PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 2

[mrtoad]

i am using this but dont understand the unsharp focus slider use

percentage
radius
threshold

i am setting these at around 70%, 6 pixels, 60 level...

i feel i could be wasting opportunities to get better results on ps 2

i have fiddled a bit with them and see differences in contrast and perhaps sharpening...but could be too much...

their relativity escapes me as i have been using other pp with progressive clicking methods

cheers
geof

 

[mrtoad]

i am using this but dont understand the unsharp focus slider use

percentage
radius
threshold

i am setting these at around 70%, 6 pixels, 60 level...

i feel i could be wasting opportunities to get better results on ps 2

i have fiddled a bit with them and see differences in contrast and perhaps sharpening...but could be too much...

their relativity escapes me as i have been using other pp with progressive clicking methods

cheers
geof

should this be in basics then??

 

[Tracer]

i am using this but dont understand the unsharp focus slider use

Do you mean the unsharp mask? If you google it you will find lots of help online - probably more than you want. Photoshop works the same way as Elements.

The radius is the size of the halo that increases the contrast and thereby the sharpness.

If you are posting pictures on the web you don't need very much - I use 0.3 - 0.6. For printing you want higher, say 1 -1.5

Threshold lets you decide how much difference there should be between pixels before the effect kicks in. Setting depends on the type of picture - for one with lots of detail such as rocky textures you might choose 0, but for portraits of people you might want it as high as, say, 10. For most of my pictures I use between 2 and 4.

Once I have set those two I then adjust the amount until it looks sharp but without visible halos or jaggies. For printing it should look slightly oversharpened on screen.

Of course they are interdependent; if the radius is higher then the amount will be lower. Just experiment!

A tip: before sharpening (which should be your very final step), flatten the image and duplicate the layer, then sharpen the duplicate layer. Then use a layer mask to mask out any bits of the background which you don't want sharpened. You can download free add-on layer mask and other goodies for PSE 2 and 3 here

I hope this helps - it took me a long time to get my head around it. You could also try High Pass sharpening as described in Hacker's tutorial.

 

[mrtoad]

Do you mean the unsharp mask? If you google it you will find lots of help online - probably more than you want. Photoshop works the same way as Elements.

The radius is the size of the halo that increases the contrast and thereby the sharpness.

If you are posting pictures on the web you don't need very much - I use 0.3 - 0.6. For printing you want higher, say 1 -1.5

Threshold lets you decide how much difference there should be between pixels before the effect kicks in. Setting depends on the type of picture - for one with lots of detail such as rocky textures you might choose 0, but for portraits of people you might want it as high as, say, 10. For most of my pictures I use between 2 and 4.

Once I have set those two I then adjust the amount until it looks sharp but without visible halos or jaggies. For printing it should look slightly oversharpened on screen.

Of course they are interdependent; if the radius is higher then the amount will be lower. Just experiment!

A tip: before sharpening (which should be your very final step), flatten the image and duplicate the layer, then sharpen the duplicate layer. Then use a layer mask to mask out any bits of the background which you don't want sharpened. You can download free add-on layer mask and other goodies for PSE 2 and 3 here

I hope this helps - it took me a long time to get my head around it. You could also try High Pass sharpening as described in Hacker's tutorial.

brilliant!!!
thanks tracer... i really needed some direction on this and you have given it
will do some work tonight on pics to try out those settings
cheers
geof