hi guys, ok...been trying to play with unsharp mask. Ya'all have done some fantastic tutorials, but i'm a bit confused to know what ranges i should have for the settings for unsharp mask in PSP7. Anyone here use PSP7 and have an idea what my settings should be? thanks a lot guys!!!!

Depends on the effect you want.Start out with a radius at 2.00 Strength at 100 and Clipping at 5. That will really enhance the light sections,but also add a lotof graininess.Work down from there. It really is a trial and error call.

Well dont know about PSP7, I use Elements 3. I can give some basic tips. I try to select all thats the background that I dont want to sharpen(if its a shot with that in it,or all the image if none of that). Since I know the cam you are using,if you have a background you want blured then go ahead and gaussian blur the background some, I usually use 1 or 2, depending on how much an effect I want. Then inverse the selection and then you can use the unsharpen mask. I usually go with a radius of 1.1, threshold of 0, and play with the strength(depending on what it is) from say 125 up to no more than 200. This is a good starting number to try, just practce and you will get the hang for it.

thanks a lot, doug and william!! ok, i will show you what i did. i know this is a crappy image but i wanted to see what i could do with it. both images are exactly the same except for how i sharpened them. I'm having a really hard time spotting this halo effect. it may be something i have to train myself to look for. ok guys, tell me what you think. thanks!!!

This one is the image using sharpen effect.

this one is the image using unsharp mask. doug, i used the perameters you suggested and then played with them. the settings here: radius: 2 strength: 65 clipping: 1 i tried a lot of numbers and played a lot. i actually like the first image better using the sharpen effect. I think i see some halo effect but I'm not sure. whatcha guys think????

Well I like the first one better. It always comes down to what you like better,and what you feel more comfortable with. This is just me playing with it some, bluring the background some and then sharpening a bit. I used the laso to select the flower then expand some to have a buffer. After I sharpen I went in with the blur tool and smoothed the edges.

Probably the most important thing to remember with Unsharp mask,(USM) is that the outcome will be different with every image, it will also be affected by the size of the image and image subject. Also different parts of the image will be affected differently. When using USM you must remember to view the image at full size (100%) to have an idea of how it will look, even then it may not be quite the same in print. In PSP7 (and other programs too) the default settings can be a little too harsh, I would reduce the radius too 1.00 and strength to 50, clipping 5 should be ok, and work up from there until you get what you want. MOST IMPORTATN OF ALL WORK ON BACKED UP IMAGES and not originals

Hi - I am still a novice when it comes to this and like you read Michelle's wonderful tutorial. I found that to check for the halo effect I increased my window with the unsharp mask images to full size. I then zoomed in to a part of the image where there was an edge likely to have a halo eg: the horizon or contrasting coloured edges, I could then clearly see the halo. I am sure with more experience I would spot it easier, but this is the way I found so I am sharing in case it helps you or others. With regards to the difference between unsharp mask and sharpen which is what seems also to be the question I can only quote from a tutorial I have. "The sharpen command works by increasing the contrast between pixels and does so in an automatic task applied to all pixels.This does sharpen the picture but causes it to become pixelated very quickly. It is worth applying once only if the picture just needs a very small tweak " The shaprpen command works on the whole image and USM is selective within the image because it only sharpens edges depending on what settings you have chosen. From the same tutorialon USM: Strength 75 is considered to be the medium. 50 to give a subtle effect. Radius 0.5 to 1 is good for web images, 2-3 ok for high resolution prints. Clipping: 4 for general use but it depends very much on the picture and differences in levels. Richard.

I think most is said, I only want to post my personal settings I use. Of course it depends on the picture, but: Strength between 80 to 100% Radius between 0.3 and 1 Clipping: I use this feature very rarely. Important notice: Always use unsharp mask when you shrinked a picture. And my personal comment: It's better to have a blurry image than an oversharped one. Greats, Ikarius.

thanks everyone for this fantastic information!! I've read it and plan to reread everything again and just keep practicing. my mind is not concentrating too well this morning. after i get out and take some pics, i'll be back to go over all this again. thanks ya'all!!!! i really appreciate all this!