Adjust Sharpness, PS Elements 5

[leo]

I find myself using adjust sharpness a lot more than Unsharp Mask, anyone else use it.??

A couple of the features I like ....

It seems to allow more sharpening without the color halos that sometimes show up in Unsharp mask.

It has a larger preview window and for me it’s easier to use.

 

[JasonF]

My photoshop software dosen't have that "Enhance" tab at the top?? I have the Adobe Photoshop CS version.

 

[leo]

Jason

I don't know if this is just a feature of PSE 5 or not, I have only had PSE 2 and 5.


Aren't the CS ones the pro series,

 

[JasonF]

Leo, I'm not sure?? I had them put Photoshop on my computer when I bought it. I'm still leaning how to use it.

 

[FERAL ONE]

leo, i will have to try it, i guess i used unsharp because the book i have says don't use the sharpen. i will try the two and compare sometime!!!

 

[rip18]

Yep, CS is one of the "real" versions.

I've been thinking about this one. I just edited a photo for somebody else & ran "Sharpen" just to see what it would do, and it really accentuated the fuzzy edges in the image, while with "USM" I could sharpen the overall image a bit without accentuating the fuzzy edges.

Believe it or not, I am still using Elements 3.0. There isn't an "adjust sharpness" selection on m Enhance drop down either. Sharpening in 3.0 is under the filter tab. I have sharpen, sharpen more, & USM. I have had worse problems with "halos" with sharpen & sharpen more than USM.

The halos (usually) appear after excessive sharpening. (Though I can get them from bad selecting too!). Like Feral One, all the "books" say use USM rather than Sharpen. I've also read that applying USM in smaller (but repeated) increments results in less halo effect than the same amount of sharpening applied as a single treatment.

I usually run one, two, or three passes with USM settings between 0.3 and 1 pixel, amount at 50 to 100%, and threshold usually at 0 (but sometimes up to 5). I have the camera settings at NO sharpening coming out of the camera.

There are several other programs that are used for sharpening as well - some AFTER photoshop & others as a photoshop plug-in. I haven't felt the need to spend more money on another plug-in (yet)....

So, I guess my short answer to Leo's question, is that I don't use Sharpen or Sharpen More much, I still use USM. Maybe one day I will break down & buy Photoshop CS2 or CS3 & do something different?

 

[leo]

The adjust Sharpness feature may

be one of the few new things that PSE 5 has..

I read that it isn't a "filter" function like unsharp mask.....

It takes some getting use to but I like it

This is what I start with

Lens blur .... best one to use IMO, it takes longer for changes to show on the image .. so patience is a must
Radius ..... @ 1-2 pixel,
Amount ... it varies rarely exceed 60%

 

[ronfritz]

This is a great thread...I never seriously used USM...I just used the sharpen feature in Nikon Capture or Nikon View. It seemed like it was doing what I wanted.

....then I got a little schooling from DRB. Since then I have been trying USM more often. These days, if its just a snapshot, I still just use the sharpen tool in Nikon's software. Its simple - there are only a few choices like sharpen less, sharpen a little bit, sharpen more, sharpen even more...so its quick which is what I like about it.

However, for some of the stuff, about which I am more particular, I often try the USM to see how that does. My guess is something so easy can't be the best tool from a quality standpoint.

Now that you've raised the question about the more adjustable sharpen tool in PSE, I think I'll start playing with that as well.

I hope we get more input on this because, despite all the good comments so far, I'm sure there is more to be learned.

 

[Hoss]

Looks like that's new in Elements 5 Leo. I'm using 4 and I've got the same options as Rip. Typically use USM.

Great info guys.

Hoss

 

[leo]

Sometimes I do not want

the area around the pic subject sharpened, so I use the Magnetic lasso tool to isolate the area I want sharpened

Anyone else do this??