SHARPEN JUST THE EYES

The final step to enhancing the eyes in a photographis to sharpen the eye area. You want to add focusand draw the viewer into the photo, but you may notwant to sharpen the rest of the face or the skin. Youcan selectively sharpen the eyes by using a Sharpenfilter and then applying the filter with the Historypalette and History Brush.The techniques for sharpening in Photoshop had notreally changed until the release of Photoshop CS2.Aswith that previous version, you can use not only the Unsharp Mask filter for sharpening, but also thenew Smart Sharpen filter. This filter is not only easierto use, but it also has added features including amuch larger preview.After you sharpen the entire portrait, you can hidethe effect using the History palette to go back to aversion of the photo before the sharpening wasapplied. Then using the History Brush, you can paintthe sharpening effect on the eye area where youwant the focus.

1 Click and drag the Backgroundlayer over the New Layer buttonto duplicate it.
2 Double-click the Zoom tool toview the image at 100 percent.
3 Press the spacebar, click in theimage, and move it to see theeyes.
4 Click Filter.
5 Click Sharpen.
6 Click Smart Sharpen.

7 Click in the Preview window anddrag to see the eyes area.
8 Click here and select Lens Blur.
9 Click and drag the Radius sliderto 1.5.
10 Click and drag the Amount sliderto sharpen the eye, generallybetween 80 and 115 percent.
11 Click More Accurate.
12 Click OK to apply thesharpening.

13 Click here to open theHistory palette.
14 Click the box to the leftofthe Smart Sharpen stepto set the source for theHistory Brush.
15 Click the previous state inthe History palette.
16 Click here to close theHistory palette.
17 Click the History Brush tool.
18 Click here to open the Brush Picker.


19 Select a soft-edge brush at 0 percentHardness that is large enough to cover theedge of the eyes.
20 Paint over the eyes, eyelashes, andeyebrows with the History Brush to applythe sharpening.
21 Click the Visibility icon for the Backgroundcopy on and off to compare before andafter sharpening.