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Sharpening Shadows

Author: FotoFects Author's URL: http://www.fotofects.com More by this author

Sharpening shadows reveal details without sharpening highlights. Clouds and light coloured skins remain soft while dark areas are sharper and more visible.


image 1 1. Open the image for editing.

image 2 2. Duplicate the current layer (Ctrl+J).

image 3 3. Apply an "Unsharp Mask" filter (Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask) and sharpen the image accordingly. You do not worry about over-sharpening light areas in this step.

image 4 4. Add a layer mask (Layer> Add Layer Mask> Reveal All) to the current layer.

image 5 5. With the layer mask selected, use the "Apply Image" tool (Image> Apply Image) to apply the following properties:

Source: filename
Layer: Background
Channel: RGB
Invert: Checkmarked
Blending: Normal
Opacity: 100%

Click OK.


image 6 6. With the layer mask still selected, use the "Brightness/Contrast" tool to apply the following properties:

Brightness: -25
Contrast: 75

Click OK.


Sharpening Shadows 7. Adjust the opacity to adjust the sharpness. Rollover the image on the left of this step to see the original image before this technique was applied.