Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One

5. Increase the Amount value. Set Amount to the
   maximum value, 500 percent. This is a temporary
   setting that exaggerates the effect and permits us
   to see what we’re doing. We’ll rein it in when we
   get to later steps.


6. Specify a Radius value of 3 pixels. Although Radius
   is the second value, we’ll play with it first because
   it’s really the linchpin of the sharpening operation.
   Like Unsharp Mask before it, Smart Sharpen simu-
   lates sharper transitions by drawing halos around
   the edges (see “Using Blur to Sharpen,” page 224). The
   Radius value defines the thickness of those halos.
   Thin halos result in a precise edge; thick halos
   provide a more generalized, high-contrast effect.
   A few examples appear in Figure 7-5.
   The best Radius value is the one you can barely see.
   What you will be able to see depends on how you
   will view your final image:

• If you intend to display the image on screen
  (say, as part of a Web page or PowerPoint pre-
  sentation), enter a very small value, between
  0.5 and 1.0 pixel.


• For medium-resolution printing, a Radius value
  of 1.0 to 2.0 pixels tends to work best.


• For high-resolution printing, I recommend a
  Radius between 2.0 and 4.0 pixels.
  The examples in Figure 7-5 were printed at 356 pix-
  els per inch, so a 3-pixel Radius delivers the best
  edges. (For more information on print resolution,
  read Lesson 12, “Print and Web Output.”) A smaller
  Radius value will most likely look better on your
  screen, but for now, I’d like you to imagine that
  you’re going to print, so enter a Radius value of 3.

Use the up and down arrow keys to nudge the selected

value by its smallest increment: 0.1 in the case of Radius

and 1 in the case of Amount. Add Shift to nudge 10 times

that increment.

Lens Blur, Amount: 500%, Radius: 1.5 pixels

Radius: 3 pixels

Radius: 6 pixels

Figure 7-5.

222 Lesson 7: Sharpening and Smart Objects