Digital BW, The Print

Todd,

Now that I have finally been playing with the *right* action set I'd like to
reply...

I like your ideas. I like the second one where you dupe the layer, but I
load the mask first, apply to the dupe, then run USM so that I can watch the
effects while in the USM dialogue box.

I did this when using masks for dup's while using USM before ever thinking
of finding edges to start off the mask... stupid me. I would spend a long
time painting the mask to the edges, feathering the transition of course
with a soft brush... thanks again John for a better way! Takes a smart
person to make things easier.  Have you ever used "command option tilde" for
a mask, then invert/paint/blurr that?

I find in the first levels command (in John's SuperSharpener) I can get rid
of most of the areas I don't want sharpened, then use your technique to
paint out what I could not effect... without effecting the edges I wanted to
keep... oh boy, hope that made some sense.

Yes, it's all good stuff eh!?
Carolyn


> Getting back to our conversation a couple of weeks ago...
> 
> Remember I was speaking well of some of Deadman's "smart" sharpeners, and
> you were speaking wisely of using layer masks. I've come to implement the
> two in conjunction with each other in a way I'm quite happy with.
> 
> What I do is start with John's SuperSharpener action, and use it to make an
> edge mask, but just after the 2nd levels adjustment on the mask I inserted a
> stop in the action. At this point I've the beginnings of a nice mask loaded
> as an alpha channel, and the action has stopped running. I can then paint on
> the mask, or manipulate it anyway I see fit, and resume the action at that
> point to apply the sharpening through a perfected mask, OR, what I prefer is
> to not resume the action. I make my dupe layer, run USM on the entirety of
> the layer, and load that mask as my layer mask.
> 
> It's the best of both worlds in that the mask making is somewhat automated
> (or at least actioned), and the mask itself is infinitely more manipulable
> and controllable.
> 
> JB, if you are reading this, I highly recommend this is how you implement
> the action in the future. Too many times I ran it and then found out that an
> area was not affected that I wished was, or vice versa, and had to start
> from scratch. With this approach you just paint/blur/change opacity/etc.,
> your layer mask until you are happy. And all the while you can see it's
> effect on sharpening as you work. Add in that you can just alter the layer's
> opacity to tailor the effect for different sizes/outputs, and.....
> fuggedabouddit - it's the best.