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Dan Rodney/3 min read

Sharpening Photos

Smart Sharpen Settings

1

View at 100%

Sharpening only judges accurately at actual pixel size.

2

Filter → Sharpen → Smart Sharpen

Most flexible Photoshop sharpener for photos.

3

Set Amount 400%, Radius 3 px

Reduce Noise: 10%; Remove: Lens Blur for finer subtle sharpening.

4

Toggle Preview to Compare

Check/uncheck Preview repeatedly to confirm the sharpening reads right.

Master Photoshop at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Photoshop Bootcamp covers retouching, compositing, color correction, and pro editing.

Master the Smart Sharpen Filter in Photoshop to improve the quality of your photos, with our tutorial covering topics such as sharpening high-resolution photos for print.

Topics Covered in This Photoshop Tutorial:

The Smart Sharpen Filter, Sharpening Hi-res Photos for Print

Exercise Preview

heather before&after

Photos by Dan Rodney

Exercise Overview

The photo shown above is slightly out of focus. While Photoshop can’t fix horribly blurry pictures, it can make adjustments to improve photos like this.

The Smart Sharpen Filter

  1. In Photoshop, go to File > Open.
  2. From the Photoshop Class folder, open Heather landscape.jpg.

  3. Go to View > 100% to see the most accurate view of the image.

  4. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.

  5. Move the window so you can see as much of the photo in the background as possible. When previewing, it’s best to look at the actual image rather than the preview box.

  6. Enter the following but do NOT click OK yet!

    Amount: 400%
    Radius: 3 px
    Reduce Noise: 10%
    Remove: Lens Blur (this often yields a finer, more subtle sharpening)

  7. Check and uncheck Preview a few times to get an idea of how the sharpening looks. In the original image the focus was not properly locked onto the woman, and while the sharpening helps, there’s only so much we can do.

  8. Click OK.

  9. Close the file (do not save the changes if asked).

  10. Go to File > Open.

  11. From the Photoshop Class folder, open Heather portrait.jpg.

  12. Go to View > 100% to see the most accurate view of the image.

    This photo is in focus, but it could use a bit more clarity.

  13. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.

  14. Move the window so you can see as much of the photo in the background as possible. When previewing, it’s best to look at the actual image rather than the preview box.

  15. Enter the following but do NOT click OK yet!

    Amount: 400%
    Radius: 3 px
    Reduce Noise: 10%
    Remove: Lens Blur (this often yields a finer, more subtle sharpening)

  16. Check and uncheck Preview a few times to get an idea of how the sharpening looks. Notice the light/dark halos around some of the elements in the photo such as around the teeth. Their unnatural look means we’re applying too much sharpening.

  17. Change Radius to 2 px.

  18. Check and uncheck Preview again to see the change. At 2 px, the halos are not so dramatic.

  19. Experiment with the Amount and Radius to find the combination that you think looks best. We recommend somewhere around 300% amount and 1.5 px radius for this image.

  20. When finished, click OK, then File > Save and close the file.

Sharpening Hi-Res Photos for Print

When dealing with high resolution photos used for print, a slightly higher radius is typically used.

  1. Open do not feed the animals.jpg.

  2. Do a File > Save As a Photoshop document named yourname-do not feed the animals.psd.

  3. Go to View > 100% to see the most accurate view of the image.

  4. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.

  5. Move the window so you can see as much of the photo in the background as possible.

  6. Enter the following but do NOT click OK yet!

    Amount: 400%
    Radius: 2 px
    Reduce Noise: 10%
    Remove: Lens Blur

  7. Check and uncheck Preview a few times to see how the sharpening looks. The texture really pops out with this amount of sharpening. Because some sharpening can be lost when printing, it’s OK to go slightly heavy on the sharpening.

  8. When finished, click OK, then save and close the file.