The Photoshop® Elements 10 Book for Digital Photographers

Sharpening in Camera Raw

In Elements, we have pro-level sharpening within Camera Raw. So when do you sharpen here, and when in Elements? I generally sharpen my photos twice—once here in Camera Raw (called “capture sharpening”), and then once in Elements at the very end of my editing process, right before I save the final image for print or for the Web (called “output sharpening”).

Here’s how to do the capture sharpening part in Camera Raw:

Step One:

When you open a RAW image in Camera Raw, by default it applies a small amount of sharpening to your photo (not the JPEGs or TIFFs—only RAW images). You can adjust this amount (or turn if off altogether, if you like) by clicking on the Detail icon (circled here in red), or using the keyboard shortcut ...