"Smart Sharpening" Technique

[jeaniesa]

Thanks for asking Sweet-P. I should have updated the link in my first post back when I found the new link that BK pointed you to. I've now updated the link in the first post as well.

Jeanie

[Sweet-P]

Thank you...and you are welcome

[christo]

I downloaded JB's custom smart sharpening .atn and found it to be fabulous. I installed it on my desktop (mac) and laptop (mac) as well (PS 6). I even took it in to work to install it on our (pc), PS 5.5, but I got an error message saying something to the effect that it was not compatible with that version. Any one have any suggestions on how I can add it to my workflow at work? Is it possible to print out the steps in the .atn?

[Stephen M]

Christo, from the help system, presuming v6 or higher:

>> Press Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or Command+Option (Mac OS) when you choose the Save Actions command to save the actions in a text file. You can use this file to review or print the contents of an action. However, you can't reload the text file back into Photoshop <<

Then decipher and rebuild the action in v5.x (which is why I build my actions in v5.x as it is still in wide use in production settings).

On the subject of sharpening:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/ST_USM1.html

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binar...V_links.html#S


Regards,

Stephen Marsh.

[christo]

Stephen,
When I go into PS6 and highlight the action, do a control option, the save actions command is grayed out.

[Peter Booth]

I realise that this is an old thread but I just downloaded and installed the Smart Sharpening action into PS7.1 and when I run the action it says that the Black Channel is not available consequently the action does not work fully and seems to stick . Has anyone any clues to what could be the problem?Thanks for any help

[Leah]

Peter, The action probably refers to the Black channel at some point when your version of Photoshop needs the Gray channel - there's some inconsistency between versions.

[Peter Booth]

Hi Leah, thanks for the reply , does that mean that I just cant use the action but would be able to do it manually ?? must read through the whole tutorial

[Andrew]

Thanks Chris and DJ, picture a kid in a Candy Store!!

[Dreamer]

Thanks for the link! I really like that method.

Thanks again

[DARCgull]

Browsing round, I happened on this site and found it very interesting, so I registered and hope someone can help me with a problem I have when trying to use JB sharpener, Namely, that when I start the action, I get a message in the second stage,--" the object "black channel" is not currently available".

Looking through the Help section I can see nothing refering to a black channel.

Can any of you good folks help me out here?

P.s I notice Peter has the same problem a few threads back too. Problem also crops up on a couple of other actions too.

[Janet Petty]

RGB mode (red, green, blue) will not have a black channel.

CMYK mode (cyan, magenta, yellow, & black) has a black channel.

I'm assuming the creator of the action was using CMYK as the basis for the action.

[DARCgull]

Thank you for that, I will go and give it a try.

[gmitchel]

Originally Posted by jeaniesa

I was wandering around the links on the John Houston site that Chris just posted and found a great technique for sharpening. I tried it on a photo and what a difference!! Some of you may already know this technique, but I thought it was a really cool find. Between this technique and the one DJ posted for lightening dark areas, my photo retouching has just taken a huge leap forward.

Thanks Chris and DJ for sending me down this path.

Jeanie

The article on Smart Sharpening describes edge sharpening. You're right, many will be familiar with it.

The article leaves out some steps that are important, if you want really good results. For example, it does not use Blend If to keep sharpening away from the highlights and the shadows.

My TLR Sharpening Toolkit is a free download. It is a sophisticated Photoshop action set for sharpening images.

The toolkit is based on the three-pass sharpening philosophy described by Bruce Fraser, although it can also be used for single-pass or two-pass sharpening. I engineered this toolkit to include the best features of commercial sharpening tools, like Focal Blade and Photokit Sharpener. Features include:

• Sharpen with Highpass Filter or USM sharpening.

• Sharpen edges and surfaces separately (or either alone).

• Sharpen light and dark pixels separately.

• Generate masks using luminosity or color boundaries or a composite of the two.

• Brush in creative sharpening/blurring.

• Blend If settings protect against sharpening highlights and shadows.

• All sharpening is done non-destructively using layers.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/...ingToolkit.htm

The action set comes with illustrated instructions in PDF. I also have tutorials, tips, and a learning gallery to help with sharpening.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/...ningSkills.pdf

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/...ingToolkit.htm

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/.../2004OCT11.htm

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/.../2004NOV01.htm

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/.../2004NOV29.htm

Cheers,

Mitch

[Garyw1960]

Hello .thanks for a terrific site and all your contributions.

Sharpening has always been my problem. Jeaniesa mentions John Houstons sharpening technique and another technique for lightening shadows.

Would it be possible to put a link to the posts mentioned .many thanks

Gary

[paroroonman]

the fastest way to sharpen an image is by "UNSHARP MASK" however it may sharpen all the iamges and will create ugly noise.. so the best way is go to channel and choose what channel (can be one or two channels) you would ONLY sharpen (not the four channels) and presto you will see a great result!