Today I would like to show you how to sharpen your images faster and easier.  We all need to sharpen our images after we’ve cleaned them up.  It can be so monotonous…but not when you record an action in Photoshop!

Tip: I always use the search tool in Photoshop if I can’t remember where the tool is

Use "help" to find stuff.

Photoshop has pre-made actions for you to play with, but when you find yourself continually doing the same steps on your images, then it’s time for you to record an action! Click on Window>Actions, you’ll see this:

Adobe CS5 Default Actions

Click on Custom to see more options:

To see more options click on Custom.

Now that I’ve shown you all of that let’s record a sharpening action:

Open any image in Photoshop CS5 to get this started.

As you can see in the red circle there are several icons, just hover over them with your mouse to see what they are.   This basically is the area where you will make a new action, record it, and save it.  Click on the second to the last icon (next to the trash can) to start your action.

You can set defaults, assign a color & function key,  but today I left all of  that alone.

Name your new action.

Now click on the record button (remember I showed you the area in the red circle above):

Click on Record. Red circle.

Next duplicate layer:

Duplicate Layer

Name that layer Sharpen:

Name Layer

Make sure that layer is highlighted:

Click on the new layer to highlight.

Next click on the area I show in the red circle and click on Insert Menu Item:

Click on Insert Menu Item

You will see this pop up…don’t do anything yet:

Don't click on OK yet go to next step first.

Go to Filter > Other > High Pass…after this click on the ok button above.

Go to Filter > Other > High Pass

Click on STOP:

Click on stop next to red button on left.

Now you are ready to use the sharpening action.  Open any photo and go back to actions.  Click on the play button and you’ll see it run.

Here is a sample of the high pass layer.  A good place to start for sharpening is in the 3ish area but it really depends on your image.

Sample of Sharpening layer.

Now add a quick mask to the layer so you can change-up your adjustments with the mask and change your layer to soft light.  You can also use hard light for more sharpening or overlay, which is what I did.

Add a quick mask and change to soft.

What I like about this is that you can use the mask to adjust areas of your choice instead of adjusting the whole image.

You can change the Opacity too.

My completed image:

Completed Sharpen

I focused on the middle of the flower.  With Macro photography you really want the sharpened area looking good.  That’s where your client’s eyes will go to first.

Cheers,

Janice

Owner of Sullivan J Photography

Specializing in Macro & Close-up Photographs.

janice@sullivanjphotography.com

Related articles

• Adobe Photoshop CS5 Portable. (orangekamote.wordpress.com)
• Photoshop CS5 hidden gem: Brush-based sharpening (blogs.adobe.com)
• Video: Using tool presets in Photoshop CS5 (blogs.adobe.com)
• Photoshop: The Digital Darkroom (shuttersong.wordpress.com)

Hope you tried the Droste effects I wrote about in my last article.  Today I would like to show you another fun effect to affect your work, lol.  Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself

This is what I did:

I worked with this image:

Tip: You can search for borders and masks online; some are free and some you can pay for, it’s all up to you.

I worked with this border:

I opened my file that already had been processed into Photoshop:

My work is always shot RAW but this photo wasn’t a smart object so I converted it by right clicking on the background layer.

Next I made some adjustments.  This was an image of yellow Daffodils but I decided to change them to black and white.

You can now see that this layer has changed to Layer 0 and isn’t locked.  This way if I want to change the ACR again (I wrote about this in an earlier article) I can with no problems.

Just to show you the variety of mask effects I was playing with see below. 

I opened one of the mask effects in Photoshop; now I have the original image and the effect image open at the same time.  Make sure that they are both the same size.  If they’re not, do the best you can to match them.  Next drag the effect image onto the original image holding your shift key so they both are aligned.  As you can see below…the effect wasn’t the same size as my image so I used the Free Transform tool to cover the image.

Move tool:

Free Transform:

I completely covered my image

I next went and changed the layer 2 to darken, which removed the white outline; I then inverted the layer by holding the apple key and pushing the letter I.    As you can see I changed up my curves and played with it a bit more.

l

This is the completed work.  I must admit…I tweaked it more…adding: watercolor, a gradient, masking areas for curves and the healing brush

It’s that easy!!  Of course once you start playing with this you’ll have fun changing things around.

Tip… if you double-click on the effects layer you can change the look of it.

To sum this up:

Open your image that you want to add effects to.

Open the effect so now both images are open in PS.

Move it on top of your image with the move tool.

and

Play with the effects by double clicking on the layer.

You can also mask the effect(s) and play with them that way too.   See my masking article for more info.

Here are some examples of over the top fun effects just to show you what you can do!

And most of all have some fun being creative!!

Cheers,

Janice

I’m always searching for new ideas when it comes to my macro photography work.   As I was searching, I found this great ebook by Evan Sharboneau, “Trick Photography and Special Effects”. 

Once you purchase this book and if you decide to print it, don’t delete it from your computer!!  He attached links to help you with the steps needed for each project, etc…  I definitely liked the read and it inspired me to play with the Droste Effect.

So, I tried both suggestions he wrote about the GIMP+Mathmap file+The Droste Code and the Pixel Bender+Droste.pbk.

The ebook has several ideas on Droste effects.  If you’re feeling a bit burned out and need some new creativity flowing through your work, I highly recommend this book.

Here is my first attempt…I plan to work more on this for some cool effects.

The MathMap is very slow unless you download the x-code like suggested….. but you can work with large files, which is a plus for me.

When you open MathMap:

You will see these panes:

CLICK ON FIGURES TO SEE THEM LARGER OR PRINT THIS OUT.

Figure 1: MathMap when you first open it. 

Start by Dragging the Droste icon to the filter.

Figure 2: Drag filter.

Drag the photograph you want to work on to the small pane and adjust your image.

Figure 3:  Adjusting your image. 

When you’re done go to File at the top and click on export; MathMap will save your image as a tiff – just add your dimensions and click on > export.

Figure 4: Exporting to save your image. 

Viola :

Example of the Pixel Bender:

Once you download Pixel Bender, download the Droste Effect Filter (link above):

I just double clicked on the Droste Filter and it opened up Pixel Bender.

Figure 5: Double click on Droste Filter. 

You can see from Figure 6 that the Droste Filter is running.  On the right side of the pane they tell you the steps needed to start.

Figure 6: Steps to start your Droste.

I next loaded a pic (remember it needs to be a jpg or png)

Figure 7: Loading your image.

Click on Build and Run

Figure 8: Once your load image click Build & Run.

One of the best suggestions Evan has is to make sure you are viewing on “fit to screen”.  I wasted time not doing this.

Figure 9: Click Fit to Screen. 

Next is the best part!!  Have fun tweaking the photo !

Figure 10:  Play with your image using this pane.  

Now Save your work:

Figure 11 & 12: Click File>Save Image As

++++++++++++++++++

Here are some of my first Droste effects before and after shots.  I had such a great time that I wanted to share it with you all.  Trust me…it starts those creative juices flowing!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

If you have any questions feel free to email me or post to this article.

Happy Drosteing !

Janice

I’ll provide links for all of you tech people, so take what you want out of this post and have some fun changing up your images. 

Ok…we all know that we should do our best to make sure when we photograph that we have white balanced, set up lights or/and reflectors  properly… exposure is of course is critical; pay attention to that!  But I say don’t throw that photo away because it’s not perfect!  When I worked with film I dodged and burned areas… now we use software to help make your images pop!!  With this photograph I used Photoshop 5 as my digital darkroom process. 

Today I want to show you how I fixed the underexposed yellow area of this photo. 

To view the figures up close click on them, use your back arrow key on your browser to get back to the blog.  

Figure 1 shows you what I’m starting with.  There are several ways you can select an area to focus on your changes.  See figures 2 & 3.

Figure 1

Figure 2 shows you the various Lasso Tools & figure 3 shows you the Quick Selection and Magic Wand Tools.  

Figure 2

Figure 3

Today I used the Magic Wand because the yellow area is very different from the white and gray areas in the rest of the photograph.  Next I fine-tuned the selection; Figure 4 shows you a selection example. 

Figure 4

To refine your selection see Figure 5, click on “Refine Edge”.  

Figure 5

This will send you to another pane where you can make more detailed changes; see Figure 6. 

Figure 6

Once you have your selection the way you like it (you will see something like Figure 4 again when you press ok).  Click on the quick mask to save your selection.

Figure 7

You never know, you may want to change up your work…I usually do, so save it!  FYI… I wrote about basic masking several postings ago so check it out here for more info.  In Figure 8 you can see my mask; I always do a bit more refining in this area (Channel area). 

Figure 8

Another FYI…in order to see your mask in the Channel pallet you must deselect your layer, see Figures 9 & 10 as an example. 

Figure 9

Figure 10

As you can see from Figure 11, I changed one of my selections via levels and another making the background a black & white.  I actually did more; in Figure 12 I also painted some yellow and I spot cleaned up the photograph.  

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13 & 14 are before and after pics.

Figure 13

Figure 14

The very last thing I do is size the photo to the clients’ specification, flatten the image, sharpen for printing, and save to a tiff file.

Viola!  Done! 

Hope this helps you focus on changing up your work when needed.  Feel free to comment  I enjoy them!

Take care,

Janice

My last article explained how I processed daffodils in Adobe Lightroom.  Now I would like to talk about one of the main tools that I use in Photoshop, “Masking”. Today’s example is an easy fix to the background of the example image. I can later write about more detailed masking but I thought since this is my first post about masking let’s make it easy.

Since Macro photography is a style of photography that puts the subject right up in your face kind of thing, a little change will make a big difference to the image. When I photograph for customers, they have a vision of what they want and sometimes during the process, their vision changes.  So we work together to make the project perfect for both of us and to do this many times, I need to mask areas to make changes.  You really need to learn a variety of Photoshop skills but for me masking is a huge asset for my customers and me.

Basically, think of Layer Masking as masking tape.  If you want to paint on something, you can mask the area that you want to paint on or not paint on.  There are many ways to mask and if you have read my blog before, I like it short and simple, so here is one easy way to mask.

What I did:

I went to my levels and curves to change the background to what I wanted.  It will change the whole photograph but don’t freak out; you are going to mask out some of the changes

If you noticed the right bottom side had a shadow,  I wanted that out of the frame so I change this area with the curves.  (Just a side note)

Now to mask:

Pick a brush size – this is what you’re going to use to make/paint the mask.  You will paint black to mask/hide what you just did to the photograph and use white to erase the mask.  Black is the tape; white is removing the tape.

As you can see, there are a variety of brushes and sizes.  The more you work with this the more you will learn what is best for your project.  Also, you will need to change the opacity (how much you want masked) and flow (how fast you want it to paint) because 100% may be too much change for you.

Mask – Now start painting…

Mask Inverted (side note)

Push Command “I” on your keyboard to revert what you did.  You can work this way too.

Once I completed my basic mask, I went to the channels mode to make detailed masking changes.

Double click on the mask in your channel pallet.  You will see a command of how much red (mask) you want to view.  I fluctuate the percentage as I work.

In this area use your eraser tool to erase the mask and use your paintbrush to add mask.

My basic mask:

Mask view using a less % amount:

Close-up of my mask:

Now for a couple of shortcuts:

• I hold my space bar and click my mouse to move the photograph around for easier viewing.

• I also change my brush size a lot by using the  [   ]  keys.

• And if you mess up on something and want to get rid of the last thing you did, use the command Z keys, it has saved me from making some crucial mistakes in the past.

A word of advice…while you’re working on the photograph, toggle back and forth from full view to at least 100%.  I actually view my percentages larger because many of my photographs are printed large…don’t want an oopsy’s on the final photo!

Hope this helps you with some basic masking.  You can also select an area to mask and use quick mask, but I’ll talk about that on a later post.

Before:

After:

Take care and happy Masking!

Janice

Related Articles

• Masking Layers with Brush Opacity (photofocus.com)

Yes, Spring is here and for most of you, especially in the East Coast/USA, are very happy about that.  I know that I am.  It’s been really tough this winter for me, if you have read my past 2 posts, you would know that I have had Pneumonia. Even though I’m not totally recovered, I am happy to say that I do feel so much better than I did.

I decided since my guest author Lisa Shorland wrote about Spring, I would take Spring into my studio.  Today I will show you how I  processed the following daffodil shot using Adobe Lightroom.

If you notice, I did put my first video on the blog that pertains to this work (it’s on the lower right panel). I am a Verizon customer, so I do plan on purchasing the iPhone soon – this video was done on my Blackberry, sorry it’s not very good but I went for it anyway.  When I purchased my Canon 5D camera it was before they came out with the HD video, argggg.  Technology!  Lol.

So let’s get started.

You can see from the first example that I had many beautiful daffodils to choose from.  A word of advice, make sure they are not damaged.  When you photograph Macro you will see every detail and taking more time to clean up a flower on the computer is not part of what I want to do.

To view figures click on them & to get back to the blog use your arrow < key on your browser.

Figure 1

I use Adobe Lightroom to make basic changes to the photograph. Make sure your photograph is not under or over exposed.  If you shoot tethered you will see on your computer how the shots are going.  Make your exposure corrections while you photograph.  You can read up on my  Tethering link here.

Figure 2

I next adjusted my histogram to have an evenly distributed exposure.  Click on the histogram pallet and move your mouse right to left.  You’ll see what I’m talking about.

Figure 3

In Figure 4 you can see I played with the white balance and increased the vibrancy and saturation a bit (I work more with Saturation using the HSL).  Just be careful not to blow out your exposure.

Figure 4

In figure 5 you can see one of my favorite tools, the HSL.  This is where you can really make some nice changes if you want to.  I’m a fine art photographer, so this is my paintbrush.

Figure 5

Next, I profiled the lens that I used.  Lightroom has many lens profiles already installed in the software.  Check this out!!  And Thank You Lightroom!

Figure 6

In Figure 7 you will see that I decided to change the photograph again.  I do this a lot.  I leave what I’m working on to give me more time to think about what I’m going for.  In this shot I had my lighting focused on the middle of one flower and wanted the background to lose some of its punch.

Figure 7

Here is the before and after photograph in Lightroom.

Figure 8

Now I take the file and send it to Photoshop to make final edits.

Figure 9

Today I showed you how I processed this Spring daffodil photograph in Lightroom.  My next article will be about the detailed changes that I make in many of my photographs using Adobe Photoshop.  See you all in a couple of weeks

Completed photograph:

Cheers & happy Spring to you all!!

Janice