent. It is an effect that tends not to be realistic or subtle.

Output Sharpening

The last step before output. Done after you reduce the size of the image and before exporting it as a JPEG, or before printing the image. Both printing and downscaling an image may soften it, and it may require a bit of sharpening to bring back some detail.

How to Sharpen Images in Photoshop’s Camera Raw

In this written tutorial we will focus on sharpening photos in Photoshop using Camera Raw. The video for this tutorial shows other methods.

I think that Camera Saw offers the best solution.

100% View

Start by changing the View.

When applying sharpness, always view the image at 100% so that you can see how the image is being affected, any other view is inaccurate or misleading.

The Amount Slider

The Amount slider controls how the intensity of the sharpening effect.

If you push sharpening too far, it can create edge halos or increase noise in the photo, so it is always a good idea to keep your adjustments as subtle as possible.

There are no rules or settings that you should always use. The amount of sharpening that looks good depends on the contrast of the texture of the image. The only thing that seems to hold true in most cases is that you should apply subtle adjustments.

The Radius Slider

Remember that the Sharpening Slider is only creating the illusion of detail and sharpness by adding contrast to edges. It makes one side of the edge darker and the other side brighter.

This effect is more noticeable on edges that already contain contrast. Like a mountain against a sky.

No matter what image you have, if you look closely, you can see the contrast, the dark and bright edges, that create the sharpening effect.

The Radius slider controls the thickness of the edge where the contrast is applied. Lower values give you a thinner edge, while larger values give you a thicker edge.

The Detail Slider

As the name suggests, the Detail slider controls the amount of sharpening to the details in your image

A low value such as 0 only sharpens large edges, while a high value will sharpen even the smallest edges or details.

Notice that as you drag the Detail slider to the right, you start adding the sharpening effect to areas with small detail.

Pushing the Detail slider to the far right increases noise because the sharpening effect is applied to even the smallest details in the photo.

The Mask Slider

The Masking slider controls where the effect is applied.

At “0”, no masking is applied to the image and the entire image is sharpened.

As you drag the Masking slider to the right, the sharpening effect starts disappearing from the areas without much detail, such as the sky.

If you are having trouble seeing what the Masking Slider is doing, you can hold the Alt (Mac: Option) as you drag the sliders.

With the Masking slider set to 0, you will see that the image turns white, which means that the sharpening effect is applied to the entire image.

But if I move the slider to the right, you will start to see some areas become black.

Black hides the sharpening effect, while white reveal the sharpening effect.

The Masking slider helps you remove the extra noise produced by “Amount” and “Detail” sliders.

Reduce The Noise Caused by Sharpening

Pay attention to the noise in your image as you are sharpening it.

You can avoid the trade-off between sharpness and noise to a certain extent by using the Masking slider. But in some cases, you will still have noticeable noise around your edges.

Reducing noise is simple to do in Photoshop’s Camera Raw.

Click on the Detail tab, and under Noise reduction, drag the Luminance slider to the right.

By Maddie Stearn | February 10, 2018

When should I sharpen images? A good rule of thumb is: always! Most images can benefit from a little bit of sharpening (emphasis on a little). Sharpening should be subtle, but it can have a huge impact and will take your images to the next level. Whether you’re using a standalone photo or creating content that combines imagery with text, it’s helpful to know how to sharpen an image in Photoshop to create standout content for your brand.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to sharpen images in Photoshop quickly and easily. To get started, we downloaded this stock photo of flowers to use in our example.

Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop and resize

Image sharpening is particularly handy right before you export a photo for the web, email, or printing. The key is to sharpen after your image has already been resized. For example, if your final image is going to be 800px wide, sharpen the image when it’s already resized to 800px.

For this tutorial, we resized our image to about 30% of its original size. It’s still fairly large, but we wanted it to be a bit bigger to illustrate how to sharpen the image in Photoshop.

To view the resized photo at 100%, just double click on the zoom tool (the magnifying glass icon).

Step 2: Duplicate the layer and convert to a smart object

Select the background layer and hit Ctrl/Command + J on your keyboard (or, right click on the background layer and select “Duplicate Layer.”)

Right-click on the new layer and select “Convert to Smart Object.”

Step 3: Apply the “Camera Raw Filter”

With the duplicate layer still selected, go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter.

Select the sharpening tool (the icon with two triangles).

Step 4: Adjust the filter

Make sure that you’re viewing the photo at 100%, then begin making adjustments to the filter.

You want your sharpening to be very subtle but it can sometimes be difficult to see the small adjustments by themselves. To avoid overdoing anything, hold down the Alt/Option key on your keyboard as you move the sliders. This will allow you to see your adjustments more clearly and will help you avoid moving any of the sliders too far. Once all of your adjustments are completed you will notice an overall difference in your photo, but you’ll have avoided making any drastic changes that could lower the quality of the final product.

Here is a quick rundown of the sharpening tools:

Amount: the amount of sharpening you want to apply to the photo. If you move the slider too far to the right you’ll start seeing light “halos” around the edges of objects in the image. This is a sign of oversharpening and should be avoided.

Radius: the number of pixels that make up the edge of objects in the image. The larger the number, the more pixels will be lightened/darkened to created defined edges. It’s typically best to not go above “1” for the radius.

Detail: the amount of detail in the image that your sharpening effects. Dragging the slider too far to the right could increase the noise of the image and sharpen areas that do not need it (like the sky).

Masking: the parts of the image that are not sharpened (i.e. the parts that have a layer mask applied). If you hold down Alt/Option and click and hold the slider, you’ll see that the entire image has turned white. If you drag the slider to the right, areas of the image will become black/grey. The black areas are where the sharpening is not applied. This can be helpful to avoid sharpening areas that could create a lot of noise (like the sky).

Once you’re done making adjustments, click “OK.”

Join Our Creative Community

Access the best video tips, design hacks, and deals straight to your inbox.

Step 5: Make the final adjustments

You’ll see now that your duplicate layer has a layer mask as well as the filter layer. If you notice areas of your image that you do not want to be sharpened, select the layer mask, click on the paintbrush icon, and paint over those areas in black.

Once you are happy with your sharpening, your image is complete! You now know how to easily sharpen any image in Photoshop, adding a subtle, yet dynamic, finishing touch.

Before:

& After

Learning how to sharpen an image in Photoshop will help you edit any photo. There are tons of ways to make small changes to stock photos to make them feel more like your own. Explore our guide on twelve different ways to customize stock photos for inspiration, and read our post about Photoshop vs. Lightroom to see which program will suit your editing needs best.

If your images don’t need any contrast, color, and flaw fixing, feel free to jump right into sharpening. Sometimes, images captured by a scanner or a digital camera are a little soft, and it’s not due to any tonal adjustments. Occasionally, you may even want to sharpen a selected area in your image just so that it stands out more.

First, let us say that you can’t really improve the focus of an image after it’s captured. But you can do a pretty good job of faking it. All sharpening tools work by increasing the contrast between adjacent pixels. This increased contrast causes the edges to appear more distinct, thereby giving the illusion that the focus is improved. Remember that you can also use the Sharpen tool for small areas.

Here’s a description of the two sharpening commands:

Unsharp Mask. Found on the Enhance menu in Full Photo Edit or Quick Photo Edit mode, Unsharp Mask (which gets its odd name from a darkroom technique) is the sharpening tool of choice. It gives you several options that enable you to control the amount of sharpening and the width of the areas to be sharpened. Use them to pinpoint your desired sharpening:

Amount. Specify an amount (from 1 to 500 percent) of edge sharpening. The higher the value, the more contrast between pixels around the edges. Start with a value of 100 percent (or less), which usually gives good contrast without appearing overly grainy.

Radius. Specify the width (from 0.1 to 250 pixels) of the edges that the filter will sharpen. The higher the value, the wider the edge. The value you use is largely based on the resolution of your image. Low-resolution images require a smaller radius value. High-resolution images require a higher value.

Be warned that specifying a value that’s too high overemphasizes the edges of your image and makes it appear too “contrasty” or even “goopy” around the edges.

A good guideline in selecting a starting radius value is to divide your image’s resolution by 150. For example, if you have a 300 ppi image, set the radius at 2 and then use your eye to adjust from there.

Threshold. Specify the difference in brightness (from 0 to 255) that must be present between adjacent pixels before the edge is sharpened. A lower value sharpens edges with very little contrast difference. Higher values sharpen only when adjacent pixels are very different in contrast. Leave Threshold set at 0 unless your image is very grainy. Setting the value too high can cause unnatural transitions between sharpened and unsharpened areas.

Occasionally, the values you enter for Amount and Radius may sharpen the image effectively but in turn create excess grain, or noise, in your image. You can sometimes reduce this noise by increasing the Threshold value.

Adjust Sharpness. When you’re looking for precision in your image sharpening, Unsharp Mask is one option. The Adjust Sharpness command is the other. This feature enables you to control the amount of sharpening applied to shadow and highlight areas. It also allows you to select from various sharpening algorithms.

Here are the various options you can specify:

Amount and Radius. See the two descriptions in the preceding Unsharp Mask bullet list.

Remove. Choose your sharpening algorithm. Gaussian Blur is the algorithm used for the Unsharp Mask command. Lens Blur detects detail in the image and attempts to respect the details while reducing the nasty halos that can occur with sharpening. Motion Blur tries to sharpen the blurring that occurs when you move the camera (or if your subject doesn’t sit still).

Angle. Specify the direction of motion for the Motion Blur algorithm, described in the preceding bullet.

More Refined. This option runs the algorithm more slowly than the default speed for better accuracy.

.

If you’re a Lightroom user you’ll know that in Lightroom you can mask the sharpening you apply to an image so it is applied to the edges in the image only. This same feature is not yet available in Photoshop and the sharpening filters there are applied to the entire image rather than just edge detail.

However you can achieve a reasonable approximation of the Lightroom masking feature in Photoshop using the Photoshop Find Edges filter. The benefit of this is you can apply more sharpening to the image than you would do without the masking effect and areas of flat color like skies and skin tones won’t be sharpened. Here’s how to do this.

How to Sharpen Image Edges in Photoshop

Once you have finished processing your image in Photoshop, flatten the image to a single layer or make a single layer of the edited image by adding a new layer at the top of the Layer palette and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E (Command + Option + Shift + E on the Mac) to create a flattened version of the image on that layer.

Duplicate the flattened layer twice.

Target the topmost layer – you will create your sharpening mask from this layer. Choose Image > Adjustments > Desaturate to convert it to black and white then choose Filter > Stylize > Find Edges to isolate the edges in the image.

Choose Image > Adjustments > Invert to invert the colors so that what is black is white and vice versa.

Choose Image > Adjustments > Levels and adjust the mask so that it shows white in the areas that you want to sharpen and black in those areas that you do not want to sharpen.

Once you have a good mask, blur its edges slightly by choosing Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply a 1 or 2 pixel blur to it. When this is done, hide the sharpening mask layer by turning its visibility icon off in the Layer palette.

Now target the second topmost layer in the image and click the Add Layer Mask icon at the foot of the Layer palette.

Click the mask thumbnail on this layer to target it and choose Image > Apply Image to open the Apply Image dialog. From the Layer dropdown list select the layer that contains the hidden sharpening mask, and click Ok.

Click on the image thumbnail on this layer to target it and apply your sharpening to this layer – use Smart Sharpen or Unsharp Mask as desired. When you set the slider values, view the result on the image and not using the preview in the sharpening dialog. The preview in the dialog doesn’t take into account the mask you have applied – the image itself does. Click Ok when you’re done.

To compare the before and after result of sharpening the image with an edge mask, Shift + Click on the mask layer thumbnail to disable it and see the image as it would look sharpened and without the masking effect. Click the mask thumbnail again to enable the mask again. You can discard the hidden mask layer now, if desired as it is no longer needed.

While this sharpening mask takes some effort to create once you’ve done it a few times you will find the process quite straightforward and some of its creation can be automated using Actions.

Introduction to Sharpen Tool in Photoshop

Photoshop is excellent software used for multiple images and video editing purposes with all finest tools with it, today we are going to see the use of Sharpen tool in Photoshop for editing images to enhance the degree of sharpness for visual appearance can be changed to high and low which depends on the quality of the image the more sharpen we do there is a possibility of blurred the image so be very sure while making the sharpen reputation on the same image.

The sharpen tool has in adding a smart sharpen filter to the image using a mask layer or an extra layer to differentiate the edit done on the image. We can use all types of brushes with adjustments in size and shape. There are various modes of sharpening the image which personal depends on the requirement for sample take an image to try different modes on an image with different layers and select the best suitable to your image as required.

Valuation, Hadoop, Excel, Mobile Apps, Web Development & many more.

The edges of the color enhancement will be done using this tool with different preset configurations. The correct amount of sharpening movement on the picture will be unnoticeable after the edit over moving the brush makes it look odd or even unrealistic which is not entertained professionally. We can use sharpen using a direct tool in Photoshop or also by sharpening filters both have their own way of performance we insist users to try both of them and use whichever is flexible for them as per project demand. Sharpen tool has a few more configurations technically which will be discussed in the below-using content of the tool.

Photoshop has all the needs of images, graphics, and enhancing the richness of images with multiple tools, properties, and effects. Out of with sharpen tool is one such tool. Let’s see how to use it and discuss its available attributions setting to set before applying it on the image. There are few steps by step process to enhance the image sharping which are listed below in a proper manner which includes smart managing of the image sharpness as required for the project. We will be using the mask, duplicating, and working on multiple layers till we get our output.

There are different technical aspects such as Normal, Darken, Lighten, Hue, Saturation, Colour, and Luminosity. All this has their own purposes and professionals are familiar with them for beginners must try all of these on different images and test the best suitable for their needs. Next is smart sharpening options from filters which takes control of the sharpness of the image, it has basic and advanced settings and more, Un-sharp mask can be used to reduce sharpness helps in quickly changing Amount, Radius and Threshold controls of sharpness image there are few more changes such as colors, brushes, and a few other technical tools on Photoshop.

How to use the Sharpen Tool?

Photoshop has a sharpened option to slightly add a raw and sharp look to the image which changes the image from classic feel to some sharp and interesting aggressive shade on the image which makes the image interesting and visually good.

Steps to handle the Sharpen Tool

The step by step processes for handling the sharpening effect in Photoshop is below.

Step #1

Double click to open Photoshop or right-click on Photoshop icon and select run as administrator let the application launch once the application is open import or open the image which needs to be sharpened and right-click on the image and select duplicate, we can see the image in two layers that mean we have one original loaded image and the new one the duplicate copy (shortcut Ctrl+J) of the same image. Right-click on the newly created layer and select Convert to a smart object which keeps the original image safe and helps in applying the sharpness effects and filters with the best results.

Learn to adjust image resolution in Adobe Photoshop and explore how image quality is tied to the number of pixels in a file.

Can you enhance the quality of a low-resolution image?

It’s a familiar scene: a detective asks someone to “enhance” a blurry image on a computer until it becomes clear enough to make out a key piece of evidence. Does this work? Not the way Hollywood does it.

The only way to resize a smaller photo into a larger, high-resolution image without highlighting poor image quality is to take a new photograph or re-scan your image at a higher resolution. You can increase the resolution of a digital image file, but you will lose image quality by doing so. However, there are some measures you can take in Adobe Photoshop to help you increase resolution while upholding visual quality.

How resampling and interpolation affect resolution.

Resampling images in Photoshop means changing their resolutions by adding or subtracting pixels. Resolution is measured in pixels-per-inch or PPI. The more pixels an image starts with, the higher the resolution. Decreasing the number of pixels is called downsampling, which removes data from your image. Increasing the number of pixels is called upsampling, which adds data to the image. When you increase the number of pixels in an image without adjusting the dimensions, you are adding more pixels into the same amount of space and increasing the resolution (or amount of detail) held within each inch. Removing data is preferable to adding it, since Photoshop will have to guess at how any newly added pixels should look.

Choosing the best interpolation method when upsampling.

Resampling of any kind, especially upsampling, can result in poorer image quality. The interpolation method is how Photoshop chooses the color values of new pixels. Choosing the correct interpolation method can help avoid unwanted pixelation:

Automatic: Photoshop chooses the resampling method based on the image type.
Preserve Details: An advanced upsampling algorithm with a Noise Reduction slider.
Nearest Neighbor: Best for illustrations with hard edges and no anti-aliasing.
Bilinear: Adds pixels by averaging the color values of surrounding pixels.
Bicubic: Produces smoother tonal gradations than Nearest Neighbor or Bilinear.
Bicubic Smoother: Good for enlarging images. Designed to produce smoother results.
Bicubic Sharper: Good for reducing the size of an image.

When you’re done resampling, applying the Unsharp Mask filter can help enhance image quality.

Adjusting resolution in Photoshop.

You may be looking to enhance a lower-resolution photo to print it — a high-resolution TIFF being a better printing format than a low-resolution JPG. If you are open to different image sizes, first try changing the dimensions and resolution of your photo without resampling it. This means working with what you have, not adding new data to the original image. You can always resample as necessary after you’ve tried adjusting dimensions and resolution separately.

Change print dimensions without adjusting pixel dimensions.

See if you can achieve a high-quality print by adjusting only the dimension or resolution without changing pixel count. Photoshop will automatically change the other value for you, keeping the aspect ratio and amount of pixels the same. Follow these steps.

Blur or Sharpen Images in Photoshop Elements: Overview

This lesson shows you how to blur or sharpen images in Photoshop Elements. The Blur Tool lets you soften hard edges and reduce fine detail in an image. The Blur Tool shares the same location as the Smudge Tool in the Toolbox within Photoshop Elements. Contrary to that, the Sharpen Tool increases edge clarity and detail visibility in an image.

To blur or sharpen images in Photoshop Elements, select the tool to use from the Toolbox and Tool Options Bar. Then set the brush options. You can set the blending mode, brush, size and also the strength from the drop-downs and sliders available.

Checking the “Sample All Layers” checkbox blurs or sharpens the pixel data using the combined data from all layers. If unchecked, it then only uses data from the currently selected layer. After setting your options, then click and drag over the area in the image you want to blur or sharpen.

Blur or Sharpen Images in Photoshop Elements: A picture of a user blurring photo details by using the Blur Tool in Photoshop Elements.

Blur or Sharpen Images in Photoshop Elements: Instructions

1. To blur or sharpen images in Photoshop Elements, select either the Blur Tool or the Sharpen Tool from the Toolbox and Tool Options Bar.
2. Then set the brush options, as desired, in the Tool Options Bar. You can set the blending mode, brush, size and also the strength from the drop-downs and sliders available.
3. To blur or sharpen pixel data using the combined data from all layers, check the “Sample All Layers” checkbox. If unchecked, it only uses data from the currently selected layer.
4. After setting your options, then click and drag over the area in the image you want to blur or sharpen.

Blur or Sharpen Images in Photoshop Elements: Video Lesson

The following video lesson, titled “ Blurring and Sharpening Images ,” shows you how to blur or sharpen images in Photoshop Elements. This lesson is from our complete Photoshop Elements tutorial , titled “ Mastering Photoshop Elements Made Easy v.2020 .”

By Amanda Glisson on November 25, 2019 | No Comments

How to Sharpen Images in Photoshop

(Quickly & Flawlessly)

Are you struggling with sharpening your images in Photoshop or looking for a quick and simple way to sharpen your photo in just a few seconds (with no fuss)?

If so, you’re in the right place!

In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to beautifully and flawlessly sharpen your images in Photoshop in less than 30 seconds with no guesswork involved.

Ready? Set? Let’s go!

1. Open and Flatten Your Finished Image

Once you are done editing and ready to sharpen your image for a polished and perfect finish, make sure the image is open in Photoshop. If your image has layers, you will want to flatten your layers and save it as a NEW file. You can flatten your layers by navigating to the top menu bar and selecting Layer>Flatten Image.

2. Create a New Layer

You will now need to create a duplicate of the background layer by selecting Layer>Duplicate Layer or pressing Cmd/Ctrl+J (a Photoshop keyboard shortcut). This step is important because the next step CANNOT be applied to your background layer.

3. Adjust High Pass Filter

Navigate to your top Menu Bar and select Filter>Other>High Pass. You will notice that your image turns a gray metallic color. This is OK and is just temporary. I promise!

Move the slider in your High Pass pop-up screen until you only see the outline of the important details. You don’t want to see the outline of the fine details!

4. Change the Blending Mode

Change the blending mode of this layer to get rid of the metallic look. To do this, click on the Blending Mode drop down menu at the top of your Layers Panel and select Overlay.

5. Preview the Sharpening Effect (and Adjust as Needed)

Turn the little “eye” next to this Layer on and off to preview the sharpening effect. If the sharpening appears to overdone, simply bring your Layer opacity down to your desired sharpness.

Bonus Tip: Selectively Applying the Sharpening Effect

After adding your sharpening layer in Photoshop as described above, you may want to remove the sharpening enhancement from certain areas of your image.

The good news is that this is easy to do using a layer mask. To do this, simply add a layer mask by choosing Layer>Layer Mask>Hide All or pressing the rectangle icon with a circle in the middle at the bottom of the Layers Panel while holding the ALT key.

Next, select the Brush Tool using the Photoshop keyboard shortcut “B”. Then set your foreground color to white by pressing keyboard shortcut “D” and then tapping “X”.

Lastly, with the new layer mask selected, paint over the areas of your image you’d like sharpened. Once you’re done, don’t forget to save your image!

Now if you are more of a visual learner, or want some additonal help with sharpening in Photoshop, watch our tutorial video below:

How to Flawlessly Sharpen your Image in Photoshop – Video Tutorial

If you’d like more help using Layer Masks , check out the following tutorials!

Do you have any questions or comments about Sharpening in Photoshop? Leave us a comment below – we would LOVE to hear from you. And PLEASE SHARE our tutorial using the social sharing buttons (we really appreciate it)!

Amanda Glisson

I’m a momma of four who, like a lot of other moms, found my love of photography through photographing my own beautiful children. Since first picking up a camera over 9 years ago and having professionally photographed all sorts of subjects and venues, I have come to learn that I am most passionate in newborn and child photography and I am lucky enough to be able to specialize in this area!

Making your images sharp is a very important step in giving images a final, polished and vibrant look. Usually sharpening is applied on top of an already sharp image to give it that extra realistic feel, so getting your focus right in camera is just as important. Sharpening can help with a slightly out of focus image, but it won’t fix an image that’s clearly out of focus.

There are many ways to sharpen images in Photoshop, and let’s explore one of the most popular in this post, the high pass filter. High pass, as its name suggests, only lets the high frequencies of an image pass through, therefore allowing to easily accentuate/sharpen the details. Using high pass has gotten really popular to sharpen images because of the amount of control and flexibility that it gives. High pass is also instrumental for frequency separation in skin retouching, but that’ll be the topic of a different post.

1- Everything Else First

You’ll usually want to apply sharpening to an image as the last set of steps in your retouching, after you’ve done everything else you want to do on an image. Here for example, I did a little bit of dodge and burn using curves, applied a slight vignette and applied color grading using curves.

Then I created a stamp visible layer ( Shift+Cmd+Option+E Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E ), which is now ready to be sharpened:

2- Sharpen for Export Size

You’ll want to customize the sharpening for each export size, because if you sharpen a really large image and then simply resize it down when you export, the resizing can make the sharpening look crunchy and overdone. Don’t worry though, we’ll make use of smart objects, so the amount of work you’ll do on each export size will be really minimal.

First, let’s right click on the stamp visible layer and duplicate it to a new file. Now in that new file you can resize the image down to your largest export size. I like to export a rather large 3000px-wide image, so let’s start with that. The shortcut for resizing is Cmd+I Ctrl+I .

Now duplicate the layer twice using Cmd+J Ctrl+J . With high pass you decide on the level of detail it picks up, so you can create multiple levels of sharpening depending on how fine or large the details are that you’re trying to sharpen. Here we’re creating two layers because we’ll have a level for large detail sharpening and one for fine detail sharpening. Now desaturate both layer copies by going to Image > Adjustment > Desaturate. That’s an important step because otherwise sharpening could increase the color saturation of your image as a side effect.

Turn both desaturated layer copies into smart object by right-clicking and selecting Convert to smart object. Finally, change the blend mode of these two layers to something like soft light, overlay or linear light. Soft Light is my favorite blending mode for this, with an effect that’s more subtle. Overlay gives a slightly more intense effect, and linear light gives the most intense.

3- Using High Pass Filter

We’re finally ready to make use of the high pass filter. Let’s work on the layer for large details first, and hide the layer we’ve setup for fine details for now so we can see a direct preview. Now go to Filter > Other > High Pass to open the high pass filter dialog.

You’ll see a small preview of the details that are passing through, and your image will also preview the actual effect. The radius setting if what you’ll play with to target the size of the detail you want to sharpen. The larger the radius, the larger the details that will be picked up and sharpened. This will also depend on the size of your image, so there’s no magic formula there. Here I went with a radius of 40px:

Next let’s unhide the layer for small detail sharpening and apply some finer detail sharpening using the same method, but with a much smaller radius. Here I went with a radius of 4px for small details.

4- Masking Distracting Areas

Oftentimes the goal of an image is to direct the eye a certain way and accentuate certain details. For this purpose, we’ll often want to leave background details out of focus and make sure that no sharpening is applied there. It’s easy to do if you place your sharpening layers in a group, then add a mask to the group as a whole and mask out the parts of the image you want to avoid sharpening.

Here, for example, we mask out the trees in the background:

Exporting

And with this, your first sharpened dimension is ready to be exported as a JPEG. My favorite method is to use the Save for Web dialog at Filed > Export > Save for Web.

5- Sharpening More Dimensions

Now let’s see how we can adjust sharpening for other image dimensions. Let’s save our file as another name to create a new dimension in a separate file. Now, we can resize the image again, in this example I resize down to 1680px wide. We can then easily double click on each high pass filter in the smart object of our sharpening layers and we’ll be able to adjust the radius to fit with our resized image.

Bonus Tip: Sharpen Only Select Details

You can very easily duplicate one of your sharpening layers to double the effect, and then use a layer mask to apply some extra sharpening only for some select details. Here for example we double down on the sharpening of the grill and license plate.

Wrapping Up

As you saw, it’s pretty easy, straightforward and flexible to sharpen using the high pass filter. It gives you full control on the size of the details to sharpen, it’s non-destructive and, when combines with smart objects, it’s easy to re-adjust the sharpening for each export size. Plus, you can have fine control of the level of sharpening or where sharpening is applied using layer masks or by reducing the opacity or blending mode of the sharpening layers. Plus, you’ll notice the the order of your sharpening layers doesn’t matter, so you can play around in whichever order you prefer.

Have fun, and stay sharp! 😎

• Camera : Nikon D800
• Focal length : 60mm
• Shutter speed : 1/80 s
• Aperture : f/ 2.8
• ISO : 200

My Suggestions for You

✨ Here are some of the top photo retouching courses from PHLEARN:

* Note that these are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase something from PHLEARN. It doesn’t cost more to you and helps directly support this website! 🙏🙏

I’ve learned a ton from PHLEARN myself over the years and love the simple and straightforward teaching style of Aaron Nace, the founder.

Hey there! 👋
I’m Seb and I’m creating Purple11. I’m into photography (duh!), but also music, design, meditation, healthy living and just spending time in nature. You can read more about what I’m up to on my Now page.

Thanks for stopping by the website! I hope that what you find here is helpful to you.