---

Method One – The Quick Way To Sharpen Images in Photoshop

1. Open your image in Photoshop
2. Duplicate the Background layer
3. Go to Filters section on the menu bar
4. Select Filters>Sharpen>Sharpen
5. Your image will be automatically sharpened
6. If Sharpen didn’t sharpen enough, undo by clicking Edit>Undo
7. Go to Filters>Sharpen>Sharpen More this will sharpen your image more
8. To compare the changes made, Zoom in and toggle the Layer Visibility to see compare before and after sharpening.

---

Step-by-step Tutorial

1. Once your image is open in Photoshop, Duplicate the Background Layer. Do this by either holding down the Control key and press the J key on a PC (Crtl+J) or Command key and J on a Mac (cmd+J). Alternatively, on the top Menu to go Layer>New>Layer Via Copy.

2. To ensure your new layer is selected, click on the Background Copy layer so that it has a lighter shade of grey.

3. Go to Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen.

4. Your top layer image has now been sharpened. To compare the difference, Zoom into your image using the Zoon tool.

5. Once Zoomed in toggle the Layer visibility of your top Layer by clicking on the Eye symbol in the layers panel.

Before And After Sharpen – Original Image on the Left, Sharpen Image on the Right

---

Method Two – Using the Sharpen More filter in Photoshop

1. Duplicate your Background Layer (Crtl+J PC) Cmd + J Mac).
2. Select the Background Copy layer to work on by selecting it as before.
3. Go to Filters>Sharpen>Sharpen More.

4. Zoom into your picture.
5. Toggle Layer Visibility to see the effects.

 

---

Method Three – How To Use Smart Sharpen Filter in Photoshop

Let’s learn How to use Smart Sharpen filter in Photoshop

1. Duplicate your Background Layer (Crtl+J PC) Cmd + J Mac)
2. Select the Background Copy layer to work on by selecting it as before
3. Convert your Background copy layer into a Smart Object. This will make it easier to adjust later. Go to Layers>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Object

4. To confirm your new layer is a Smart Object look in the Layers panel and the thumbnail image of your layer should have a Smart Object icon in it

5. With the Background copy layer selected Go to Filters>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen

6. The Smart Sharpen panel will appear. The panel can be expanded by hovering on the edges until arrows appear.

7. First, we will look at the Preview tick box. If selected, the changes you make while the panel is open will preview your main image. Toggle this on and off to get a much better view of what is happening to the whole image.

8. Let’s look at the sliders within Smart Sharpen. Amount, Radius and Reduce Noise.

9. The Amount is the strength of change. In this image, I have increased the Amount to the maximum so you can see the extreme effect.

10. The Radius controls the thickness in your edges. Again, here is an extreme.

11. Reduce Noise does exactly that. It reduces noise and brings back some smoothness.

12. Click OK when you’re finished to apply.
13. Toggle Layer Visibility on/off to see the before and after
14. If you’re not satisfied with your changes, go back and adjust them because we made this layer a Smart Object.
15. To re-adjust the settings in Smart Sharpen double-click on where it says Smart Sharpen at the bottom of your Background copy Smart Object layer, and your panel will re-appear to re-adjust.

16. Once you are happy with what you have changed click on OK, you can repeat this until you are content with your finished product.

---

Before And After Smart Sharpen – Original Image on the Left, Smart Sharpen Image on the Right

---

Method Four – How to use Unsharp Mask to fix out of focus Photos

Steps For Using Unsharp Mask in Photoshop

1. Duplicate your Background Layer (Crtl+J PC) or (Cmd + J Mac)
2. Select the Background Copy layer to work on by selecting it as before
3. Convert your Background copy layer into a Smart Object Layers>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Object
4. With the Background copy layer selected Go to Filters>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask

5. Unmask Sharp panel will appear, this panel can’t be expanded.

6. The Amount and Radius sliders act in the exact same way as they did in the Smart Sharpen tutorial. Let’s look at Threshold.

7. The Threshold is the colour/tone variation between surrounding pixels that the tool will look for to help define an edge. To show what effect this has on the image look at the two extremes.

8. Once you are happy with what you have changed click OK to apply.
9. Toggle Layer Visibility on/off to see the before and after
10. Remember if you are not entirely happy with your adjustments because you made the layer into a Smart Object you can re-adjust the setting.

Before And After Smart Sharpen – Original Image on the Left, Unsharp Mask Image on the Right

Thank you for reading this article on More Ways to Sharpen Images in Photoshop Tutorial, Looking for more advanced, cleaner sharpening methods?

Other useful resources online

Sharpen Images in Photoshop with the High Pass filter

Applying the Smart Sharpen Filter

Easy Image Sharpening with Unsharp Mask in Photoshop