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Using the Sharpening Tool isn't the only thing done to give
today's image more definition, but it was the first one I ran for when deciding
what to do to the shot. Click on the
image to see an enlargement. Check out
the fellow's hair. That is some seriously
well defined wisps of hair. The Sharpen
Tool was used to increase the visual appeal of the hair. The Sharpen Tool is a Brush. What I did was make a new blank Layer
(Layer/New/Layer) and make sure the Sample All Layers box was checked. The Strength was set to about 20%. "About" means there is no magic to
20%. 17% or 23% would do just as
well. It's just something
"about" 20%.
[The only place I know of where
"about" means "exact" is back when I was in the Army. The Platoon Sergeant told me to "drop
and give me about twenty". Meaning
pushups. I knocked out nineteen, popped
back up and stepped back into line. He didn't notice my approximation, but a
couple buddies did. One ratted me out
and told the Platoon Sergeant I had shorted him one pushup. The Sgt. eyed me and barked, asking me how
many I had done. I told him
nineteen. He was livid and screamed
"I said twenty". To which I
said "no, you said about twenty.
Nineteen is "about" twenty." His next "request" was for
"exactly" forty.]
Meanwhile, back to our topic. With the Strength set at about 20% I went
over the hair (and collar) several times, building the strength with each successive
stroke. Doing the Sharpening on its own Layer
allows you to click the Layer off and on to see the effect taking shape. Trust me, the hair is highly sharpened.
The other thing that was done to give the appearance of
Sharpness was to add Highlights and Shadows using a 50% Grey Layer in an
Overlay Blending Mode. With a regular,
soft, Brush (B) and the Opacity set to "about" 15%, it was easy to
flip back and forth between the Default (D) Black and White (X to flip between
the two) colors. Using a Wacom tablet,
each fold of the shirt and the edge of ribbon on the hat were painted (again on
a separate Layer) to lighten the highlights and darken the shadows. This gives additional depth to the shirt and
ribbon resulting in perceived Sharpness.
The image was finished with a trip through Topaz Labs Topaz
Adjust with their Grunge III preset. One
of the attributes of that preset is adding grain (noise). Back in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 the noise
was removed.
Hope you like the way it turned out. Drop me a line and let me know what you
think.
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