Photoshop Tutorial: Smart Sharpen (CS2)

Kotik · Last edited by Kotik on Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:47 pm; edited 1 time in total

Smart Sharpen for CS2
Written by: Mike

The Smart Sharpen is most probably the most interesting and useful function introduced in Photoshop CS2 and is most probably going to become the most favorite filter by professional photo-editors.

It’s not only useful but easy to use. With but not just a few clicks can you achieve the exact sharpness you want no matter what kind of blur it is.

Anyhow, let’s get started with the actual work. Open any image that is blurry in Photoshop.

Click to view this image at its original size

Click on the image to view it at its original size

Now we open up Smart Sharpen by going to Filter > Sharp > Smart Sharpen. A Smart Sharpen window will pop up.

Click on the image to view it at its original size

In the example I am taking we have a Gaussian Blur. So we’ll change ‘Remove: Lens Blur’ to ‘Gaussian Blur’. You actually have to look carefully and check what sort of blur you image has. There are three sorts of blur this filter removes. Lens Blur, Gaussian Blur & Motion Blur.

Then you have to specify the percentage of blur your image has and what radius of blur there is. Once done you should have a clear and neat image. You can even check the “More accurate” for a finely tuned sharpness.

In the example I am using these settings worked superb:

Amount: 145%
Radius: 1.2 px
Remove: Gaussian Blur

And the out come was