| Author | Thread |
|
|
04/17/2005 09:28:50 PM · #1 |
Even though the ‘emboss’ filter in Photoshop is not necessarily known as a sharpening tool it can be used very effetely as one. I wanted to post this useful tool because it is very effective in sharpening those out of focus, soft focus, and low contrast photographs you may have otherwise deleted. I have used this filter on a few of my photographs since learning this technique in my fist Photoshop CS class and achieved very good results. I will try to step you through the process and I hope I works as good for you as it has for me.
Steps:
1.Open your picture in Photoshop, as you would normally do. Make sure you have your history window open as well. If your history window is not open go to the main menu tool bar and choose Windows and scroll down to history and click. You should now see a small window with two tabs inside of it labeled ‘History’ and ‘Steps’.
2.Now that you have your image in Photoshop and the history window open you can begin sharpening with the emboss filter. From the main menu tool bar click on filters and scroll down to stylize, a dropdown box will appear and click on emboss. Your image will completely turn to an embossed image.
3.Now that you have your image in the emboss mode it’s time to adjust the emboss properties to achieve the best results. When you click on emboss and as described in step 2 your image will completely turn to an embossed image and the ‘emboss’ dialog box will appear. Within this box is where you will make your adjustments. You will see three options to work with; Angle, Height, and Amount. Notice that inside the box is also a check box that says ‘preview’. Make sure it is checked. At anytime during the adjustment process you can place your mouse cursor over the preview image and a hand will appear. You can double click inside the preview box to see the original picture. You also can place your mouse on you original image and a ‘rectangle’ will appear. You can move it to anywhere on your image and click and that portion of your image will be in your preview box.
4. The angle box and turn dial is what we will adjust to sharpen image. You can scroll around till you get the desired effect by pressing and . The height bar is how high or low you will bring you embossed image off your original. I recommend setting it at 3 pixels. Setting it to high will cause a fringe effect. The amount button will help the contrast of your image. You can place it anywhere along the slider bar but I recommend 250%.
Once you have achieved your desired effect click ok. Your image will still be in the emboss mode.
5.This step is very important. If you do anything else in Photoshop before going to this step you will not be able to access this feature. Go to the Main menu tool bar and click on edit and scroll down to ‘Fade Emboss’. It will bring up a ‘fade emboss dialog box’ where you will make your final adjustments. In the box you will see two options, Opacity and Mode. Again make sure the preview box is checked. Click on the Mode menu and scroll down to ‘Overlay’. Now your original picture will appear with your desired settings applied. You can use the Opacity slide to reduce the effect if you wish. To preview the difference go to your history window and you can click the open box to see what your picture looked like before and click on fade emboss to see what your picture looks like after the effect.
 
Hope this helps you in sharpening your out of focus and soft focus pictures along with low contrast pictures. Below are the before emboss edit and after emboss edit pictures along with the Original picture and the edited picture.
   
NOTE:This technique can only be used in Advanced Editing Challenges because you are using a filter outside the basic editing rules and applying in the overlay mode.
Message edited by author 2005-04-17 21:35:49. |
|
|
|
04/17/2005 09:34:58 PM · #2 |
Instead of using the "Fade" effect, I'd copy the image to a new layer, apply the described technique to the copy, then adjust the mode and opacity of the sharpened layer. That allows changes in the effect, whereas the "Fade" function commits you to that particular change.
This also makes it work with earlier versions of Photoshop, and any other editing program which uses layers and has the Emboss filter.
I have several "bad" photos I want to try this with. Thanks for the outline!
Message edited by author 2005-04-17 21:35:43. |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 09/14/2025 06:04:17 AM EDT.
