TLR Landscape Sharpener

Submitted by mitch on Sat, 11/01/2008 - 10:38.

Sharpen landscapes and add pop to your photos.

TLR Landscape Sharpener is the latest creative sharpener from The Light's Right!

This is no simple sharpening action that creates a layer and applies USM sharpening. This is a sophisticated sharpening tool for Photoshop CS3/CS4 that combines three sharpening effects in one Smart Filter layer to target lighter and darker pixels separately and then add a contrast boost to reduce the effects of haze, UV, etc.

How It Works

The TLR LandscapeSharpener uses the Photoshop CS3/CS4 Smart Filter feature. There's a little known property of Smart Filter layers. The layer can have a blend mode. So can the individual filters.

What this means is that one layer does the job of three layers:

Unsharp Mask filter (USM) is used to sharpen the darker contours along edges with more aggressive settings.
Unsharp Mask filter (USM) is used to sharpen the lighter contours along edges with more less settings to reduce sharpening artifacts.
Unsharp Mask is used to apply local contrast enhancement (LCE), a technique from Michael Riechmann and Thomas Knoll that helps reduce the effects of haze and lends extra pop to your landscape photos.

You're left with one layer, not three. The opacity is set to 65%, which makes it easy to adjust the effect without altering the filter settings. Blend If sliders protect the extreme highlights and shadows. A Luminosity layer blend avoids color shifts. And, because the action uses the Smart Filter feature, you can easily adjust the filter settings, making the effect easily customizable.

URL:

http://www.thelightsright.com/files/tools/tlrlandscapesharpener/tlrlands...

Tool details

Tool type:

Photoshop action

Compatibility:

Photoshop CS3/CS4

Version:

1.0c (13 March 2009)

Download size (KB):

Author information

Author:

Glenn E. Mitchell II, Ph.D.

Author Bio:

Glenn Mitchell is an avid digital photographer, technical writer, and university administrator. He is an author with a long list of publications in trade magazines, peer-reviewed academic journals, and co-authored books. He is creative force behind The Light's Right. His photography can be seen at his gallery site: www.thelightsrightstudio.com.

Rating:

Version 1.0b Soon for new Portrait and Landscape Sharpeners

Submitted by mitch on Sun, 11/02/2008 - 20:32.

I've had one report that the settings were a bit too aggressive.

While I'm waiting for more comments, I'll test the new TLR Portrait Sharpener and TLR Landscape sharpener settings more thoroughly as creative sharpeners that follow sharpening in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw.

Look for announcements of versions 1,0b for both later this week.

Mitch

Version 1.0b Posted for TLR Landscape Sharpener

Submitted by admin on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 12:56.

Changes:

Tested with Lightroom, ACR, and TLR capture sharpeners.
Adjusted sharpening settings. (Less aggressive)

Awsome

Submitted by Loopsta on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 16:23.

Thanks Mitch, another great addition, works just like it says on the tin

version 1.0B TLR Landscape Sharpener

Submitted by gord126 on Tue, 12/02/2008 - 14:53.

How do you get to the version 1.0B for the TLR Landscape Sharpener? If you click on the Landscape sharpener you get version 1. If you go down in your comments and click on version 1.0b nothing downloads.

Re. version 1.0B TLR Landscape Sharpener

Submitted by mitch on Tue, 12/02/2008 - 20:36.

The version that is available from the URL is version 1.0b. I'll post it here, to keep readers from scrolling up to find the URL.

http://www.thelightsright.com/files/tools/tlrlandscapesharpener/tlrlandscapesharpener.zip

You can verify that it is version 1.0b by checking the action called About TLR Landscape Sharpener. It lists 1.0b as the version.

I'm sorry about the confusion. I do hope you find the action to be helpful.

Landscape Sharpener

Submitted by mitrajoon on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 18:50.

Just tried this out and it works great. I love the simplicity. One question I have though is what makes this primarily a landscape action? Let's say I wanted to apply it to an urban scene. I suppose there is more control using your pro sharpening kit, but couldn't I apply a mask if neccessary to protect certain areas? (As I write this I think I should turn my question around: why wouldn't I use the pro sharpener set vs this one unless I was only interested in global sharpening?).

Regardless, I find your actions are amazing. I just sometimes get overwhelmed by the options. That's definently something I will overcome with practice. Thanks again.

Jim

http://jmlphotography.smugmug.com/

Re. Landscape Sharpener

Submitted by mitch on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 20:48.

I'm glad you like the effect.

You can certainly use the TLR Landscape Sharpener on other photos. I designed it to add "pop" to photographs as well as sharpen them. Landscape photographs are prone to haze/UV effects, and the TLR Landscape Sharpener has a built-in effect like a haze/UV filter.

The feeling of being overwhelmed is common. It will pass as you gain experience. ;)

Feel free to ask questions!

There's also a couple of forums where you might want to post photos and seek advice.

http://www.thelightsright.com/smf/index.php?board=17.0
http://www.thelightsright.com/smf/index.php?board=23.0

Primary links