Selective Sharpening

Good Morning,

I've read here and there about the concept of sharpening (or applying noise reduction on the contrary) to an image but excluding it from certain areas. It makes a lot of sense to me and is something I would like to incorporate into my workflow--sharpening an image everywhere except for the shadows and highlights so that those areas do not accentuate noise and get grainy.

Is there an easy method to doing this without sharpening the entire image with a mask and then painting in (or out) areas of sharpening? Like some sort of one-click-trick to basically apply your sharpening only to midtones?

-Randy

You could try this:
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1099897

stsva wrote in post #14930752
You could try this:
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1099897

That's an excellent Tut! For simpler images, a feathered selection works fairly well, too: Selection for sharpening illustration.

You wanna make it real easy, look at Nik Dfine / Sharpener.

Much (all?) of what the above tutorial does can be done with the sharpening mask in LR. I assume that ACR has the same capability, although I have not used ACR nor Bridge since adopting LR.

pknight wrote in post #14931479
Much (all?) of what the above tutorial does can be done with the sharpening mask in LR. I assume that ACR has the same capability, although I have not used ACR nor Bridge since adopting LR.

I do use the sharpening mask regularly in ACR, but my native image always goes into Photoshop next for further adjustments. I'm referring to a method in Photoshop itself (I use cs5) for final output sharpening. Also, the sharpening in ACR is limited to edge detail and doesn't allow luminosity masking.

A quick method that works well for many images is to sharpen the whole picture, then use the history brush to quickly remove the effect wherever it isn't desired.

For those promoting Photoshop and Nic sharpening, maybe a Before/After, especially after using ACR/LR to get a Before, and maybe providing us with a Raw file to compare???

I still use the old way, sharpening a seperate layer and simply erase it away where its not wanted. I'm a simple soul and it suits the way I think!

I tried this and it seems to do what you are asking but its not one click. you could make an action to do it for you though.


duplicate layer ( CTRL +J)

filter -> Sharpen -> unsharp mask ( 300/3.0/0 ) I always exaggerate for testing purposes. you should use whatever you feel is necessary.

right click layer 1, blending options

last block on the bottom: blend if Grey.

Change the underlying layer to something that works for your image

80 -90 seemed to get me out of the shadows (left slider)
133 or so seemed to get me away from the highlights ( right slider)

you can split the sliders apart to smooth the transition out a bit. I used about 20 or 30 on either side. alt click on the slider to split them up.

hopefully that gets you close to what you are trying to do.

proximustherogue wrote in post #14937215
I tried this and it seems to do what you are asking but its not one click. you could make an action to do it for you though.


duplicate layer ( CTRL +J)

filter -> Sharpen -> unsharp mask ( 300/3.0/0 ) I always exaggerate for testing purposes. you should use whatever you feel is necessary.

right click layer 1, blending options

last block on the bottom: blend if Grey.

Change the underlying layer to something that works for your image

80 -90 seemed to get me out of the shadows (left slider)
133 or so seemed to get me away from the highlights ( right slider)

you can split the sliders apart to smooth the transition out a bit. I used about 20 or 30 on either side. alt click on the slider to split them up.

hopefully that gets you close to what you are trying to do.

Yup, I just read about this one over the weekend and I'm going to start trying it out. The only thing I'll do different is change that sharpening to "Luminosity" blending mode so that it only affects the luminance tones and not the color.

And yes, once it's an Action it's one click--love it!

I see sharpening as very dependant on the particular image. I certainly don't think "one size fits all" which is what an action would surely do?

Lowner wrote in post #14946066
I see sharpening as very dependant on the particular image. I certainly don't think "one size fits all" which is what an action would surely do?

I agree but when i make an action I dont just make it one setting and forget about it, rather I use it as a guage with a base setting and then sub actions with different settings that can be changed at the click of a button. since I use my actions in button mode.


Action-> Create sharpening layer.
Action sub setting -> Select sharp layer and change settings to X
Action sub setting -> Select sharp layer and change settings to Y
Action sub setting -> Select sharp layer and change settings to Z

where X-Y or Z could be different settings in the blending mode or opacity or even changing a mask on a layer. maybe it wont get you exactly what you need but it can give you a better start point faster I feel.

I'm just learning to use actions like this but its making my life alot easier doing it this way.


EDIT: I will make an action set later so you can see what I mean.

Lowner wrote in post #14946066
I see sharpening as very dependant on the particular image. I certainly don't think "one size fits all" which is what an action would surely do?

Correct, but with one click it can merge all visible layers, change the new layer to Luminosity Blending Mode, Run an Unsharp Mask, and go to the "Blend If" parameters and set them to avoid sharpening the shadows and highlights. And then you can start tweaking for the particular image without going through all the rudamentary motions at first.

You ca also do it in Lab mode as well, highlighting and sharpeming only the lightness. Then apply it to only areas you would like to, similar to using the luminosity blend mode.