Selection Plug-in makes for excellent sharpening (Free!)

[Welles]

I ran into a free plugin for both Mac and Windows which has just become my favorite sharpening technique. Of course, don't read too much into that as I've been enamored of six or eight different ones. (My last favorite was using a duplicate layer, the High Pass filter and an Overlay blend mode.)

This one is really cool though. Once loaded, the plugin appears at the bottom of the Select menu. It gives you options for using a number of different algorithms for selecting edges and a slider for edge widths. The application of the Gaussian Blur after the selection gives great results, no haloing etc. Do check it out... It's free! ;)

Select Edges Plugin by Reindeer Graphics

http://www.reindeergraphics.com/free.shtml#selectedge

[SCync]

Ya that is nice. Thanks for the link, Welles.

[Stroker]

I love Adaptive Equalize. One of my favorite freebies.

Have you looked at their commercial stuff?
Man, I was drooling.

[Welles]

Stroker,

I've had all the other Reindeer freebies since they were released but honestly, seldom used them. This one I'll use often. I have looked at Optipix with serious interest but have not purchased...yet. I'm also interested in the Power Retouche series of filters but haven't sprung for them...yet. I'm talking myself into them slowly but surely.

http://powerretouche.com/

[theKeeper]

Nice plugin... takes a little bit of time off the "oldskool" method... which uses the Stylize>"Find Edges/Glowing Edges/Trace Contours" filters. ;) Unless you've created an action for it. [slick]

This method isn't new. It's beed used by professionals for years. It's actually THE best way to approach sharpening for editing purposes. Specifically because it doesn't touch anything but the edges (if that's what you prefer). The HighPass filter method is similar, but is also grabs more than just the edges. Which is fine in a lot of cases.

Anywho... just thought you'd like to know that PS already has some 'native' filters for this job.

TIP: you can mix the Anisotropic (preferable over blurring) and Minimum/Maximum filters with the above to expand/contract the selection lines.

[Erik]

And don't forget to have the HighPass filter charge first! This is a real stormtrooper.

This said: I like this filter!
Thanks, Welles!

[Lee]

Great plug-in. Thanks, Welles.

[Rantin Al]

I think I must have developed the dreaded Stroker syndrome. }P ;)

I was just playing around with that Select Edges filter and came upon this trick. It makes a great photo recovery tool.

Use the filter to make a selection, smooth or fine edges.
New layer > Fill selection with white > Blend Overlay.

If you don't see much, re-select and invert the selection.
New layer > Fill selection with white > Blend Overlay.

Duplicate this layer again, still set to Overlay and tweak the opacity.

I tried it on some really dark images and it is amazing what it can enhance.

Here's a cropped sample.

[JoeD]

Always think twice before using an extra plug-in

a) plug-ins can be very expensive. A good example is Mystical Lighting; $177 for something that can easily be done in Photoshop
b) most of these plug-ins don't do things that you can't do yourself
c) every time you need to learn a new interface. Compare for example PowerRetouch with Auto FX or Flaming Pear, all totally different
d) a lot of these plug-ins have this "I've already seen this" label on them. Compare it with using Photoshop's lens flare or plastic wrap filters
e) older plug-ins sometimes don't work on a new version of Photoshop. Happened to me 3 times.
f) plug-ins tend to move the user away from really learning how Photoshop works and how to combine all the different tools. A good example are these color correction plug-ins. Lots of people are interested in them, because they're still having a hard time to do a professional color correction. Not because it's that difficult, no because they don't read and practice enough.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that plug-ins can be very useful, I use 3 or 4 myself, but I avoid buying those that really don't add something new to Photoshop.

Now someone can say; "But they make it easier for me to get certain things done in Photoshop!".
You know what my answer is; "If that's the case, why didn't you buy a program like PhotoImpact and save yourself a lot of money!".

Btw Welles, I tried PowerRetouche and I found it very cumbersome to use. I also never got the idea that was able to do things that I couldn't do in Photoshop. People who like me have read the book "Photoshop Artistry" will probably agree. $175 is a lot of money for a plug-in that doesn't really do a lot.

I don't want to be negative, I'm just trying to be realistic. The whole world around us is constantly trying to fool us so that some people can make even more money. Let's say I have some kind of personal "firewall" inside me to protect me from all those Billy boys out there

Welles, thanks for the info about this plugin.
I will give it a try for sure, because I'm not 100% against plugins of course and I hope that I made this clear.

I might even share my results in this thread. Can't promise anything though, got a lot of other stuff to do too ;)

[JoeD]

I tried it Welles and although it does it job I can't say it's a time saver, at least not for me. I shoot a few hundred photographs a year and this not the perfect solution for me.

The whole idea behind it is to sharpen edges to avoid the sharpening of noise. Yes that idea works, but you're still stuck with the noise and inverting the selection and blurring like he tells us in the manual, trust me, that is really not the best solution.

There are also several variations of the high pass sharpening technique to avoid sharpening noise that are faster and better than what this plug-in has to offer. My experience is that the combination of the parameters in this Select Edges plug-in combined with the parameters of USM is too much fiddling to get things right in a short time.
I don't believe in his statement "for sharpening with Unsharp Mask without getting halos", because even with this technique you'll get halos.

It even shows in this example that's on his web site"



I've had several discussions with photographers on a forum and they all agreed that halos are always unavoidable. You can only try to keep them under control.

You have to understand that most noise we see today is created in digital cameras or scanners. There are special programs like NeatImage and Noise Ninja (both very good!) that use special algorithms to build a noise profile of the camera (takes 10 sec). What these programs also do is sharpening the image at the same time. For someone like me these programs offer;

a) speed (once you have the profile, you only need to click once or run a batch job)
b) they remove noise and sharpen at the same time and offer better quality than anything I've seen so far. Tests like these http://www.michaelalmond.com/Articles/noise.htm only confirm this. Both programs offer results that are quite impossible to achieve with Photoshop only.

I do believe that the Select Edges plug-in can be very useful (and it is free of course) but I must admit that it's a lot of trial and error to get it right the first time. That's not too bad if you only have a few images to adjust, but this is costing a lot of time for people like me who have to do a few hundred shots a year.

There are always the options to use programs like NeatImage or Ninja Pro (remove noise/sharpen, both around $30).
One could also consider to buy a program like FocusMagic or FocalBlade (sharpen only, around $50) that offer a good quality and in less time or to stick with the more advanced Photoshop techniques for which you can also make an action. Fred Miranda has shown several times the power of good Photoshop techniques in combination with actions.