THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU’LL EVER DO TO A PHOTO
1
Examine the image at 100%
Go to File>Open and browse to our ty_elements11.jpg start image.
To accurately assess how sharp a photograph really is, you need to
look at the pixels at 100
. Grab the Zoom tool from the Toolbox. Right
click and choose Actual Pixels from the context-sensitive pop-up menu.
Hold down the space bar to temporarily summon the Hand tool, and
drag the image to reveal the model’s mouth. The lips lack detail because
they suffer from a slightly soft focus.3
Sharpen incrementally
To sharpen an image quickly while retaining control over
the sharpening amount, click the Quick editing tab. Click
Adjustments, then click Sharpen. You can either drag the slider right
to increase the sharpening, or click the preview thumbnail to increase
the sharpening in incremental jumps. If you choose too high a setting
you’ll exaggerate unwanted details such as the facial hair and image
noise in the blurred background.2
Try Auto Sharpen
Before sharpening a photo, click the Background layer’s
thumbnail in the Layers panel. Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to make a
duplicate layer. You can then sharpen this copy. If you’re in a hurry
you can go to Enhance>Auto Sharpen. This will sharpen the image and
reveal more detail, but you can’t change the strength of the operation.
Click the top layer’s eye icon to compare the two versions of the shot,
then click the Undo button.4
Adjust the sharpness
The Quick adjustment option is fine for a bit of rough-and-
ready sharpening, but it can add artefacts as you saw in the
previous step. Click the top left thumbnail to reset the shot to its
unsharpened state (or drag the slider to 0). Click back to the Expert
editing tab to access a sharpening command that offers more editing
choices. Go to Enhance and choose Adjust Sharpness. By default this
displays the photo at 100% magnification.