[TUTORIAL] Quick and dirty ways to sharpen an image in Photoshop

[sm0kingbunny]

PC-friendly version - don't work with Macs ... and think IPhones suck ...

To sharpen an image can be tricky time to time, so here are my little dirty secrets:





Sharpen an image in Lab Mode

Open your picture.
Duplicate the background layer (ctrl + j) and go to Image -> Mode.
Choose Lab Color.



Don't flatten the image.
Switch to Channels and select the lightness channel (ctrl + 3)



Go to the Filter tab, scroll to Sharpen and select Smart Sharpen



other sharpen filters work as well - depends on the image and the effect you want to achieve.

Play with the settings till you get a result you like ... I experiment every time.



Go back to Image -> Mode, and switch again to RGB.
Don't flatten the image if you want to work non-destructive! - it also gives you the option to fiddle with opacity and layer modes.

Result:


Sharpen with High Pass

Open the image, duplicate ... yadda yadda

Go to the Filter tab, scroll to Other and select High Pass



Choose a setting between 0,5px and 1,5px (again, depends on your image)



Finally set the layer to linear light



Result: