Let's discuss the sharpening process for a second. This isn't so much a tutorial, but rather a discussion of how all sharpening methods work. It really helps to understand what is going on. Basically I don't advise doing it this way, but going through it manually can really help you understand exactly how unsharp mask works (and how it is somewhat limited).
Try this (in RGB mode)
Make two duplicates of your layer
Reduce the top layer to 50% opacity and invert it
You now have a 50% grey layer.
Run Gaussian blur on the top layer.
Merge down.
You have just done a manual High Pass.
You can run gaussian blur on this if you like to reduce the noise. (threshhold)
Blend this layer in with Linear Light and flatten the image.
Duplicate the layer up to 5 times and reduce the opacity of the highest layer. (If your layers 3 layers with the top layer at 37% your amount is 237%)
Flatten this and you have manually performed an unsharp mask.
Blending with linear light is the killer. It is too harsh. I'll use high pass sharpening, copy it twice and use hard light on one and soft light on the other. (200% sharpening, threshold 0 radius what ever I did on high pass.)
You can run Median instead of gaussian blur to adjust the threshold, you can mix blend modes, adjust the opacity for these blend modes, desaturate the high pass layer to prevent the color halo, to quote every villain from every bad move ever, "I HAVE ULTIMATE POWER."
Probably more information than you ever wanted to know.
Michael
Try this (in RGB mode)
Make two duplicates of your layer
Reduce the top layer to 50% opacity and invert it
You now have a 50% grey layer.
Run Gaussian blur on the top layer.
Merge down.
You have just done a manual High Pass.
You can run gaussian blur on this if you like to reduce the noise. (threshhold)
Blend this layer in with Linear Light and flatten the image.
Duplicate the layer up to 5 times and reduce the opacity of the highest layer. (If your layers 3 layers with the top layer at 37% your amount is 237%)
Flatten this and you have manually performed an unsharp mask.
Blending with linear light is the killer. It is too harsh. I'll use high pass sharpening, copy it twice and use hard light on one and soft light on the other. (200% sharpening, threshold 0 radius what ever I did on high pass.)
You can run Median instead of gaussian blur to adjust the threshold, you can mix blend modes, adjust the opacity for these blend modes, desaturate the high pass layer to prevent the color halo, to quote every villain from every bad move ever, "I HAVE ULTIMATE POWER."
Probably more information than you ever wanted to know.
Michael
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