Useful sharpening technique by Manny Librodo - Tutorial

[talan]

I want to share with you guys a sharpening technique I use. It's a sharpening technique used by a photographer by the name of Manny Librodo.

Don't ask me what each step achieves because I'm not too much of a Photoshop wizard but someone else on here may know.

Anyway here are the steps. You can save it as an action set.


Edit and make adjustments to you image as you wish.
Save your PSD file if you want to keep your layers and orginal full size for re-editing later.
Resize image to your web size if you choose to.
Layers > Flatten image.
Duplicate background layer.
Make sure the copy of background layer is selected.
Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask - enter Amount 18, Radius 40, Threshold 0 - press OK.
Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask - enter Amount 150, Radius 0.3, Threshold 0 - press OK.
Edit > Fade Unsharp Mask - enter Opacity 100% and select Darken in the Mode dropdown list - press OK
Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask - enter Amount 150, Radius 0.3, Threshold 0 - press OK.
Edit > Fade Unsharp Mask - enter Opacity 50% and select Lighten in the Mode dropdown list - press OK.
Layers > Flatten image.
Save as .jpg
Done!!!.

Below is a before and after. Take note I cropped and made other adjustments other than just the sharpening technique. You really have to click on the enlarged link to appreciate the effect.

Before: (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3659/3613693128_6c47ac3813_o.jpg)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3659/3613693128_84d2e75414.jpg

After: (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3633/3612875219_3d286e7a99_o.jpg)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3633/3612875219_9b3b235640.jpg

[creepdontsleep]

I need to get photoshop...
Great tip! Once i've got the software i'll be all on it like white on rice.

[Haim]

not bad... the end resul;t is pretty damn good!@ would love to learn more ps techniques! :)

[arsenal69]

Looks like I'll be trying something new tonight :D

[Moppie]

That is very effective.

What other changes did you make to the image?
Things like contrast and saturation adjustments can all effect sharpness as well, which is why it should always be run last.

[talan]

From memory I adjusted:


Curves
Levels
Brightness/saturation
And i think some slight gaussian blur on a gradient adjustment layer.

Anyone care to try it straight out of camera vs. my sharpening technique by itself and post before/after? ;)

[David]

wow this is a really cool technique Talan i should reinstall windows xp on my computer so I can try out some of these mad PS skills, make some actions (Y)

[Matt]

Good techniques man. Im always interested in ways to digital edit photos to look good. On topic why we here, any good websites that you know of show some good technique for this?

[HUNTD]

Hey there, just thought id try out your technique... quite liked it. Followed instructions as above, no other editing.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3617808549_21c4e60e0a.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3618623708_2ec4f972a5.jpg?v=0

probably could have found a better pic to edit...meh...

[weka2000]

Do some googling on the high pass filter for sharpening as well.

[Moppie]

Hey there, just thought id try out your technique... quite liked it. Followed instructions as above, no other editing.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3617808549_21c4e60e0a.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3618623708_2ec4f972a5.jpg?v=0

probably could have found a better pic to edit...meh...



Looks a touch over sharpened.
Maybe reduce the opacity of the final layer a little bit?

Different cameras, and different levels of sharpening during the conversion to JPEG (either in camera, or from RAW) will also effect this and how well it works.


Looks like an old Lucas dizzy?
Looks a lot like the one in my old Triumph 2500TC

[HUNTD]

Yea its off my hillman hunter

[Matt]

My first time i ever used a DSLR when i went to the zoo couple weeks ago. I tried this techique just to try it, but i think i could have change settings a bit to make look better. Looks a tad cartoonish. Sorry about my noob photo lol

Before
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/DURTYEF3/2.jpg
After
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/DURTYEF3/1.jpg

[Moppie]

I've just been using this action:

WOW!

I made a few changes to suit my camera, ran more of the USM values, and then saved it as an action.

One thing to note, if useing it on people, it pays to reduce the opacity of the layer a bit, or they can look over sharpened.

[keriboi]

ive been using the manny for quite a while , I even have it as an action.

For some of his work check out http://www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=14386
heres more than a photoshop wiz :)

[Moppie]

I'm finding it works extremely well on people. Brings out the hair, eyes, clothes etc, but does not to much to the skin. Very powerful.

Just have to be careful using it on smaller images. The lower the resolution, the less of the effect you need.

I have add 2 extra steps to the action, one that reduces the opacity to 75% and one that reduces it to 50%.

[talan]

I have add 2 extra steps to the action, one that reduces the opacity to 75% and one that reduces it to 50%.

I just use my eye to adjust the opacity as i have found every image varies a little :D

[David]

hrm, you guys are getting some good results from this method... I might try see what I can do using Gimp, not sure if it has unsharp mask.

[Moppie]

I just use my eye to adjust the opacity as i have found every image varies a little :D


That can take a while when you batch 800 photos :)