Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced
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Using the Remove settings


Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced

with Deke McClelland

Video: Using the Remove settings

In this exercise, I'm going to demonstrate the difference between a couple of Remove settings that are available to you inside of the Smart Sharpen dialog box. Those are Gaussian Blur versus Lens Blur, which is why I've created this new demo file that's called Lens vs Gaussian.psd, found inside the 15_sharpen folder. It contains three layers. We're starting off again with the Unsharp Mask layer, the USM layer here, which represents those very unsharp mask settings that we applied a couple of exercises ago. On top of this is the virgin Smart Sharp layer.
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  1. 40m 2s
    1. Welcome
      2m 1s
    2. Making Photoshop your default image editor
      7m 43s
    3. Installing the dekeKeys keyboard shortcuts
      8m 10s
    4. Remapping OS shortcuts
      7m 37s
    5. Installing the Best Workflow color settings
      4m 31s
    6. The color settings explained
      6m 54s
    7. Loading the CS5 color settings in Bridge
      3m 6s
  2. 1h 5m
    1. What you can do with Photoshop
      1m 46s
    2. The mission-critical eyes
      2m 44s
    3. Copy Merged and Paste in Place
      6m 52s
    4. Sharpening details to match
      4m 34s
    5. Masking eyes
      9m 22s
    6. Working with clipping-mask layers
      9m 5s
    7. Shading with layer effects
      8m 10s
    8. Color and highlight effects
      4m 2s
    9. Refining layer masks
      5m 43s
    10. Fabricating the highlights in the pupils
      7m 33s
    11. Using a merged copy to sharpen
      5m 34s
  3. 2h 14m
    1. Highlights, shadows, and midtones
      1m 16s
    2. Introducing the Auto commands
      7m 23s
    3. Adjusting Cache Level settings
      6m 8s
    4. Reading a channel-by-channel histogram
      6m 21s
    5. How the Auto commands work
      5m 22s
    6. Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color
      7m 7s
    7. Blending the Auto results
      4m 4s
    8. Introducing the Levels command
      6m 15s
    9. Using Levels as an adjustment layer
      3m 12s
    10. Applying custom Levels adjustments
      6m 8s
    11. Understanding the gamma value
      7m 39s
    12. The futility of Output Levels
      2m 56s
    13. Selections and adjustment layers
      5m 48s
    14. Opening up the shadows
      3m 40s
    15. Previewing clipped pixels
      4m 51s
    16. The black, white, and gray eyedroppers
      5m 7s
    17. Gray card tips and tricks
      6m 5s
    18. Making channel-by-channel adjustments
      7m 29s
    19. Introducing the Curves command
      7m 44s
    20. Curves dialog box tricks
      7m 16s
    21. Curves adjustment layer tricks
      5m 45s
    22. Correcting an image with Curves
      5m 32s
    23. Filling in the highlights
      5m 42s
    24. Neutralizing casts and smoothing transitions
      5m 37s
  4. 1h 46m
    1. The art of enhancing edges
      1m 26s
    2. How sharpening works
      6m 2s
    3. The single-shot sharpeners
      6m 7s
    4. Introducing Unsharp Mask
      6m 19s
    5. Radius and Threshold
      6m 24s
    6. Sharpening colors vs. luminosity
      5m 56s
    7. Gauging the ideal settings
      8m 59s
    8. Unsharp Mask vs. Smart Sharpen
      7m 1s
    9. Using the Remove settings
      9m 30s
    10. The More Accurate checkbox
      6m 8s
    11. Saving your Smart Filter settings
      5m 31s
    12. The Advanced sharpening settings
      7m 52s
    13. Accounting for camera shake
      6m 18s
    14. Sharpening with the Emboss filter
      6m 43s
    15. Sharpening with High Pass
      9m 23s
    16. The new and improved Sharpen tool
      6m 22s
  5. 1h 34m
    1. Edge's evil twin: noise
      1m 12s
    2. Color vs. luminance noise
      7m 21s
    3. Reducing color noise
      7m 45s
    4. Reducing luminance noise
      4m 59s
    5. Relegating an effect to the shadows
      6m 27s
    6. Switching between layer and mask
      6m 59s
    7. The Dust & Scratches filter
      4m 56s
    8. Adjusting shadow saturation
      5m 52s
    9. Combining High Pass with Lens Blur
      6m 57s
    10. Masking a layer of Lens Blur
      7m 34s
    11. Painting away High Pass sharpening
      8m 22s
    12. Building up a noise pattern
      6m 40s
    13. Converting noise to texture
      4m 24s
    14. Bleeding colors into paper
      6m 16s
    15. Matching different noise levels
      8m 31s
  6. 1h 32m
    1. We are the stuff of light
      1m 24s
    2. Applying automatic lens correction
      5m 53s
    3. Introducing Shadows/Highlights
      3m 44s
    4. Shadows/Highlights in depth
      7m 59s
    5. Creating a "bounce" with Gaussian Blur
      4m 43s
    6. Sharpening on top of blur
      7m 3s
    7. Sharpening the merged composition
      6m 16s
    8. Grouping and masking layers
      5m 40s
    9. Adjusting the density of a mask
      7m 14s
    10. Creating a Shadows/Highlights shortcut
      5m 47s
    11. Restoring detail with Shadows/Highlights
      6m 23s
    12. Changing the Shadows/Highlights defaults
      6m 21s
    13. Smoothing skin details with Gaussian Blur
      3m 56s
    14. Smoothing with High Pass
      5m 44s
    15. Lowering contrast with Gaussian Blur
      7m 4s
    16. Inverting a sharpening effect
      7m 5s
  7. 2h 32m
    1. Color becomes monochrome
      1m 31s
    2. Converting an image to grayscale
      6m 49s
    3. Extracting luminance information
      7m 37s
    4. Introducing the Channel Mixer
      10m 23s
    5. Aggressive channel mixing
      9m 42s
    6. Proofing CMYK colors
      7m 49s
    7. Color settings and intent
      7m 6s
    8. Practical Channel Mixer variations
      4m 30s
    9. Saving variations as layer comps
      7m 57s
    10. The default grayscale recipe
      8m 55s
    11. Creating a custom black-and-white mix
      6m 59s
    12. Shadows/Highlights in black and white
      4m 58s
    13. Introducing the Black & White command
      5m 55s
    14. Adjusting Black & White settings
      9m 39s
    15. Mixing a Black & White portrait
      6m 32s
    16. Black & White vs. Channel Mixer
      9m 21s
    17. Adding tint and color
      8m 0s
    18. Introducing the Gradient Map
      7m 10s
    19. Loading custom gradients
      4m 32s
    20. Editing gradient color stops
      9m 58s
    21. Colorizing with blend modes and Opacity
      7m 13s
  8. 2h 10m
    1. Two great commands working great together
      1m 18s
    2. Introducing the Color Range command
      5m 13s
    3. Setting key colors and Fuzziness
      5m 38s
    4. Predefined vs. sampled colors
      3m 57s
    5. The Localized Color Clusters option
      5m 41s
    6. Defining a selection with care
      4m 44s
    7. Introducing the Quick Mask mode
      5m 20s
    8. Testing edges with the Magic Wand
      5m 14s
    9. Hand-brushing a selection
      5m 39s
    10. Saving and loading an alpha channel
      4m 35s
    11. Converting a selection to a layer mask
      2m 46s
    12. Switching between an image and a layer mask
      6m 58s
    13. Protecting elements with a layer mask
      8m 5s
    14. Duplicating and editing a layer mask
      7m 34s
    15. Introducing the Refine Edge command
      4m 46s
    16. Accessing the various Refine Edge options
      5m 35s
    17. Refine Edge's preview options
      6m 21s
    18. The Adjust Edge values
      4m 11s
    19. Edge Detection and Smart Radius
      6m 5s
    20. Using the Refine Radius tool
      8m 8s
    21. Using the Decontaminate Colors option
      7m 30s
    22. Old-school masking adjustments
      7m 7s
    23. Four micro mask adjustments
      8m 33s
  9. 3h 13m
    1. Photoshop's vector exceptions
      1m 11s
    2. Making text in Photoshop
      6m 18s
    3. Creating and editing a text layer
      6m 56s
    4. Font and type style
      7m 35s
    5. Type size and color
      7m 52s
    6. Combining layer effects and type
      10m 57s
    7. Drawing a custom shape layer
      8m 34s
    8. Side bearing, kerning, and tracking
      10m 36s
    9. Point text vs. area text
      8m 26s
    10. Selecting and formatting a paragraph
      5m 19s
    11. Copying and pasting unformatted text
      7m 45s
    12. Creating text inside a custom path
      6m 26s
    13. Creating text along a path
      8m 13s
    14. Adjusting baseline shift
      6m 16s
    15. Drawing a fading arrowhead
      7m 29s
    16. Fading a shadow with a layer
      5m 32s
    17. Logo creation and Fill Opacity
      7m 44s
    18. Stretching a background element
      6m 9s
    19. Drawing with shape outlines
      6m 18s
    20. Combining vector-based shapes
      6m 42s
    21. Masking vector-based shape layers
      6m 7s
    22. Correcting spacing problems
      7m 44s
    23. Drawing the ultimate specular sparkle
      8m 45s
    24. Preparing text for commercial output
      5m 9s
    25. Saving a high-resolution PDF file
      7m 11s
    26. Inspecting the final PDF document
      7m 8s
    27. Saving large poster art
      9m 32s
  10. 2h 36m
    1. What filters ought to be
      1m 25s
    2. Layer effects vs. filters
      6m 14s
    3. Carving with an Inner Shadow effect
      7m 45s
    4. Selling an effect with Drop Shadow
      7m 17s
    5. Creating blurry shadow type
      5m 30s
    6. Saving custom default settings
      6m 22s
    7. Creating a custom contour
      7m 3s
    8. Introducing Bevel and Emboss
      7m 35s
    9. Adjusting Angle and Altitude
      7m 8s
    10. Exploiting global light
      8m 11s
    11. Gloss and edge contour
      5m 8s
    12. Applying and creating layer styles
      6m 45s
    13. Loading, saving, and merging styles
      6m 17s
    14. Creating a textured bevel effect
      6m 56s
    15. Using shadows as highlights
      7m 39s
    16. Combining filters and effects
      6m 58s
    17. Working with random effects
      6m 55s
    18. Smoothing with Gaussian Blur and Levels
      6m 13s
    19. Masking blacks from whites
      4m 37s
    20. Applying liquid styles
      4m 36s
    21. Simulating liquid reflections
      8m 12s
    22. Finessing and cropping a liquid effect
      7m 25s
    23. Initiating a displacement map
      6m 17s
    24. Applying a displacement map
      7m 37s
  11. 1h 12m
    1. Two words: Free Transform
    2. Scale, rotate, and constrain
      6m 30s
    3. Using the transformation origin
      7m 42s
    4. Applying a slant (aka skew)
      3m 37s
    5. The four-point "perspective" distortion
      7m 51s
    6. Two ways to make gradient text
      5m 59s
    7. Building complexity from a simple shape
      4m 42s
    8. Duplicating a series of transformations
      6m 3s
    9. Rasterizing a layer with its effects
      6m 41s
    10. Applying a custom warp
      7m 24s
    11. Blending and softening a warped layer
      4m 39s
    12. Creating spherical highlights
      6m 30s
    13. Using a center-source inner glow
      3m 51s
  12. 2h 42m
    1. Distorting reality
      1m 33s
    2. Extracting a foreground element
      6m 45s
    3. Introducing the Puppet Warp command
      7m 20s
    4. Setting and manipulating pins
      7m 48s
    5. Rotating pins and switching warp modes
      6m 41s
    6. Expanding and contracting the mesh
      6m 11s
    7. Changing the Density setting
      8m 0s
    8. Adjusting the pin depth
      5m 18s
    9. Winding an image into a pretzel
      6m 2s
    10. Applying Puppet Warp to type
      6m 30s
    11. Warping single characters
      6m 25s
    12. Editing puppet-warped text
      8m 24s
    13. Extending an image with Free Transform
      8m 46s
    14. Extracting from a white background
      10m 5s
    15. Tracing a shape with Puppet Warp
      9m 1s
    16. Introducing the Liquify command
      5m 4s
    17. Warp, Twirl, Pucker, and Bloat
      8m 53s
    18. Saving and loading a mesh
      5m 59s
    19. Push, Mirror, and Turbulence
      11m 49s
    20. Lifting and slimming details
      8m 22s
    21. Warping fabric, arms, and legs
      7m 1s
    22. Masking and finessing the results
      10m 8s
  13. 3h 3m
    1. Welcome to the digital darkroom
      1m 44s
    2. Introducing Camera Raw
      7m 40s
    3. Adjusting white balance
      7m 0s
    4. Selecting and synchronizing images
      6m 9s
    5. Making automatic adjustments and saving changes
      7m 19s
    6. Creating and managing snapshots
      8m 23s
    7. Adjusting the Exposure value
      6m 24s
    8. Working with clipping warnings
      5m 5s
    9. Adjusting Brightness and Contrast
      7m 35s
    10. Vibrance, Saturation, and Clarity
      9m 25s
    11. Recovery and Fill Light
      6m 57s
    12. Using the Graduated Filter tool
      7m 2s
    13. Painting edits with the Adjustment Brush
      9m 44s
    14. Straighten, crop, and geometric distortions
      7m 49s
    15. Applying manual lens corrections
      7m 19s
    16. Vignette and chromatic aberrations
      6m 21s
    17. Introducing the Tone Curves
      6m 9s
    18. Parametric curves and targeted adjustments
      6m 26s
    19. Correcting a low-noise photograph
      7m 35s
    20. Sharpening and high-noise photos
      8m 25s
    21. Selective Hue/Saturation adjustments
      5m 34s
    22. Selective Luminance adjustments
      5m 39s
    23. Adding grain and vignetting effects
      5m 23s
    24. Mixing a subjective black-and-white image
      7m 53s
    25. Colorizing with the Split Toning options
      4m 29s
    26. Opening a raw image as a Smart Object
      5m 39s
    27. Camera Raw wrap-up
      8m 38s
  14. 55s
    1. Until next time


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26h 24m Intermediate Aug 13, 2010 Updated Aug 31, 2010

Viewers: in countries Watching now:



Topics include:
  • Using blend modes, adjustment layers, and layer styles
  • Organizing a layered composition so it is fluid and editable
  • Creating and editing type in Photoshop
  • Using blur effectively
  • Using adjustment layers to add color
  • Combining layers into a clipping mask
  • Working with Camera Raw
Design Photography
Deke McClelland

Using the Remove settings


So, in other words, I have not applied any sharpening to this layer so far. Then at the very top, we have GBlur diff, because this is that comparison between the unsharp mask settings, and Smart Sharpen set to a Remove value of Gaussian Blur, even though we didn't pay much attention to that. That's what was going on. Now, when you're first seeing these kinds of difference layers, they may be very hard to interpret. There is just a ton of noise going on. It looks like gibberish, it's fairly analogous at first to reading an ultrasound, and trying to figure out what it is you're really seeing, because you have to figure out what's real and what's static.

But as we'll see by the end of this exercise, the difference that we're about to achieve is very different than this difference here. Anyway, I'm going to turn this GBlur diff layer off. Make sure Smart Sharp is turned on and active. Then I'll go up to the Filter menu. Notice the very first command is Smart Sharpen, because that was the last filter I applied. If I go ahead and choose this command or press Ctrl+F, Command+F on the Mac, then I just repeat my last settings, which is not what I want to do. So, I'll press Ctrl+Z, Command+Z on the Mac. What I need to do, if I want to redisplay the dialog box is add the Alt or Option key.

So, Ctrl+Alt+F or Command+Option+F on the Mac displays the last settings for the last used filter which, in this case, are these settings right here. All right, I'm going to go ahead and drag the bug's head down just a little bit. I'm going to zoom in on it. This time I won't use the Zoom tool, because that gets us in trouble, as you may recall from the previous exercise. Instead, I'll just click on the Plus button, which works better inside this dialog box. I'll drag the bug's head down a little bit, so we're viewing it at 200% inside the dialog box, 100% outside the dialog box.

I'll go ahead and scoot this guy over a little bit as well. All right, so notice, we've got Remove, this Remove value which, by default, is Gaussian Blur. You may recall that the Unsharp Mask filter actually uses Gaussian Blur, another filter that's available to us inside Photoshop, in order to achieve a sharpening effect, and so does the Smart Sharpen filter, by default. But you can change that out. You can switch it to Lens Blur or Motion Blur, two other blur filters available to Photoshop. Rather than removing the effects of those filters, which is insanity, because you're not going to apply Gaussian Blur and then try to cover up your tracks after you do it, using one of these settings here.

Instead, you're actually using Gaussian Blur or Lens Blur or Motion Blur to achieve the sharpening effect. But so what? What does that even mean in terms of using these options? Well, here is how it goes. Gaussian Blur is great for accounting for the effects of downsampling. So, if you use the Image Size command in order to decrease the size of an image for the web, for example. You're using Bicubic Interpolation, which is the default setting, why then you might want to follow up with little bit of Gaussian Blur style smart sharpening here, a very low amount setting, 100% or less, and a very tiny radius setting, something like 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, something along those lines.

Also, Gaussian Blur is great for sharpening scanned images. So, if you start with a nicely focused image and you scan it, and it suffers from just a little bit of softness, whether because of the thickness of the glass or some other blur variable that's going on, why then Gaussian Blur can help to get rid of that. If you're trying to sharpen a digital photograph, I urge you to move on to Lens Blur, which gives you much better edges as we're about to see. Now, it's a subtle difference, but it's a meaningful difference.

Then Motion Blur is designed to correct for the effects of camera shake, and I'll show you what that means later. For now, I want you to go ahead and choose Lens Blur, because this is a digital photograph after all. Now, did you notice that difference? By the way, I want you to watch this preview right here. Watch the halo inside of this proboscis or whatever it is. I'm going to switch between Gaussian Blur. Notice how thick that light halo is. Then I'll switch over to Lens Blur. It gets a little thinner; actually, it gets quite a bit thinner, even though the Radius value did not change at all.

Well, what you need to do, if you want to keep your Radius value about the same, is you need to increase it by half again. So, I'm going to take this value up to 4.5. So, it was 3 before, half of 3 is 1.5. I add 1.5 to 3, I get 4.5. So, I'm going with 4.5 pixels, I'm going to leave More Accurate turned off. We'll discuss that shortly. So, 500%, 4.5, Lens Blur, let's see what that looks like. Go ahead and click OK in order to apply that setting. Now let's run through those same steps we did before. Go up to the Edit menu, because we still have all sorts of strangely colored halos.

Choose Fade Smart Sharpen; Ctrl+Shift+F, Command+Shift+F on the Mac. Notice how close that keyboard shortcut is to the filter shortcuts. So, it's Ctrl+Alt+F or Command+Option+F to redisplay the dialog box. It's Ctrl+Shift+F or Command+Shift+F in order to fade the effects of that filter. Even though the Fade command is applicable to all sorts of things, brush strokes, any pixel level edit, it does have a keyboard shortcut that's very much analogous to filtering. All right, anyway, I'm going to go ahead and choose that command.

Notice all the weird colors that are going on inside this butterfly head. I'm going to go ahead and zoom in on it, and move it over a little bit, so that you can see all of those weird blues and purples. They drop out as soon as I choose Luminosity. They all go away. Notice how everything settles down there. Then I'm going to reduce my Opacity level to 30%. Once again, I'm just running through those same steps as before. I could've applied a lower amount value in the first place. I really want you to see the sharpening at work onscreen here. I'll go ahead and click OK, and now let's find the difference.

So, with Smart Sharp selected, I'll switch the Blend mode from Normal to Difference, like so. That produces what appears to be a black background. I'll go ahead and press the Escape key here on the PC to make sure the Blend mode option is no longer active. Then I'll press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E or Command+Shift+Option+E on the Mac, in order to create a merged version of those two layers blended together. I'll call this guy LBlur vs GBlur , like so. Then I will press Ctrl+L or Command+L on the Mac, in order to bring up the Levels dialog box.

You know what I ought to do. I'm going to cancel out of there. I should show you how to bring up the last used Levels setting from the keyboard; you can press Ctrl+Alt+L or Command+Option+L on the Mac. Just by virtue of the fact we added Alt or Option, so the same thing we did with the filter, right? We bring up the last applied settings here. So, notice that I've changed the white point value to 2. Click OK. You may look at this and think golly! I have no idea of what I'm looking at. It looks like a bunch of that same static we saw before.

Let's compare these two difference layers together. This is the one we saw last on. This is the difference between the two GBlur settings. So, notice that we're seeing a lot of noise going on and a lot of difference between the noise. So, in other words, the Unsharp Mask version of the butterfly had less noise than the Smart Sharpen version. That's why we're seeing all these noise differences, but if I turn that layer off, I want you to see something. Around the edges, notice these edges look fairly routine. The edges are kind of black, maybe a little bit white here and there.

However, as soon as I turn off the GBlur diff, I see these big, thick outlines around the edges. So, there's all sorts of molten detail around those edges. That's because the edges are fundamentally different. So, it's not just the noise, which we are seeing all over the place here, but it's also a difference between the edges, and the edges you get from Lens Blur are better. They are sounder edges. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and turn off this Difference layer. Let's go ahead and switch back to Smart Sharpen.

Let's change its Blend mode back to Normal, because Difference has served its purpose here. Let's go ahead and zoom in, so that we can see the difference between these two sharpened images. This is the Smart Sharpen version of the image, set to Lens Blur, and this is the Unsharp Mask version of the image, which employs Gaussian Blur. Now, you may look at those two things and say, I didn't see any difference. All right, here's what I want you to look at. Watch this area inside of the curling proboscis. This highlight right here, notice how thin and fragile the highlight is in the Unsharp Mask example.

As soon as I turn on Smart Sharpen, it grows a little brighter, a little more information held inside of that area. So, that's the kind of effect you're going to get using Lens Blur. You're going to get sharper details; you're going to get better details out of your image. Bear in mind, this is a fairly low-resolution image. Anything you see work inside of a low-res image, is going to work even better inside of your high-resolution original digital photographs. In the next exercise, I will demonstrate how to work with the More Accurate check box.


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