Sharpening Techniques : Avoiding Halos

Here is another sharpening technique I use following on from the previous technique that I wrote about [http://wp.me/pSSen-kw] – whereas the first one can produce halos, that can be dealt with, this one does not.

Method

Step 1 Open the image you would like to sharpen in Photoshop and apply the unsharp mask sharpening technique I showed you here [link]

Step 2 Go under the Edit menu and choose Fade Unsharp Mask

Step 3 Change the Fade dialogue’s pop up menu from Normal to Luminosity

What this technique will do is apply sharpening just to the Luminosity areas of your photograph and now the coloured areas, which results in no colour halos appearing and anything else that could spoil the image as a result of sharpening.

Sharpening Techniques : Unsharp Mask

Here is a very quick sharpening technique that I learned not so long ago and use when sharpening my images.

It is really easy and uses the Unsharp Mask filter in Photoshop.  Yes, I did say unsharp mask to sharpen, however, this is a term used with traditional darkroom techniques.

Method

Step 1 Go into Photoshop and select the Filter drop down menu

Step 2 Hover your mouse over Sharpen and choose Unsharp Mask

A dialogue box will appear and it will have three sliders – Amount/Radius/Threshold

Now if you have not used this filter before you maybe wondering what amounts to set the sliders to.  As a guide I would say the following

Amount Use between 65% -150%

Radius Use between 1 – 3

Threshold Use between 0 – 10

Like with most things Photoshop don’t be rigid with these figures, and feel free to experiment.

If you find that you are getting nasty halos around subjects, especially when sharpening studio images, then do the following before Steps 1 and 2 above.

Select the Filter Menu and select Convert for Smart Filters.  When you have selected convert for Smart Filters, then start Steps 1 and 2.  What you will find is that a white layer mask will appear in the Layers Panel.

To remove the nasty halo that appears, select a Brush, or press B on your keyboard, and I tend to use a soft brush.  Make sure you have selected black as a foreground colour, and click the white layer mask.  Now if your subject has a halo just paint over it with your brush and the halo will be removed!

Don’t forget that when you are using the technique to switch the Preview button on and off to see what the image will look like with the filter applied and without it.

I hope that this technique has helped you.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

Todor