Sharpness v. unsharp mask

This has probably already been asked, but I could not find it. What is the difference between the iphoto sharpness and photoshop unsharp filter mask? Is the iphoto sharpness similar to an auto unsharp filter? Does iphoto analyze the photo, and then determine the best settings for the three parameters of the unsharp filter?
Thanks

David,
It looks like iPhoto's sharpness filter (in Tiger at least) takes an intensity and radius input. So the radius is adjustable, but I'm not sure if this is a fixed value or something determined from the image.
Kevin

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After upgrading to OS X Yosemite 10.10.1, Unsharp Mask and Adjust Sharpness do not work

Since upgrading to OS X Yosemite 10.10.1, I have found that the Unsharp mask and Adjust sharpness tools
are not working.
Sometimes at extreme settings they work, but at other times, they don't work at all.
Does anyone have any advice, please?

Barbara
Thank you for replying
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How to apply a 'calculated' radius in Unsharp Mask en mass?

In about a week's time, when I've finished applying Curves to about 1200 B&W images, I'll be ready to apply an Unsharp Mask to each of them. Exactly how I'll do that I'm not certain yet, but I've been reading my Photoshop CS Bible (Deke McClelland) in preparation. On page 503 it states:
If you're looking for a simple formula, I recommend 0.1 of Radius for every 15 ppi of final image resolution... If you have a calculator, just divide the intended resolution by 150 to get the ideal Radius value.
For example, at 300 ppi use Radius = 2. Such a recommendation is just that: a recommendation (and not 'ideal' as he also states), but I've taken it as a good starting point; and while I've been adding Curves I have also been experimenting with Unsharp Mask and various Radii (but not yet saving the sharpened images).
McClelland's statement is not clear regarding what Radius should be used if you are NOT working on the image at final resolution. I think I know what the answer is, but I want to confirm.
Some background: I'll be printing on a Xerox iGen running a colour line screen at 175 lpi. The printer wants the images to be 300 ppi. The images at the moment range from an effective ppi of about 100 to 2000, depending on how much they have been scaled in InDesign. So I've got resolutions all over the place which at some point I will have to tidy up. Those images below about 250 ppi, I will be upsampling to 300. Those above about 450 ppi (this may change), will be downsampled to 300 when I convert to PDF.
I have some questions:
QUES 1
Say I have an image at 1200 ppi, that will be downsampled to 300 ppi. Should I do the sharpening on the 1200 ppi image, or on the downsampled 300 ppi image? i.e Will it make any difference to the final printed result if sharpening is done before or after downsampling?
QUES 2
I think the statement:
I recommend 0.1 of Radius for every 15 ppi of final image resolution
should read
I recommend 0.1 of Radius for every 15 ppi of image resolution
Surely the Radius (assuming you accept the figures McClelland gives) depends only on the resolution of the image you are working on. i.e if you have a 1500 ppi image, use a Radius of 10 (1500/150), NOT a Radius of 2 (300/150) -- the final image resolution that is sent to the printer. Is that a correct reading of McClelland's recommendation?
QUES 3
My experiments indicate that for the type of images I am using, McClelland's recommendation oversharpens, at least for my liking. I will probably use half the figure he suggests: Radius = 1 for 300 ppi.
Given that I have about 1200 images, if I was going to apply an Unsharp Mask manually this is what I would do:
1. Put all the layers in each image into a Group.
2. Calculate the Radius to be applied to each image from the formula: Radius = (IMAGE PPI) /300.
3. Apply an Unsharp Mask to the Group using the calculated Radius (plus Amount = 50, Threshhold = 0)
Of course I'm not going to do this manually -- well, I hope I'm not -- but what is the best way? Could an Action handle all of this? A Script? A combination of both? Something else entirely? Not possible in PS?
In summary: I want to automatically apply a variable Radius that depends on the image's resolution. Possible?

The PDF says, for one of the steps:
Command-click the duplicate channel to make the edge mask a selection.
When I do that, a selection outline appears, but I can't work out, or find out, what conditions are applied to make the selection. Any ideas? I may have to start a separate thread for this question. I don't like to blindly follow recipes. I like to know what's going on.
Guy,
I'm not sure I understand your question. With command click, the channel is the selection. White = fully selected, black = not selected. It's all the steps made to create the channel that affect the selection. To me the selection edges are visually interfering with a soft mask, I usually hide the edges.
In post 9 steps 2-6 all contribute to the final section. Find edges identifies the edges. Median has a smoothing effect. Maximum expands the selection a little, then the gaussian blur softens it.
This process (post 9) works for me when I sharpen images, but you may not like it. Sometimes no mask at all is a viable option - some folks like a grainy/noisy appearance in non-edge areas. Some people may even purposefully add noise to create that kind of look.
With USM the radius thickens the light and dark areas of edges, and amount intensifies (lightening the light, darkening the dark). Threshold is just what it's name implies, it sets a parameter for Ps to apply the sharpening or not (but it can result in a pockmarked look in smooth areas, so I like 0)
I always look at images at actual pixels in Ps when sharpening. With sharpening there is room for opinion. Some people like thicker edges (higher radius). Some people go easy on the amount, some people are more aggressive.
It's the scaling in ID that makes things difficult, because actual pixels won't give you a true print appearance. To correct this the image either needs to be scaled to size in PS, and placed at 100% in ID - OR left as is in ID, and the resolution changed in PS (300 x % i.e. 300 x 25% = 75 PPI)
I like to start with radius 1 and 100 amount but these values are always subject to change. I wish it was an exact science but it's not. I like sharp images, but I don't want icicles in eyebrows either. I believe you said 175 LPI screening, so if it was me I would err on the sharp side...
Something else I just thought of - the print size is something to think about, too. Consider the two extremes (which may or may not apply to your project) - thumbnails, and posters. If it's a thumbnail, by the time you've got the scaling right in Ps, there really isn't much pixel information left! In his instance a lot of sharpening probably wouldn't hurt, it would create contrast (which is important in very small images). The other end of the spectrum - posters. Actual pixels may be a little misleading in this case, because when the average person looks at a poster, they don't get right up on it at a normal reading distance, they view it from several feet away. For this reason sometimes poster images are only half-resolution, to keep the file size manageable, and give a more realistic view perspective.
Hope this helps. I am not a forum expert. The others may have better advice, or may see errors in my information.

Default Setting for Unsharp Mask (Threshold) ???

Hello again...
Was attempting to clean up a photo enlargement last nite utilizing 'Unsharp Mask'...inadvertantly changed the 'Threshold' setting in the dialog window...& failed to notice what this setting was previously engaged at.
[this happens to me every so often, aamof.]
so...I'm using Photoshop CS3. What is the default number for this setting ???
(or...perhaps more importantly...how does one return *all* such dialog settings in Photoshop back to factory default ???)
Thanks very much,
Mark Forman

The settings should be experimental/interactive:
1) Set Threshold=0
2) Set Amount=200% or even more
3) Increase Pixels from 0.5 until halos are clearly visible
at edges
4) Decrease Amount until the halos are just not disturbing
5) Increase Threshold until smooth areas are not affected,
but sharper edges are still enhanced
For typical digital images with 3000x2000 pixels:
Amount=100% Pixels=1 Threshold=8
So far my interpretation of the recipes in Dan Margulis'
Professional Photoshop. This might be helpful as well:
http://www.arch.virginia.edu/arch569/content/lectures/lec-07/page-3.html
The same, short:
http://tinyurl.com/c6xous
Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

Elements 11 unsharp mask and Curves

Aft all
I have recently installed elements 11, it being more to my budget, and more suited to my requirements than the Creative Cloud, which I trialled.
It appears I have not got Curves or the Unsharp Mask, and I wondered if there are plug-ins allowing one to use these tools?
Rggs
the.chair

The name 'unsharp mask', which is misleading for beginners, has been replaced in the 'enhance' menu. It's the option near 'adjust sharpness'. (Don't know the exact word as I am on a French version).
You find the curves, with a different layout, in the enhance menu, adjust color; it's called 'adjust color curves'... which is misleading. The interface is based on the effect you want to get and you see the result on the shape of the curves.
There are free external curve tools which are more like the version in CC:
- Grants tools
- Elements+
- smartcurves (the most powerful, but Windows only).

Trying to find Fade unsharp mask

I was reading Scott Kelby's book Digital Photography Book 1. Early on in the bool he says to go to Edit Fade adn Unsharp Mask andchange it to Luminosity form Normal in the menu. The problem I have is that I do not see the Fade option under Edit. I am hoping some on could help me. I am using PE 8.
Thank You,
Frank

While pse does't have a fade option per se,
you easily achieve the same effect by:
1. Duplicate the layer you want to apply the
    filter to (unsharp mask in this case).
2. Apply the filter to the duplicated layer.
3. Go to the top of the layers palette (panel)
    and change the layer blending mode of the
    duplicated layer to luminosity.
4. If the sharping is too strong, you can adjust
    strength by using the opacity slider (also on top
    in the layers panel).
5. If you have a bunch of layers underneath those two
    layers, click on the duplicated layer to select it.
    Then go to Layer-Group with Previous (Create Clipping
    Mask).
6. This groups the two layers together so the sharping doesn't
    affect the layers below.
Hope this helps.
MTSTUNER

Imported jpeg photos with noise after unsharp mask in photoshop

Hallo, I have this problem with Aperture (last update version). I have some photos in RAW/NEF format, I use Camera Raw for the main adjustment and then I use unsharp mask in photoshop for get sharpening. Photos are saved in jpeg max quality and I import the Jpeg files in Aperture. When I view this photos, for a few seconds photo looks good and sharp (I see loading... indicator). Then photos become blurry and it present a huge noise. If I export one of this photos or I view in Iphoto or in mac Preview, photo is very good. The problem is INSIDE of Aperture. If I don't use unsharp mask (from photoshop), all is ok!!! I tried to import files directly in Iphoto and photos are good.
Thank you.

What your screenshots are showing, is exactly how the sharpening with "unsharp mask" is supposed to work. It emphasizes any variation of the luminance in the image, including the variance due to noise. The threshold parameter should be used to separate noise from the main edges in the photo. By setting this parameter to 0, you have disabled the noise suppression in this filter, and so the result is very noisy, most noticable in the darker regions of the image, where there are no real edges to be sharpened, only noise. I'd recommend to set the threshold to a higher value, I usually use 10-20 or so. My screenshot was computed with a threshold of 15.
But the big question is, why you are not seeing the noise in iPhoto or Preview. Have you pixel-peeped at 100 % in these apps? There must be some kind of filter applied that will reduce the noise that must be present.
Your second question: Why do the jpeg load first as bluury and then gradually become sharper? I only see this happen, when I save the jpegs with the option "Progressive"; this will encode the jpeg in scale-space - a pyramide of images at different resolution. When opening, Aperture will first load the coarse resolution as apreview, and the image will gradually become sharper.
-- Léonie

Where to apply Unsharp Mask?

I have multiple image layers and adjustment layers, and after doing all of my editing I would like to sharpen the image. Do I just apply the Unsharp Mask to the top most layer to achieve this OR is there some other way? Will it sharpen the details of all the layers if applied to the highest layer?
Thanks.

Guidelines?
Sharpening is almost the very definition of "season to taste".
I've seen a lot of publications that I feel tremendously oversharpen photos, making them look like some artificial construct (but like a lot of other similar publications). A photographer friend and I were once trying to make prints that looked like those in a coffee table picture book, and we were failing for a while until we tried dialing up the Unsharp Mask to ludicrous levels.
What I suggest you do is to try to get a feel for how what you've done on the screen is going to look as published (e.g., if you make a print, assuming that's what you do). Then decide on a "look and feel" that you want to express, and try to consistently achieve it with your photos.
One trick I use is to view an image at exactly 50% to try to get a feel for how sharp it will look in print.
By the way, depending on what you're after, there are better sharpening tools than Unsharp Mask available.
-Noel

Require unsharp mask for web photo sharing?

Hi,
I have a few hundred very high resolution photos that I will size down for an online photo album. After I run the batch process to resize them all, is it recommended that I do an unsharp mask command on all of them? And if yes, is there any add-on for PSE 5 that allows me to do a batch command on so many photos?
Thanks, Vlad

Vlad,
I find that sharpening my images after downsampling for Email/Web display is a big improvement. It's easy to overdo it, though on the small image. I usually set the the radius to around 0.7 pixels and the Amount to around 70 for images that are reasonably sharp.

Is there a way to sharpen or apply unsharp mask to the entire image?

I know there is a sharpening brush under the affects brushes, but is there a way to apply a sharpening or unsharp mask filter to an entire image or layer? This would be very helpful.
Thanks, David

Thanks so much. Sorry I missed that first time around.
d

Unsharp Mask

I have Photoshop Elements 10 on my Mac Mini, and the unsharp mask feature, which originally worked fine, no longer works. When you click on it all you get is a little square that replaces the curser and doesn't do anything, while most of the menu bar options become grayed out. I even removed and reinstalled the application and the same thing is still happening. How can I restore the unsharp mask??

Not sure what you mean by cursor?
When you select Enhance >>Unsharp Mask you should only see a dialog with sliders.

Unsharp mask not working

This is weird. I apply Unsharp Mask to a clip and adjust it the way I like it, but after I've rendered it the image goes back to looking like it did before. If I then turn off Unsharp Mask, it changes back to looking like my adjustments. Has anyone else experienced this?
My specs:
Early 2009 Mac Pro
OS 10.10.3
32 GB Ram
RADEON HD 5870
Premiere Pro CC

Barbara
Thank you for replying
Photoshop Elements 11
I don't know about deleting preferences
Is there anything I can do now?
Thanks

Unsharp mask filter for iPad

Hi friends,
I am trying to apply USM filter on the image (taking from the server). but i am not getting any help in apple document. I searched in google and i got GPUIimage and imagemagick open source library. but in imagemagick it seems USM filter is not working and in GPUIimage, i am not getting how it will take image as input which i am taking from the server .
please guide me.
Thanks

I got the solution "ImageMagic" updated one and it is working fine . For unsharp mask please go through the user guide .
Thanks

Unsharp Mask on Adjustment Layer crushing whites during fade?

I'm using Premiere CS6 with video footage from a Canon T2i. However, the issue appears regardless of the video source.
When I apply a Film Dissolve to a clip in the timeline, then add an Adjustment Layer with an Unsharp Mask on a track above the clip, the whites in the clip appear to become crushed over the length of the transition, while still fading to black. This does NOT happen if I use a Sharpen filter instead of an Unshark Mask, and if I apply the Unsharp Mask to the clip directly instead of using an Adjustment Layer. Fading with another clip looks normal as well, the whites only get crushed when fading to black.
If the problem had to do with the Film Dissolve processing in a linear color space, then I would expect similar results with the Sharpen filter. Likewise, if the problem had to do with the Unshark Mask, then I would expect to see the same thing when it is applied to the clip directly.
Any ideas? I appriciate the help!

Looks like a bug. Thanks. I'll escalate it.
Workaround looks good, so thanks for that too! Nice find.
PS:
LensFusion wrote: If the problem had to do with the Film Dissolve processing in a linear color space, then I would expect similar results with the Sharpen filter. Likewise, if the problem had to do with the Unshark Mask, then I would expect to see the same thing when it is applied to the clip directly.
I think it has to do with blend modes, but can't say for sure.

Equivalent to PS Unsharp Mask?

As I learned From Scott Kelby, it's rare to ever come across a digital image or scan that doesn't benefit from Photoshop's Unsharp Mask filter. So for all my important shots, I will run them through this filter and I love the results.
Is there an equivalent to this in Aperture, so I don't have to go out to PS? Additionally, the file sizes that PS creates are massive, which is not good (I understand why, I've looked this up in other threads, altough, Lightroom does not do this from what I read..).
Thanks, for any feedback you can provide.
Craig

The older sharpening filter (the one that doesn't have 'edge' in the name is fairly similar to USM. Note that using it with a high radius is going to bog down the computer whenever you view the image, much like highlight & shadows adjustments.
Ian

Sharpness v. unsharp mask

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