How to Sharpen Edges in Photoshop

Sharpening your images in Photoshop is the final step to ensure that the edges are nice and crisp. This process can be done with filters, though it's best to do it by hand to control what you're doing. Keep reading to learn how to sharpen edges in Photoshop.

How to Sharpen Edges in Photoshop

Sharpening enhances edges definition in an image, and luckily for me, photoshop comes with different tools to help you with this task.

• Sharpen using smart sharpen
• Sharpen using Unsharp Mask
• Sharpen using an Edge Mask

How to Sharpen Edges Using Smart Sharpen

Smart sharpen is a new filter that can spot edges and smoothen the edges without interfering with the whole image.

Features of the Smart Sharpen Filter

You can sharpen and then fade the sharpening in the shadow and highlight areas of an image separately. By detecting edges, it produces fewer color halos than unsharp masks. The Filter can sharpen edges without sharpening noise because of its reduced noise option.

Smart Sharpen lets you choose between three algorithms:

• Gaussian blur: it is the method that the Unsharp Mask filter uses.
• Lens blur: detects the detail and edges in an image and provides more refined and reduced sharpening halos.
• Motion blur: reduces the effects of blur due to subject or camera movement. It lets you save your settings for future projects, increasing your speed and consistency.

How to Apply the Smart Sharpen Filter

Open the photo that needs sharpening. On the layers panel, click the background, then press Ctrl + J to duplicate it. Right-click the duplicate layer and choose convert to smart object.

Go to Filter and select sharpen; from here, choose smart sharpen. The smart Sharpen dialog will open. 

From the preset menu, you can set your preferred controls.

• Amount: The Photoshop edge sharpening process starts with adjusting the light and dark sides. The higher the edge contrast is, the sharper the photo looks. Smart sharpen applies an amount slider to manage the amount of contrast in an image.
• Radius: The radius value oversees the thickness of your photo edges. This radius value will establish the number of pixels that extend outward from the edge. The thicker the edges, the more contrast that you will bring out from the amount setting.
• Reduce noise: The noise can damage your image since it produces a sudden change in brightness between the pixels. Photoshop will detect the edges, making the noise sharpened as a whole, which will change the quality of your photo. Reduce unwanted noise while keeping important edges unaffected.
• Remove: Sharpens the image using a specific sharpening algorithm. The three algorithms used are what we discussed above. Angle sets the direction of motion for the Motion Blur option of the Remove control.

Fade the sharpening in the highlights and shadows if needed - At times, depending on the photo and the amount of edge contrast, sharpening halos can appear too strong. You can adjust these with the following controls:

• Fade Amount: Adjusts the amount of sharpening in the highlights or shadows.
• Tonal width: This Controls the range of tones in the highlights or shadows that are modified. To increase or decrease its value, move the slider to the left or right.
• Radius: it adjusts the area width around the pixels used to determine whether a pixel is in the highlight or shadows.

When satisfied with your editing, click OK.

How to Sharpen Edges Using Unsharp Mask

The Unsharp Mask sharpens images by increasing the contrast along the edges of the picture. Instead of detecting edges, it identifies pixel values that differ from neighboring pixels by a certain amount. 

The mask then increases the contrast of neighboring pixels, making light pixels lighter and dark pixels darker, creating the illusion of more detail.

How to Apply the Unsharp Mask Filter

According to The Wall Street Journal, In real estate, a photo might be worth up to $1,000. Therefore, having well-sharpened real estate photo will increase your home sales. 

On that note, let's start applying the Unsharp Mask filter.

Convert the Image Layer into a Smart Object

1. Click on the menu icon in the upper right corner of the Layers panel
2. Then select Convert to smart object. This enables you to apply the Unsharp mask as a smart filter, and you can edit it in case you need to make some changes.

Applying and Adjusting the Unsharp Mask filter

Choose the unsharp mask filter by clicking to filter, then sharpen. Adjust the amount, threshold, and radius sliders to increase the edge contrast, adjust the width and sharpen the edges.

1. Dragging the amount slider increases the contrast amount in all the pixels. The contrast enhancement then creates more outstanding sharpness.
2. Adjust the radius slider to know the number of pixels near the edge that will affect the sharpening. The greater the radius, the wider the effect and more of the sharpening.
3. Use the best threshold setting for your image since it indicates how different sharpened pixels must be from their surrounding pixels before they are considered edge pixels. When they are considered edge pixels, they will be adjusted by the sharpening filter.

Avert Color Shifting

Sometimes, applying Unsharp Mask can make already bright colors appear saturated. To prevent this:

1. Click on the blending options to the right of the Filter's name
2. Then change the blend mode from normal to luminosity. This preserves the color of your original image.

How to Sharpen Edges Using an Edge Mask 

First, I will need to create a new mask even before I start sharpening. This is because I have to have a mask that will only affect the edges of our image, not affect any photo area with detail, or it will look too noisy.

Create a Mask

1. Open your image in photoshop, switch to the channels list, and select the most contrast channel.
2. Duplicate the channel you selected by right-clicking it and then selecting the same channel; after this, label it as you please.
3. Find the edges by navigating to Filter> Stylize > Find Edges.
4. Invert the image by navigating to Choose image > Adjustment > Invert

Thicken the Edges

Now I have to thicken the edges. To do this, 

1. Choose: Filter > Other > Maximum. 
2. Set the radius to a low number and click OK to thicken the edges and randomize the pixels.
3. Choose Filter > Noise > Median. Set the radius to a low number and click OK. This averages the neighboring pixels.
4. Choose Image > Adjustment > Levels and set the black point high to get rid of random pixels. You may also perform touch-ups with black if necessary to refurbish the last edge mask.
5. Choose Filter> Blur > Gaussian Blur to feather the edges.

The next step is to:

1. From the channel panel Ctrl-click the duplicate to make the edges mask a selection.
2. In the layers panel, make sure your selection is still visible.
3. Choose Select > Inverse. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + I, and this will invert the mask so that black becomes white and white becomes black
4. With the selection active on the image layer, you are now ready to apply sharpening to the layer; choose Filter> Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. Set the desired options and click OK.

Remember, you can change the opacity of the sharpening layer to control the effect. In this M&J Bloomfield video, you'll learn how to selectively sharpen just the edge detail in your photo using Photoshop.

Conclusion

You now know the various tools and how to sharpen edges in photoshop. Go out there and apply your newly learned knowledge to your photo edits and improve your craft. Remember, practice makes perfect.