THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU’LL EVER DO TO A PHOTO
T
here are several reasons a photograph may look a
little soft. For starters the camera’s Auto Focus
(AF) point may not have overlapped the key area of
interest, causing it to blur. Or if you shoot with a
wide aperture setting then you’ll have a much narrower depth
of field, so only a shallow area could be in focus. Our starting
image was captured using a wide aperture of f/3.2, which
creates an attractive blurred background. This blur (or bokeh)
helps the model stand out in the image. We wouldn’t want to
sharpen a deliberately blurred background, but we can make
fine details such as the model’s eyes stand out more
effectively with a little sharpening, courtesy of Photoshop
Elements’ collection of sharpening tools and commands.
Many photos will benefit from some sharpening. Even if
your image looks relatively sharp on your computer display,
it can still print out fairly fuzzily on a printer. A touch of
post-production sharpening helps to create a print with
more punch, especially if you use raw-format files.
Photoshop Elements makes soft objects in a photo look
sharper by increasing the contrast around the edges of details
in the image. This contrast change gives certain features more
impact, making them appear sharper. Sharpening is a
balancing act. If you increase the contrast around the edges
by too large an amount, you can add sharpening artefacts
such as haloes and noise. We’ll show you how to recognise
and therefore avoid adding artefacts while sharpening your
own images. In this walkthrough we’ll sharpen JPEGs, but if
you want to discover how to sharpen raw files, check out the
tutorial in chapter 10.Discover the best way to sharpen a photo
Use Photoshop Elements to
sharpen soft-looking details
while keeping artefacts at bay
BEFORE
GET THE START FILES HERE: http://bit.ly/type-files