Sharpen Photos like a Pro!

[@ottersphotography304]

You are the sharpest tool in the toolbox my friend. In fact, you are the entire contents of the toolbox, thank you for all your content.

[@f64Academy]

haha! thanks :) It's my pleasure!

[@pbziegler]

I am a Fuji shooter. And sharpening in ACR or Lightroom produces "worms". At some point I discovered that, dropping the sharpen slider in ACR to 0 and sharpen in PS allowed me to sharpen my images without "worms." Probably because it makes a difference that it's sharpening a Tiff file and not a Fuji raw file. So this video is especially useful for my Fuji buddies. Thanks

[@dmitripopov8570]

Wonderful video! Thank you!

[@ctenos45069]

Great job Blake. You are the king with explanations.

[@f64Academy]

Thanks Clay!

[@louisrosner7902]

I am basically an Astro photographer using Photoshop to process my stacked images. Photoshop has a steep learning curve but your videos seem to cover a lot of topics and make them rather intuitive. I hope to slowly try to digest as many of your videos as possible. Thank you and keep up the good work.

[@brianbochicchio7729]

Great video Blake! The sharpening a knife example will be a great mental reference to keep in mind when making decisions. Thank you!

[@f64Academy]

Thanks, Brian! That lightbulb 💡 clicked the other day and I thought, "yes build a video around that"!

[@SherryFelix]

This one is at the top of my list to learn.

[@f64Academy]

Woohoo!

[@davidrobinson6442]

Awesome video Blake, so much great information.

[@f64Academy]

My pleasure!

[@ashhersid661]

Very helpful thank you

[@f64Academy]

My pleasure

[@Ronin760]

Best explanation of sharpening in PS on the web. Most tutorial merely show how to sharpening. The reasons was just as valuable. I love your high pass method. I'll will give a try. Thanks!

[@f64Academy]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it :)

[@TheEarlFerg]

Thank you for this concise and constructive tutorial. You nicely presented your method.I enjoy your work.

[@f64Academy]

Glad it was helpful!

[@betty-louluyken904]

Thanks again Blake. I used High Pass sharpening, but only sometimes with a mask and not with Blend If. This method you show makes sharpening much better.

[@f64Academy]

Heck yes! Mask and Blend if, phew, amazing :)

[@TheTucsonJeff]

Excellent video! Thanks Blake, this helps a lot!!

[@f64Academy]

Glad to hear it!

[@Flashback_Jack]

Best way to sharpen that I've found is to do it in LAB colour space on the luminosity channel, that way you don't see any colour shift since in RGB the colours are tied to the luminosity--i.e. sharpening adds more contrast to edges and darkens colours overall as a result.

[@madhusoodanshimoga5725]

Excellent!!! I would have loved to see this technique on a portrait, Fashion shoot, though. Thanks.

[@f64Academy]

Try it on a portrait or a fashion shoot ;)

[@seabreezeof]

I like how you used the overlay in BI to get a more visual view.. >>> Great tip ....Thank you

[@f64Academy]

Best way to do it!

[@goat2503]

This channel will take off surely, great information so much knowledge And delivered quickly and precisely. Love it

[@robynaldridge8304]

You've nailed it again, Blake, and that's enough reason for me to stay with f64 Elite.

[@f64Academy]

Thanks Robyn 😉 I appreciate you!

[@DalsPhotography-Daniela]

Great video ! I loved it, and I am very glad that I mostly use those best practices without even knowing these path extisted :) My quick tool for sharpening is Topaz Ai clear, and a brush to erase the stuff I don't like sharpened :) Thank you so much and best regards from Uruguay.

[@f64Academy]

Awesome! Thanks for watching :)

[@MrSmildiger]

Blake Rudis is my man ! Expressing his ideas, believes and/or some facts in a very succinct manner with real time visual results, Bravo ! .. But how do you to determine the the levels of sharping for a specific final output ? Be it average computer screen or a $6000 Eizo monitor, a smart phone, anything backlit to a neighborhood flyer printed on a $300 inkjet or laser printer and $6000 inkjet to a Heidelberg rotary offset printer., ect. ect. I guess it is not like ; "one size fits all" So what determines how to set the parameters for each output ?! The best answer I found was to lower the brightness of your screen halfway down, however, it might work for luminosity and contrast, but sharpening ? I am so frustrated not to know this. If you can find the time then please make a video of it. Any recommended further reading is very welcome. But you have a DON with a hell of a lot more impact than me reading a book. I guess that probably 90 % of photographers are just as much in the dark as I am. I am a bit of an old film dude, who never had to bother with these issues and desperately wants to learn. Thank you so much for your time and attention. With all my respect. Kind regards, Hendrik

[@f64Academy]

Thanks so much, you are the man! My answer is not technical at all. Ready for it... Print it, put it on a wall, step back 4 feet. Can you tell if the image is sharpened or not? Probably not. You know who over-thinks sharpening and nose reduction? Photographers. You know who doesn't care, the viewer 😁 We spend so much time thinking about this when in actuality, the print may show it up close, but who gets that close? Don't over think it. If it looks good, keep doing what you are doing. I know that sounds like a cop out answer, but at some point you have to drop the idea of the technical crap and enjoy the fact that you are creating art for the world to see and that's all that really matters at the end of the day.

[@MrSmildiger]

@@f64Academy Hello blake, Thank you for that positive shout out ! Because of my background being rather sadly academic, my studies in photography where more about the PH level and alkaline in your D76 developer, Lens formulas that would Anthony van Leeuwenhoek and Galilee Galileo shiver ! Not to much about photography .. Anyways I am looking to get into your courses. Thank you again. Best and kindest, Hendrik

[@swedeinla]

The thing I do before sharpening is first do the image size to what I want it, depending on web or print. Ive found that if you sharpen then down size your image, that can cause not so nice results.

[@waynelytton7517]

When I was the Production Manager for Digital Imaging Services at the National Geographic Society, I had to explain to one of our Photographers why we couldn't produce a 30x40 print from his 35mm Transparency, which we scanned, as sharp as it appeared in our Magazine. I had to explain the difference for sharpening for magazine output in a small size as compared to the sharpening used for a large Photographic print output. This was when digital output and photoshop was first introduced into photography, and this was a chore. By the way the photographer I had to educate was the one who captured the famous Green Eyed woman image that graced the cover of the NGS Magazine.

[@sheldonspock5566]

I see what you did there, Mick (Dundee)! 😜

[@netalexpg1]

Very nice! Created an "Action" in PS; with Merged Visible layer, Turn into Smart Object, applied: High Pass filter, Lenear Light BM - 30% fill, and Blend-If, add Mask. Ready to tweak setting and paint mask! Thanks!

[@f64Academy]

Nice! Glad you took that initiative!

[@composedlight6850]

thanks i will try the high bypass selective sharpening ---- but why do you add the Color overlay layer ?

[@f64Academy]

Just to be able to visualize where the effect is taking place.

[@composedlight6850]

@@f64Academy get it thanks

[@sizefive]

Now my sharpening will improve. I will use a mask thanks.

[@alexecioranu764]

Hello Blake! Much love from Bucharest, Romania!

[@davidreichel3394]

Thanks so much. I've tried various sharpening techniques and this makes sense for my portrait images where I sharpen certain facial features but don't want to sharpen of skin; the masking and blend if technique gives me lots of control. One question -- what are your thoughts on sharpening only on the final image size (e.g., reducing an image to instagram specs and resolution) vs. the original image size?

[@f64Academy]

I think there is a a strong reason for every phase of the sharpening (before during and after) or stated this way, Raw sharpening, selective sharpening for viewer attention, and output sharpening for print or web. They are all very different types of sharpening and all have their place.

[@klickinthewild]

Another great video Blake 👍. Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@f64Academy]

My pleasure! Thanks for your kind remarks 😁

[@anLTproduction]

I only use sharpening to compensate for the data loss that occurs when translating square pixels into round dots. I feel that if more sharpening is required, the image file is no good. Why sharpen for printing? That’s my ultimate goal. Any image I’ve created that looks good enough to print will certainly look just fine in the digital realm. I only use one sharpening workflow for all of my images. The workflow is as follows: Duplicate background layer. With duplicated layer selected click filter>other>high pass. Set radius to 15.0, nothing else. Now click image>desaturate. Now click image>curves. To create a tone curve input the following output/inputs: 190/255, 128/128, 40/80, 0/0. This will create a nice S curve and block halos from being obvious. Change blending mode to Overlay. Change opacity of sharpening layer to 28%. Works every time. If you’d like to know the continuation of the workflow that removes the sharpening from the areas of the photo that aren’t in focus, send me a message. This can be turned into an action that saves time too.

[@randyranson84]

You sharpened my capabilities using just KZbin, how cool is that?

[@f64Academy]

Love it!

[@paulcaseyjr]

Digital timer

[@marleensteurbaut3630]

Why do you use lineair light instead of any other?

[@f64Academy]

Linear light is a combo of linear dodge and linear burn. So it makes for better use of the technique.

[@reynaldsagolili9775]

First comment . Hello from Philippines

[@supermarkomarkomarko]

Great tutorial Blake, especially the explanation that sharpening is just an optical illusion. Also, I like the blend if part and that color overlay to see what are we sharpening. You are sharpening with linear light, why not with soft light? Thank you

[@f64Academy]

Linear light is much better as it is a dodging and burning like blend mode, soft light is kind of an overlay hybrid. Linear light is linear dodge and linear burn, it forces the lights to get lighter darks to get darker. Much more accurate than sift light.

[@supermarkomarkomarko]

@@f64Academy Thank you very much

[@desertgecko4549]

Honest question, I'm not trolling: Do you think this works better than Topaz Sharpen AI? Topaz seems to do about the same by default, and it might get nearly identical results with a little tweaking if and where needed. I'd be interested in seeing a comparison with AI and your technique. Still, nice technique. You nailed it with your clear and thorough explanation. I once used a similar techniques with a high pass filter to sharpen for missed focus, and the tutorial I followed was not as good as yours, not even close. (And btw Sharpen AI with a couple of clicks corrected my missed focus way better an my effort in Ps using a high pass.)

[@f64Academy]

I don't use anything outside of Ps anymore. It is not conducive to a non-destructive workflow. For me, I prefer to stay in Photoshop and not convolute my workflow. After all, both programs are working on the same pixels, if Topaz can do it, Ps can do it, and most times better. In my Zone System Express Panel I have a button called Enhanced Contrast II. It is phenomenal for missed focus and is just one click and a mask. At the end of the day, it is up to personal preference and where sharpening fits into your workflow. Thanks so much for your kind words about the video, it means a lot :)

[@KeysPete1]

Thank you for this video. As someone, who edits for a living, I completely agree with you about sharpening. When doing product photography, I use Capture One (full frame only I'm afraid) and do a gentle sharpening there before I export to photoshop, to 'set the scene' so o speak. I don't sharpen in the middle of my workflow as there may be some artefacts that I will get rid of through a different method of Freq Sep that I use and will show up on a High Pass sharpen later. Linear Light is one of the blend modes I use for sharpening but I find it can be sometimes too harsh when used on some portraits, but like you said, it is image dependent. It is good to see someone finally showing the blend if usage on sharpening as I'm sure not many will have ever used it before for this purpose. People should watch more videos like this, even seasoned photoshop users, as there are so many many different methods for achieving the same goal in photoshop. Once again, thank you.

[@f64Academy]

My pleasure! Blend if is so powerful for sharpening. I honestly don't know where I'd be in PS without blend if.

[@photog1529]

Great demo, Blake. I always relied on a plug-in called Photokit Sharpener for years. Unfortunately, its no longer supported and not compatible with the CC variants of Photoshop (shame). This looks like an excellent method. PK Sharpener also had an action for capture sharpening to counteract the the sensor's AA filter on certain cameras (needed for Canon, not needed for Sony mirrorless bodies, for example). I guess the mild sharpening you did in ACR served the same purpose?

[@richpate9436]

I read that the tech in Photokit Sharpener was bought by Adobe and incorporated in ACR, & Lightroom (the capture sharpening) and PS's Smart Sharpen filter (their output sharpening).

[@jasonmordecai8212]

Either do capture sharpening in RAW ie Radius 0 and detail maximum or don’t but then add it in Ps. It’s Dependant on every image but for best results only sharpen in Ps 🙂

[@f64Academy]

I don't know if ONLY is a good word to use. There are times when Sharpening is needed only at the RAW level and there is no real need to go into PS. On my portfolio work, yes, I agree 1000% percent, but if I am batch processing 100 photos from an event, like my kids sporting events, I am going to sharpen like this all day and be all good!

[@jasonmordecai8212]

@@f64Academy I may have chosen the wrong word then 😬 I’ll rephrase it then. I add capture sharpening in Lr on most images then adding a resizing sharpening in Ps once I have done the editing. But I do agree with you sharpening is dependent on the image and if your batch processing that’s a different story again

[@josephcole3187]

Just out of curiosity how do you feel about luminosity masks and using them to decide where your sharpening is occurring and then using fill to reduce or increase potency of the effects. I realize you would have multiple layers doing this but is this a more accurate approach?

[@f64Academy]

I used to use LMs, but I find that Blend if is FAR a more powerful approach. Because if anything changes in the tones under that sharpening layer, the sharpening will automatically adjust with Blend If. LMs are too rigid. Blend If is fluid.

[@josephcole3187]

f64 Academy awesome that makes sense thanks 🙏🏻

[@cinema8564]

Craftsmanship, the distilled experience of endless trials, may be behind the real beauty that shines through one's art. As you say, *where and when to sharpen* is most important. But that only through practice, practice, practice. Frustrated??? Perhaps a look back at one's work from a year or two ago will show show how much one really has learned and improved even though the daily incremental progress seemed infinitesimal.

[@billballard2019]

Great video and tutorial - and a question: in the video, you say that sharpening can be done at any step in the workflow. That said, I was always told that sharpening should be done at the image output size...so, if I'm resizing an image for my website, and I want the smaller side to be 3000px, I resize, then sharpen accordingly. I suppose the question is then, does size matter?? ;)

[@f64Academy]

Different kinds of sharpening. Output sharpening is for print. Which may be more aggressive than this kind of sharpening and should be done at the end before printing if you choose.

[@billballard2019]

@@f64Academy, thank you!

[@mordavian]

Default sharpen value is 40. Is there a way to restore it to 25?

[@f64Academy]

You can change the defaults in the ACR Settings.

[@mordavian]

@@f64Academy Thank you.

[@JayDowney]

trusty ol griptillian ;)

[@f64Academy]

Love my bolt knife! Chops wood, skins animals, chops trees, picks teeth, AND makes for a trusty demo on a Photo sharpening tutorial 😂

[@JayDowney]

Absolutely off topic, the Stryker is my EDC, and its a shame the took it out of production. The ne Bailout is an awesome EDC as well! Both are very ummm ~ sharp! ;)

[@f64Academy]

This is a GI Bolt knife. Incredible, they actually made them from excess bolts used to build tanks and other heavy equipment

[@matssandquist9258]

Fun fact. Rudis is slang in Swedish for uneducated, inexperienced. This is obviously not the case with you.😆 Thank you for this lesson I have just wondered about how to do in this case. So how about the sharpen filters in PS are they useless?

[@f64Academy]

Haha! That's awesome! I'm a walking talking oxymoron!

[@nuclear64_]

Talk to me talk to me. Whats up Frank here. Why are you F64 and I'm N64? and we are bothe photographers. LOL how does that happen. Hope all is great. Cheers from LA Nuclearfrank. take care!

[@f64Academy]

Nice!

[@bobmack4524]

Your content is very useful. But you speak much too fast. Listening at .75 helps.

[@f64Academy]

Yep! Once you get used to my speed and the tools in PS, this cadence will be appreciated, I promise 😉