Sharpen a specific area of an image

The Sharpen tool is used to make a specific area of an image sharper.

1. Do one of the following:
   • In the Tools sidebar, click Sharpen or choose it from the grouped tools.
   • Choose Tools > Retouch > Sharpen from the Tools menu at the top of your screen.
2. In the Tool Options pane, customize the Sharpen tool:
   • Brush Size: Drag the Brush Size slider to adjust the size of the Sharpen tool brush. Press and hold the Option ⌥ key to extend the range of the Brush Size slider beyond 100%. You can also manually enter a value from 0% to 200%.

     
   • Softness: Drag the Softness slider to adjust the softness of the edges of the Sharpen tool brush. With softer edges, the sharpened areas will usually blend in better with the rest of the image.
   • Strength: Drag the Strength slider to adjust the intensity of the sharpening effect.
3. Select a tonal range to sharpen:

   • All: When you brush over an area to sharpen it, the darkest, brightest, and midtone areas are sharpened equally.

   • Shadows: When you brush over an area to sharpen it, only the shadows in that area are sharpened.

   • Midtones: When you brush over an area to sharpen it, only the midtones in that area are sharpened.

   • Highlights: When you brush over an area to sharpen it, only the highlights in that area are sharpened.
4. Brush over the area of your image you’d like to sharpen.

Show before and after or reset effects#

Show Original: Click the Show Original button to see what the image looked like before.

Show Split Comparison: Option ⌥ – click the Show Original button or press Control ⌃ + C on your keyboard.

Click Reset to discard all the current changes.