Attached Link: http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/high-pass-sharpening.shtml

Forgive me if this method has been discussed here before...but here is a tutorial offering a sharpening technique for those confused (me included) by Unsharp mask. Pretty simple and worth giving it a try! Enjoy!

In youth, we learn....with age, we understand.

Thanks for this one. I've seen this site before and it is good.High Pass to try now.

"The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions."

I always use Unsharp mask since you have more control over the process than what you have just using Sharpening. It works great as long as your image isn't too grainy.

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Attached Link: http://wwww.powerretouche.com/Sharpness_plugin_introduction.htm

Yep, High Pass is one way but seems to be less used nowadays. I always use PowerRetouche...total control in all areas of sharpening

Cool tutorial. I appreciate your posting this. I just tried it and it works well. I'll have to remember this one. Being curious I decided to see what PS Help says..: "High Pass Retains edge details in the specified radius where sharp color transitions occur and suppresses the rest of the image. (A radius of 0.1 pixel keeps only edge pixels.) The filter removes low-frequency detail in an image and has an effect opposite to that of the Gaussian Blur filter. It is helpful to apply the High Pass filter to a continuous-tone image before using the Threshold command or converting the image to Bitmap mode. The filter is useful for extracting line art and large black-and-white areas from scanned images. The Unsharp Mask sharpens an image by increasing contrast along the edges in an image. The Unsharp Mask does not detect edges in an image. Instead, it locates pixels that differ in value from surrounding pixels by the threshold you specify. It then increases the contrast of neighboring pixels by the amount you specify. So, for neighboring pixels the lighter pixels get lighter and the darker pixels get darker. In addition, you specify the radius of the region to which each pixel is compared. The greater the radius, the larger the edge effects."

The powerretouche looks really good but $175 US is a bit steep for me now...I realize how a photograher who actually earns income from images could well use the plugins.

I tried the 'High Pass' I did not pass! :)) I guess, I am so used to Unsharp Mask, where I feel I have total control. Anyway, I should try the High Pass more often before I make up my mind. Thanks.

Attached Link: Smart Sharpen

The CS2 version of Photoshop is supposed to have an even better sharpening tool. I haven't upgraded yet, so I'll give the High-Pass a try. :) "**Smart Sharpen** Easily counteract common image blurring with fine correction control based on the specific blur types: motion, lens, and Gaussian."

Kort Kramer - Kramer Kreations