Settings for unsharp mask please?!

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shooting star

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I am sharpening a face, then extra sharpen to eyes, but have no idea what threashold, radius etc mean, any suggested settings to try on a B&W pic of as child?

Thanks
 
Radius is the size of the circle that is used for sharp'ing
For viewing about 1-2pix is probably what you need for printing 2-4 (3 probably)

The amount %age is how hard much sharping gets applied

Threshold is a low level threshold, details smaller than this dont get sharp'd so it gives a slightly smoother effect.


One common method is to set say 2px 50% 0thresh and repeatedly apply this until the photo looks over sharp'ed then undo the last 1 or 2 sharpenings
 
oldgit said:
One common method is to set say 2px 50% 0thresh and repeatedly apply this until the photo looks over sharp'ed then undo the last 1 or 2 sharpenings
Click to expand...

Just tried those on one of my pics and its worked a treat, many thanks
 
Glad it worked.

You'll doubtless have already noticed that each picture takes different amount of sharping and different methods have different results, each good in different cases.

I just learned from IanC about using "Lab colour" and sharpening the "lightness" channel. Very good for fur and feathers.

In summary.

USM is a pretty good for most things, but it does not do suit all cases.
 
I haven't used USM since I found Smart Sharpen (It's like a USM v2)

I have a default action which I apply around 4 to 8 times until it looks too much, then I undo a couple of steps and hey presto.

It's set to

Amount 20%
Radius 0.2
Angle -22
Remove : Lens Blur
More accurate : Ticked
Advanced Tab : Shadow 30%...30%...1
Highlight : 85%...85%...1


Apply that in steps (It's only small amounts of sharpening), to a websized version (mine are 700px). Works a treat.
 
Hmmm. Excellent recs, but am I doing something wrong? I have just attempted to do the eyes on a pic (not great pic to start with) and it doesn't seem to make the slightest of diff.

I am clicking unsharp mask, the settings are already in there from last time and then OK, can anyone have a go with this and see what they can do with the eyes?

 
Thats 3 different types of USM I can now use. Pauls works very well I must say, never tried that one before. The other one I really like atm, especially for landscape and other such wider range stuff, is about 20% sharpening but on a pixel range of between 15 and 30.... I think it was moomike that suggested that one earlier last week IIRC for a racetrack action shot, but I played and found it works really nicely on hills and trees type stuff. ;)
 
shooting star said:
Hmmm. Excellent recs, but am I doing something wrong? I have just attempted to do the eyes on a pic (not great pic to start with) and it doesn't seem to make the slightest of diff.

I am clicking unsharp mask, the settings are already in there from last time and then OK, can anyone have a go with this and see what they can do with the eyes?

Click to expand...


Here you go
1351419793_d8c3226cc1_o.jpg


a crop
a "bit" of cloning
USM 1.9 89% 0thresh
local mask on eyes and extra USM (as above)
 
That looks a lot better. When I used USM it didn't seem to do anything. Will have another go in PS, but it's getting late and I don't know if I can see the wood for the trees anymore!

Thanks...
 
Good info here, and I'm taking it all in!

One question, when saving it after the first sharpen, what file type do you choose, ie jpeg, tiff etc?
 
This tutorial will tell you more than you could possibly want to know about USM and sharpening. But it's a good read.

I generally use USM in a two-pass process. First pass is for sharpening. On a full 8MP image I'll typically use something like (200%,0.3,0). Second pass is for local contrast enhancement. Something like (10%,100,0).
 
I use the high pass sharpening technique. I prefer it as it allows me to selectively sharpen areas of the image.

Duplicate the image layer.
Destaurate the new layer.
Apply a High pass filter to the new layer and set it so the detail shows through.
Change the layer blending mode to vivid light.
apply a layer mask to the new layer and invert the layer mask (ctrl+I).
Choose a white brush and paint in the areas that need sharpening.
Change the blending mode to soft light, or reduce the opacity.

:)
 
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