STICKY:  Sharpening Tips & Tricks, Tutorials, and FAQ

this thread is amazing guys, tons of info

helped me a ton, thanks guys!

I apologize if this has already been answered, but does anyone know a good sharpening action for photoshop elements? All of the ones I have tried would not work in elements... I have my own sharpening workflow that I got from someone on the forum, but it is very time consuming to do it manually every time. I do mostly wildlife and nature photography and pictures of my son.

40Driggs wrote in post #8829455
I apologize if this has already been answered, but does anyone know a good sharpening action for photoshop elements? All of the ones I have tried would not work in elements... I have my own sharpening workflow that I got from someone on the forum, but it is very time consuming to do it manually every time. I do mostly wildlife and nature photography and pictures of my son.

Have you referred to my post a few pages back that describes the differences in sharpening?
I'm not sure what sharpening options you're talking about, but Unsharpen mask is available in PSE...which should be used AFTER you do basic sharpening in DPP (assuming you are shooting RAW images....)...

kitacanon wrote in post #8829572
Have you referred to my post a few pages back that describes the differences in sharpening?
I'm not sure what sharpening options you're talking about, but Unsharpen mask is available in PSE...which should be used AFTER you do basic sharpening in DPP (assuming you are shooting RAW images....)...

I guess I should be more specific. I use USM for all of my images and high pass sharpening for details on portraits such as the eyes, nostrils, etc. I actually am wanting an action for wildlife mostly. Here is the sharpening I have been using for wildlife.

1- open original image and make Duplicate copy to protect the original.
2- On the copy adjust your levels, saturation and contrast, as per your regular workflow.
3- Now make duplicate layer and name "Dark Sharpen"
4- Make another duplicate layer and name "Light Sharpen"
5- Select the Dark Sharpen layer and add USM
Amount – 500 (400)
Radius - 0.6 (0.4)
Threshold – 2 (2)
6- In the layers palette set the Blend mode to Darken and set the opacity to 20 % (15 %)
7- Select the Light Sharpen layer and add USM
Amount – 500 (400)
Radius - 0.6 (0.4)
Threshold – 2 (2)
8- In the layers palette set the Blend mode to Lighten and set the opacity to 5 % (5 %)
9- Flatten image
10- Make duplicate layer and name Luminosity Sharpen
11- Select Luminosity Sharpen layer and add USM
Amount – 500 (400)
Radius - 0.2 (0.2)
Threshold - 0 (0)
12- In the layers palette set the Blend mode to Luminosity and set the opacity to 60% ( 50%)
13- Flatten Image
14- Done

Since I use PSE, I can't make my own action for this.

I know that you may not be able to export actions from PSE, but you can however use existing actions within PSE with a little work. Just throwing that out there, because I just learned about it.

»HERES HOW«

40Driggs wrote in post #8836234
I guess I should be more specific. I use USM for all of my images and high pass sharpening for details on portraits such as the eyes, nostrils, etc. I actually am wanting an action for wildlife mostly. Here is the sharpening I have been using for wildlife.


Amount – 500 (400)
Radius - 0.6 (0.4)
Threshold – 2 (2)

Amount – 500 (400)
Radius - 0.6 (0.4)
Threshold – 2 (2)

Amount – 500 (400)
Radius - 0.2 (0.2)
Threshold - 0 (0)

Since I use PSE, I can't make my own action for this.

Seems like a high level of sharpening to me....do you sharpen in DPP?
In any case....after minimal sharpening of RAW images in DPP to bring out the basic details (typically 4-5), the USM strategies I use are:
1. a higher amount (300-400) and lower radius (.1-.2) for images with a lot of linear detail....and
2. a lower amount (100-200) and higher radius (.3-.4) with little detail and when I want to sharpen texture...
Using 1 with high detail (tree limbs and the like) will cause a lot of CA
and using 2 might not be enough to highlight those linear edges.... I typically leave threshold at 0....

kitacanon wrote in post #8837119
Seems like a high level of sharpening to me....

I think this helps

40Driggs wrote in post #8836234
6- In the layers palette set the Blend mode to Darken and set the opacity to 20 % (15 %)
8- In the layers palette set the Blend mode to Lighten and set the opacity to 5 % (5 %)
12- In the layers palette set the Blend mode to Luminosity and set the opacity to 60% ( 50%)

If you can use an action (as per the post above), try ManykSRS.

kitacanon wrote in post #8837119
Seems like a high level of sharpening to me....do you sharpen in DPP?
In any case....after minimal sharpening of RAW images in DPP to bring out the basic details (typically 4-5), the USM strategies I use are:
1. a higher amount (300-400) and lower radius (.1-.2) for images with a lot of linear detail....and
2. a lower amount (100-200) and higher radius (.3-.4) with little detail and when I want to sharpen texture...
Using 1 with high detail (tree limbs and the like) will cause a lot of CA
and using 2 might not be enough to highlight those linear edges.... I typically leave threshold at 0....

Thanks for the info!

René Damkot wrote in post #8839535
I think this helps

If you can use an action (as per the post above), try ManykSRS.

Unfortunately, in Elements I have to have a PNG file with all the actions that are going to be carried out as well as the .atn file. Unless I am missing something?

No idea, I never used Elements...

I nerer really did any hard editing of my pictures, but now I'm reading through the thread and also very encouraged to try something new =)
Thanks for the info, guys!

mdm wrote in post #5077088
Thank you, when I sober up I'll review this and try and learn something.

hahaha

Great information- thanks to contributors!

Grimlock wrote in post #8836825
I know that you may not be able to export actions from PSE, but you can however use existing actions within PSE with a little work. Just throwing that out there, because I just learned about it.

»HERES HOW«

Would you happen to have a cheat sheet for PSE 6 on Mac?