“BUT MY CAMERA IMAGES ARE SHARP! Why should I sharpen my photographs?” This is a common question I hear all the time as an Adobe Photoshop trainer and lecturer. The other question that goes with this one is, “Why do ‘Pro’ images always look so much crisper than mine? I have the same camera?” I Know it seems very odd that when you have spent so much money on a camera and lens with awesome autofocus systems that you might still have to sharpen your photos. Fear not, for we will explain all! Firstly we’ll look at the why and then the how.

If you are reading this article on a phone you might need to zoom in to see the subtle details of sharpening on the images

Why your photographs need sharpening

Before sharpening

More skin, hair and violin texture after sharpening

Most (but not all) digital cameras have a filter in front of the sensor to deliberately, slightly blur the image recorded on the sensor. REALLY!!! This filter is called an anti-aliasing filter and it helps prevent moiré problems. This unsightly moiré effect can come about when photographing regular patterns for example on a subject’s clothing. The anti-aliasing (AA) filter helps to prevent this by slightly blurring the image.

If your camera is set to give you jpg images then the camera automatically adds some software sharpening to the image. If you are producing Raw files then it is up to you to add sharpening to the Raw file.

Which camera makes have this ant-aliasing filter?

Well most of the big brands have cameras with and without AA filters. Nikon, Fujifilm, Pentax, Canon and Sony tend to not have AA filters on the ‘Pro’ camera lines. Leica does not have AA filters on theirs. There are both good and bad things about not having AA filters though. No AA filter = sharper images but potentially moiré problems. AA filter = poss weird patterns on fabric

No AA filter – no sharpening then?

Err No. Sharpening images is still used on non AA filter images as it can really give your image a bit more ‘punch’.

So how does sharpening work?

With software

Software sharpening finds the sharp edges in your photograph and increases the contrast of the edges, This gives the image more defined edges and a look of being sharper.

With film

Photographic film can be processed in such a way as to increase the edge sharpness around objects. This is called the Mackie Line effect. One way to achieve this effect when processing Black and White film is to not agitate the film too often (maybe just once every 30 seconds). The developer gets depleted in the large areas but can work more in the other areas creating a sharper line between the exposed and less or unexposed areas. Find out more about choosing a film camera and loading film here.

How to sharpen in Photoshop

Every photographer has their own way of sharpening images. Some more convoluted than others. We’d like to show you just the 2 main ones.

Using the Unsharp mask

When your image is all resized and ready to print or go to web, open the filters menu in Adobe Photoshop. (We’re using Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud) version 2019.) So that this sharpening is not destructive we’re going to start by making the image into a Smart Object. Select Filters and choose Convert for Smart Filters.

Then go to the Filters menu again, choose Sharpen and then Unsharp Mask.

Unsharp mask amount set to 100

Settings in Unsharp mask amount set too high

The Unsharp radius set too high

Keep the threshold and the radius very low – maybe in the 0.5 – 2 and 1 – 3 area respectively and then adjust the amount to taste. Most people work in the range between 50% and 150%

The lower the threshold, the fewer areas it will mask out and it will apply the sharpening to everything. If you find details that you don’t want sharpened being affected then increase the threshold.

The radius is the area either side of the edge details that gets affected. Use a very small radius on low resolution images.

Paint on the mask of the unsharp mask smart filter to hide the effect

Using a High pass filter

Th High Pass filter method is another sharpening technique that many people prefer. In Photoshop, duplicate the image layer by dragging the layer onto the new layer button in the Layers panel. Select the top layer, convert it to a Smart Object to make the filter non-destructive, and then go to the Filter menu, choose Other and High Pass.

High Pass on layer, finds and adds contrast to edges

In the High Pass settings use a low setting eg. 1.2. You can always change this later if you like, by double clicking the High Pass filter on the layer.

Change the Layer Mode to Overlay and adjust the opacity and High Pass filter to taste. If there are areas you wish to not be sharpened just paint them out on the layer mask.

Overlay mode on layers panel to mix the high pass with the non sharpened bottom layer

Tip: The best way to see your sharpening is to view the image at 100% zoom. (In the View menu choose 100%)

Too much of a good thing?

A little too much sharpening has made an unsightly line around the castle 

Be aware that not all images need sharpening and it’s really easy to overdo the sharpening on your photographs. Try to only sharpen areas that need it and mask out the bits that look overdone. That said, if you have never used these techniques you will be pleasantly surprised at the amazing results you get. Go forth and create awesome crisp images when you sharpen your photos.

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The problem with the Vatican Museum Staircase photography is people. From opening time until closure during the summer, there is a constant stream of tourists descending this beautiful architectural masterpiece. A plethora of photographers at the top are also trying to get the same image. So what do you do?

 Drag the centre slider to see Before and After.

Initial thoughts and photography

My initial thoughts when photographing the stairs was to have an empty graphical spiral however this has been done so many times I felt I would have just another tourist photograph. Still, I went ahead and made the images. I created several images from the same viewpoint as I knew I could ‘clone’ people out from one image onto the other. I hand held the camera – took a photograph and then waited until people moved before taking more. This I did a few times until I was sure I had all the staircase areas without people.

Whilst assessing the images on the computer later, I got a really, pleasant surprise. On one of the landscape format images, was a small child on her own with brightly coloured clothing that complemented the staircase so well. I hadn’t noticed her while watching the crowds on the stairs. I had to include her as I felt this would just lift my image away from the usual ones.

Doing the basic Raw

The first thing was to get all the images to be used into Raw. Once in you adjust the basic settings so the exposure, contrast and colour looked as I envisaged it, and all the images matched.

Before edit in Raw

After edit in Raw

There was a very strong light to one side. To fix this I used an adjustment gradient and changed the exposure until the area matched the rest of the image.

Here is the uneven lighting that needs work

Use the Adjustment gradient in Raw to even out the lighting

I went into the main image and adjusted the various areas with the adjustment brush to bring out more details in the shadow areas, and increase contrast and vibrancy on the ironwork. There is no magic-method that I use here. I just adjust areas as I feel, until it looks like I want it to look.

Use adjustment brushes to lighten or darken various areas to taste

Into Photoshop for some copy and paste

Once the Raw work is done I opened all the images in Photoshop and copied the staircase areas from the donor images and pasted them to cover the tourists. I usually copy more than I need and add a layer mask to hide the excess.

You can see the girl on a separate layer with a layer mask

I then copied the girl from the landscape image and matched up the stairs. No easy feat as they were taken from different angles.

• A quick tip: When you are trying to transform layers to match others, set the mode of the top layer to difference. When the 2 layers are exactly aligned they will turn black.

Is it real?

I am so very pleased with the final image as it was slightly different to all the other images of the Vatican Museum Staircase that I have seen. Even though it was a composite image I don’t feel as though I have cheated, as photographing a tourist attraction during opening hours can be a nightmare. However, I am aware that many people will not see this as a real photograph.

At the end of the day you need to decide. Who am I photographing for? In my case all of this Vatican Museum staircase photography is for myself and so as long as I’m happy with it, that’s all that matters.

Do it for yourself and forget what everyone else thinks!!

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The Tombs of the kings before and after image is of a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 2 km from Paphos Harbour. Many of the tombs date back to the 4th century BC. It has nothing to do with kings! The name comes purely from the magnificence of the tombs.  There are a lot of ruins obviously, some more interesting than others. But if you go down underneath some of them there are some amazing images to be made. One in particular, with lots of pillars, with the golden light coming through was beautiful. We visited the site late in the day so the light was streaming in at an angle.

Drag the centre line to see the difference

The problem image

The problem with the scene is that I wanted a bit of detail in the bright sunlit areas as well as in the darker bits. Most cameras have a range of light that the sensors can record. This is known as the camera’s dynamic range. Using Raw you can access a greater range of light, than photographing as a jpg will give you. I exposed my image so I definitely had a bit of detail in the highlights and then ‘pulled back’ the details from the shadows in Adobe camera Raw. I used a manual setting on the camera so as not to overexpose the highlights as the camera can lie to you about exposure.

To create more atmosphere, we kicked up some of the dust so it was hanging in the air. Unfortunately this didn’t give us the ‘correct’ looking light streaming through the haze so we added it in later in Photoshop.

Let me show you the steps we took with this Tombs of the Kings before and after tutorial. It is done in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop but could easily have been done in Affinity Photo. Click the link to see our favourite Photoshop Shortcuts.

Into Camera Raw

Original out of camera image before adjustments

So straight into Adobe Camera Raw. (Quick tip: Instead of double clicking an image to open it in Raw try right-clicking it. This allows you to choose to open it in the Raw file converter without waiting or Photoshop to open first.)

Setting the base adjustment

Adjusting the exposure is not the way to get effective results

If you just adjust the exposure you will find that the highlights also get lighter. This is similar to what would happen if your camera was set to auto and the camera would try to lighten the large dark area.

Use the Highlights, Shadow, Clarity and Vibrancy sliders to set a base exposure

Instead of adjusting the exposure a lot, I pulled the Highlights slider down to darken the lighter areas, the Shadows slider up to lighten the darker areas, and the Clarity slider up to to get as much texture in the rock as possible. Finally I added lots of vibrance to bring out the colour of the rock.

Selective lightening with the adjustment brushes

Go to the adjustment brushes tab along the top of the screen (it’s a brush icon) and paint an area you wish to adjust. I painted a large area (where I put the green circle) and then changed the settings on the right until I liked what I saw. All the white dots you see are where I added a new brush adjustment. The red dot in the red circle is the active brush.

Adding your own lighting

I was still not happy with the light rays, so I decided to create my own. I will be dedicating a full tutorial to this technique but basically I made a selection where I wanted the rays to be, added a solid white adjustment layer and then feathered the mask. Finally I reduced the opacity of my new ‘ray’ so it’s barely visible.

Final Image

Tombs of the Kings in Cyprus

So to sum up the edit of the Tombs of the Kings Before and After image.

• Photograph in manual
• Do your initial Raw edit with the whole image in mind
• Use adjustment brushes to ‘dodge’ and ‘burn’ areas until the image you envisaged appears.
• Possibly add extra lighting you were unable to capture in camera.

I was really happy with the final result as it was just how I had envisaged the final photograph.

The big question is! Is this a “cheating” image, as I added in the rays that were not visible? Well… I think that it reflects what I saw when I stood there but you might think differently.

The post Tombs of the Kings – Cyprus – Before and After Image appeared first on ImageExplorers.

A lot people who try to photograph the moon get problems with an overly bright moon, but not enough detail around it. The main problem is when you take a photograph of the moon at night, the moon comes out so bright you cannot see the details in it. It could even be so bright that it looks like the sun. So how do you photograph the moon?

Overexposed moon almost looks like the sun

Well the first thing to look at is exposure. The moon is lit by the same sunlight as the earth is during the day, so the exposure for the moon itself is similar to earth daylight. Let me explain:

When the sun is out on a nice day on earth you might use an exposure of 1/125 sec at f8 at 200 ISO or something similar. Well, when you look at the moon during ‘our’ night you are seeinging the moon during its daytime, so the exposure for the moon during daylight is probably also about  1/125 sec at f8 at 200 ISO or something similar. The problem we have, is that the scene you want to shoot is maybe 1/8 sec at f5.6 at an ISO of 1600 (because it’s night time and dark).

Whatever you do, don’t use an auto exposure setting on your camera as this will give you a totally overexposed image. See our why your camera lies to you post for more details.

So how do you get around that?

Use 2 photographs and put them together in Photoshop. Take one image before the moon has risen (or is out of shot) using the correct exposure for night-time. Take a second photograph of the moon, but use an exposure that is more compatible with shooting a normal daylight scene. I would bracket (take multiple images with varying exposures) to get the perfect moon exposure.

Original scene before adding a photograph of the moon

Photograph the moon with normal daylight exposures

What about an eclipse?

These do need a bit of bracketing as exposures change during the eclipse. This Red Moon Eclipse at the top of this post was shot at 2 seconds at f9 with an ISO of 800. You might just need to experiment.

Putting the photograph of the moon into any scene.

The first thing we’re going to do is to drag the moon photograph into the selected scene in Photoshop. It doesn’t matter where it goes as we can move it later. You can even resize it a bit if you need.

Drag the photograph of the moon onto your scene as a new layer

Now let us change the mode in the layers panel to Screen. Screen hides the darker areas of the layer and only shows the lighter, so your dark black sky now disappears.

Change the photograph of the moon layer to screen mode

Move the photograph of the moon layer to required position

At this point you could just stop as your moon looks great, but what about a subtle moon reflection on the sea?

Putting in the moon reflection

Let’s start with a selection. It doesn’t need to be perfect, just a rough shape of where the reflection might be.

A photograph of the moon needs a reflection to make it believable, so start with a selection

Use the adjustment menu in the bottom of the layers panel to add a levels adjustment. Lighten the area with levels. The selection automatically generates a mask, so only selected area will be affected.

Add a Levels adjustment layer in the layers panel

Drag the middle arrow slider to the left to lighten masked area

Looks a bit rough right? Well now, if you double click the layer mask you will get to the mask options. Choose feather to soften the edge of the ‘reflection’ to taste. Remember subtlety is the key.

Feather will soften your harsh mask edge

Now just dial back the amount of reflection on the sea using the opacity slider on the layers menu.

Reduce the reflection of the moon with the opacity

Eh voilà A perfectly exposed moon as well as a perfectly exposed scene.

I hope you enjoyed this how to photograph the moon tutorial. Whenever I go out on a clear night, I will often photograph the moon as you never know when it will come in handy for a picture. For an idea of what the moon phase will be take a look at the time and date web site.

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