Digital images often get a kinda muddy appearance, and this a method to sharpen up your pictures and make them look crisp. Here’s a before/after shot to show you the difference defogging can make.
I first learned about this technique in a photo challenge at SSD a long time ago, but I found this video by Bonnie Creevy that explains how to do it very nicely. (Note: If you use Elements, you will find the Unsharp Mask by following this path: Enhance>Unsharp Mask. The settings are the same.)
How to Defog Your Photos
Feel free to adjust the settings to your liking. As Bonnie says in the video, the settings she provides are the most typical settings. But you can adjust them, especially when you’re trying to sharpen up a blurry picture.
And an additional tip from me. I defog as a final step after I’ve completed my entire layout — just so that I don’t question whether or not I already defogged and do it again. So once I’ve done all my shadows and everything, I defog my pictures, save the file, and then save a web-friendly version so I can post my layouts in galleries. (I do all of my photo editing once I’ve started a layout — like cropping and adjusting levels on my pictures — which leaves my originals intact.)
Hope you find this tutorial helpful!
P.S. Tips & Tricks have been officially moved to Thursdays, switching places with the Sneak Peek posts. You still have time to entire the drawings to win one of my new releases this week — check Tuesday’s post.
wow- what a difference the defog makes in that adorable picture. thanks for the tip- will need to try it soon!