Sharpening images: It may be an old fashioned technique, But I wonder if any one still uses The "high pass" filter method of sharpening. Some "old timer" taught me this process years...

grichie5

It may be an old fashioned technique, But I wonder if any one still uses The "high pass" filter method of sharpening. Some "old timer" taught me this process years ago and it still seems to serve my needs.

My photography is strictly amateur. I have tried Topaz Sharpen A1, but cannot seem to find any real improvement and it seems a slow process on my computer. Am I missing something other than more software?

tramsey Loc: Texas

And I can't seem to find a high pass filter anywhere for sale. I use Fast Stone Image Viewer and it's free

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

I use whatever method will give me results and minimize artifacts and halos. High pass works for some, I usually don't use the Sharpen aspect of Topaz, opting to use either stabilize or Denoise and clear in the Topaz Denoise AI. But I try different ideas and different software, all depending on the photo I am working on. The Topaz AI products are computer resource demanding, so the slower your PC in general, the longer the process takes. On my PC, AI takes about 5-10 seconds to complete. Acceptable for a PC I built about 8 years ago expressly to run PS and Autocad. The parts I put in are obviously outdated now, but the one resource you can easily upgrade is your ram memory and that should give you a noticeable speed increase.

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

Yes, I've been using the high pass filter for years. I recently got a trial version of Topaz Sharpen AI and I can see a huge improvement on some images.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Here's a good description / demo of the PS / PSE process of doing a High-Pass Filter, note a sharpening process rather than a product: https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/sharpen-high-pass/

The technique, with far less complexity, is relatively similar to using the sharpening tools in Lightroom, as demonstrated in Basics of Lightroom Sharpening

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

I use the high pass filter in Affinity on most shots. I also use Topaz AISharpen frequently. Both do a very nice job.

Bret Perry

I use high-pass filter for most images. I made into a Photoshop action so it is just one click to run the action, choose a setting, OK and done!

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

grichie5 who are your clients and what are the parameters of their requested deliverables?
It is virtually impossible to address your query effectively without the aforementioned...

btw your recent post "Evening skies" suffers from excessive sharpening halos in the high contrast foliage interface when viewing the download on screen at 100%, however if the download is exclusively for printing only it might be acceptable... much depends on the ultimate presentation... Those who retouch commercially generally recommend sharpening as the very last step of the workflow...

Please share your clients needs so others on the site can help you grichie5
All the best on your journey

User ID

Thomas902 wrote:

grichie5 who are your clients and what are the parameters of their requested deliverables?
It is virtually impossible to address your query effectively without the aforementioned...
...........................

Please share your clients needs so others on the site can help you grichie5
All the best on your journey

Didn’t you read the thread ? Not one of those standard boiler plate questions need asking. But OTOH it’s very good that you mentioned to leave sharpening as the final step. Very important and not previously pointed out !

grichie5

Thomas902 wrote:

grichie5 who are your clients and what are the par... (show quote)

As I mentioned, I am not a professional. I do not sell or exhibit my work, except to friends and family and occasionally hang a print in a frame on what little wall space is left at home. I create images for my own satisfaction.

grichie5

tramsey wrote:

And I can't seem to find a high pass filter anywhere for sale. I use Fast Stone Image Viewer and it's free

It is not for sale as a separate process, but is a procedure available within Photoshop. Google the process or see the response below by CHG Canon, who is a mentor to many of us.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

tramsey wrote:

And I can't seem to find a high pass filter anywhere for sale. I use Fast Stone Image Viewer and it's free

It is a PS CC filter. Included, free, among many other things that workd better than anything you purchase IF you take the time to learn instead of 'paying for GES'.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Bret Perry wrote:

I use high-pass filter for most images. I made into a Photoshop action so it is just one click to run the action, choose a setting, OK and done!

I hope you made it interactive...

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

I used just last night for the first time. Trying to get a tad more out a Red Kite I'd snapped that afternoon. I'm using PSP 2020 and normally stop with Unsharp Mask at a moderate setting.
I saw High Pass sharpen at the top of the menu and tried it out. Kept it low with a radius of 1, and a strength of 25. I'll be looking to use it more in the future.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

CHG_CANON wrote:

Here's a good description / demo of the PS / PSE process of doing a High-Pass Filter, note a sharpening process rather than a product: https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/sharpen-high-pass/

The technique, with far less complexity, is relatively similar to using the sharpening tools in Lightroom, as demonstrated in Basics of Lightroom Sharpening

I followed your link regarding LR Sharping. Thanks for posting. Good information.