Photoshop's Unsharp Mask is a great way to add a little sparkle to eyes and a smile-but how do you avoid sharpening the skin and bringing out the wrinkles? Wrangle up the Lasso tool and I'll show you how to rustle up just the eyes and mouth...
Step 1
Open your image and grab the Lasso tool. Set the parameters for a Feather of 6 pixels and turn on anti-aliasing. (A Feather of 6 pixels will change the opacity of the selection from 100% 3 pixels inside to 0% 3 pixels outside the selection.) Select the left eye, then hold the shift key down as you select the right eye and the mouth. Be sure to select the lips, as sharpening them will bring out the shine of the lipstick.
Step 2
Copy and move the selected areas to a new layer by hitting command/control-J. Double-click on the words Layer 1, and rename the new layer Eyes and Mouth.
Step 3
Go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. Set an Amount of 100%, a Threshold of 0 levels, and a Radius of 2 pixels. Feel free to play around with the Radius setting to get nice, sharp, clear eyes and teeth without getting that oversharpened 'halo' effect.
Step 4
Hit the OK button, pardner, and you're done- you've just lassoed up a pair of eyes and a smile with just a little more sparkle than the average cowhand.
Rich Harris is a designer, illustrator, and teaches classes in Photoshop and Illustrator to teenagers for Saturday Academy and to graphic design students at Mt. Hood Community. He also plays a mean jazz trumpet, and can be reached at harrisrich@comcast.net.
