On the edge

Apologies for my absence - blame it on the horrible weather!
Today I would like to show you how to use a method of sharpening an image that is a little different.
You may possibly have heard about it before - especially if you read magazines and seek out tutorials.
This method is for those of you who use either Photoshop (most versions) or Photoshop Elements. These are the two programs I am most familiar with so are the ones I can help you understand.
To find something to demonstrate the sharpening I first needed a photograph so leaned over the veranda railing and took an shot of the fruiting body of a large Cycad, it erupts from the surrounding leaves like a botanical volcano, rising in a large dome of leaf shaped florets which will go on to open out to eject large chestnut ("conker") sized seeds.
First duplicate your picture to be sharpened by holding down the Ctrl key and tapping the J key once. Look over into the Layers Palette - you will now have a background and a copy of it that has been called "Layer 1"
Now click on Filter then on Other and High Pass

A pop up box with a slider will appear and at the same time the picture will alter to look like embossed pewter. This appearance makes it so much easier to see the edges, Move the slider so that those edges look well defined.

As a rough guide, try moving the slider between 9 and 14. Don't worry that you will make the edges artificially sharp, you can tone that down later. You need to experiment first to discover what this effect will do.
Click OK and go to the Layers Palette at the right of your screen. Click on the word "Normal" we shall now change the blending mode. When the drop down box of possible choices appears, click on "Overlay".

The picture does look more "Normal" now - but if you chose a large number for your sharpening it could look a bit too corrected and "hard". Now you can modify the strength of the sharpening you have applied. But before you do. . . .
Can you see the "eye" to the left of the "Layer 1" thumbnail? That is the visibility eye - open and you can see the layer, closed and it does not show. Click on the eye - it doesn't close, it actually disappears, click in the empty space where it was and the eye will return.
Now do that again and look at the picture you are working on. Click the eye on and off and see the difference.
Is the sharpening too much? My sharpening was. If you sharpening is too much, reduce the opacity of the layer - this you can do by hovering the mouse over the word "Opacity", and left clicking and dragging to the left when the double arrows appear - OR - you can click on the down arrow beside the word "Opacity" and drag the slider to the left. While you are making changes keep a watch on the picture, not on the slider.

(All the pictures in this article can be seen larger by clicking on them.)
When you have the amount of sharpening that you feel is right You can do one of two things.
You can

1. Flatten the image (right click on either the layer or the background in the Layers Palette and click on "Flatten" and save the image.
   or
2. Erase the background around your main subject - so that the sharpening is only applied to the main subject, then flatten the image.

The other way of sharpening a picture is to use one of the Sharpen Image options in the program. Here is a comparison between the Sharpen and the High Pass method of sharpening.

When I sharpened the rose with High Pass I deleted the sharpening effect from the background. Click to enlarge the picture and you will really see the difference.
I am not going to say that one way is better than the other. You sharpen your images in a way that you feel comfortable - but never shut your mind to other suggestions - always give them a try and make up your mind after experimenting.
AJ