Use the Find Edges Filter in Photoshop Elements to sharpen only the areas of your image that you want to sharpen. This method is a bit complicated, but is worth it for shots where there are larges areas that you want to remain soft while still sharpening the edges crisply.
- Duplicate the layer you want to sharpen (after flattening the image, if necessary) and select Filter/Stylize/Find Edges.
- Desaturate the new layer by typing Control + Shift + U (in Windows)
- Increase Contrast by going to the Enhance Menu and selecting Adjust Lighting/Levels. Move the left input slider to the left to darken the outlines in your image. Move the right input slider to the left to remove as much non-detail area as possible. The dark outlines are the areas that will be sharpened the most and the white areas won’t be sharpened at all.
- Select All in the layer (Control A)
- Copy the selection (Control C)
- Create a new layer with a Layer Mask
- Alt + Click on the Layer Mask thumbnail in your new layer to turn your workspace white
- Paste (Control V)
- Make the two new layers you have just made invisible by clicking on the eyeballs next to them in the Layers Palette
- Click on the background layer (or the layer where you want the sharpening to happen) to activate it
- Control + Click on the layer mask thumbnail to select
- Invert the selection by typing Control + Shift + I
- Now the edges in your image will be selected and you can run the Unsharp Mask on them without sharpening the areas that should remain softer.
Eeek. Have questions? I understand – it ain’t easy. But I’ll help if I can!
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