High Pass Sharpening

All digital images can benefit from some form of sharpening during post processing although the benefits will vary depending on the quality of the original itself. As a general rule any sharpening should be done at the end of processing, as further enhancements added after sharpening can reduce its effect.

There are various methods that can be used but one of the most basic, but effective is to use a High Pass Filter. In this example I have used an already tightly cropped image, to better demonstrate the effect.

1 - Firstly, process your image to the desired point and then flatten the image to leave only one layer

2 - Create a duplicate layer (Layer>Duplicate Layer and then click OK in the pop up box) make sure the new layer is selected in the layers palette

3 - Change the blending mode to Overlay, this will darken the image but don't worry about that at this stage


Now go to Filter>Other>High Pass and adjust the slider to get the desired sharpening effect


When you are done, click OK and admire your new, pin sharp image!


The important thing to remember is that this effect is easily overdone, in which case it will start to deteriorate the image quality, so the key is to use only as much as is necessary, and less is more!

Good Luck!

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