Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature

Selective Sharpening

USE LAYERS TO SHARPEN ONLY SPECIFIC PARTS OF THE PHOTO THAT NEED IT MOST

Let’s face it, sharpening isn’t rocket science. It’s actually very simple, so I don’t want to complicate it with a bunch of layers and techie terminology. For me, the simplest form of sharpening usually looks the best. However, not all areas of a photo need to be (or should be) sharpened. Sometimes there are very specific parts that look good when sharpened, which is where this technique comes in. With one layer and a layer mask, we can get a tremendous amount of control in our sharpening.

Step 1: Open a Photo that Needs to be Sharpened

Start off by opening the photo that needs to be sharpened. Here, I’m taking one of those opportunities to show off ...