USM or Unsharp Mask tutorial in Photoshop CS2

[dakuneko]

Help!

Is there any tutorial for the USM in Photoshop CS2? I am confused about it's usage in post-processing. I've heard that a lot of photographers use USM and they are using it greatly to probably produce good pics.

However, I am stumped on its usage which is why I do not use this powerful tool. *sigh*

 

[Ah Pao]

Unsharp mask is a sharpening tool in Photoshop, and is one of the most widely accepted sharpening methods around.

You do a USM on a image when you need to bring out the edge contrast of an image, especially when you do a downsize of your image. However, it does not save you from disaster - out-of-focus images cannot be magically sharpened to as if the photo was taken in focus.

Here an article to help you understanding USM and the principles behind it:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-usm.shtml

 

[sk.images]

Apart from edge sharpness it can also be used to alter the contrast of the whole image...

 

[solarii]

Read this website. It has everything to take you from zero to Pro.

http://www.bythom.com/sharpening.htm

I use this guy's settings quite often. I find other recommendations a little too conservative for SLRs.

The adobe website also has quite a few video tutorials on how to use USM. Most programs use similiar controls (though they call them different things).

 

[dakuneko]

Thanks guys. Those links helped

 

[Dave P]

Another thing that must be born in mind when using unsharp mask is that is should be the last thing you do before completion of your editing.

Always keep an unsharpened version of your image, or an unsharp layer in PSD file If you need to make changes in the future you can do so.