How to Non-destructively Sharpen Your Image In Photoshop

In this tutorial, I will show you how to Non-destructively Sharpen Your Image, as a result bring out more photo details in Photoshop. You can apply this method to any image and you will be amazed by the result. Plus it is done in a non-destructive way, without damaging the original image.

This is a beginner level tutorial and the steps are very easy to follow. Have a try :)

OK let’s get started!

Update: I have made a video tutorial about this technique, you can click on the player below to view it right away:

Step 1

Download this image here and load it into Photoshop – firstly we want to duplicate the background layer once (always a good habit when it comes to image editing):

Go to “Channels” (View > Channels) and add a new Alpha Channel:

Then, hit Ctrl + A and select the entire canvas:

Go to the new Alpha Channel, copy and paste the selection onto our Alpha Channel:

Step 2

Go to Filter > Stylize > Find Edge and find the edges of this image on the Alpha Channel:

and here is the effect after the Find Edges Filter applied:

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Levels:

Apply the following Levels adjustment settings: (You can experiment with different values – the ultimate goal is to obtain as much contrast as possible)

Apply the following Gaussian Blur to blur the edges slightly:

You can apply the levels adjustment again to increase the contrast a bit for this Alpha Channel:

And here is the effect on the Alpha Channel:

Step 3

Load the selection on the Alpha 1 channel by holding down the Ctrl key and Left-click here:

Press Ctrl + Shift + I and inverse the selection:

Click on the “Layer 1” layer and go back to the image, you will see the channel selection is still visible:

Hit Ctrl + J and duplicate this selection into a new layer, turn off the background and “layer 1” layer, and you will see the following effect:

Step 4

We’re almost done! On this newly duplicated layer, apply the following Unsharp Mask settings: (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask)

Hit Ctrl + F and duplicate this unsharp mask filter again, then apply the Fade Unsharp Mask (Shift + Ctrl +F) option once:

Set opacity to 100% and “lighten” blending mode:

and you will have the following effect so far:

Turn the original photo layer back on and you will see the image becomes clearer and contains more details. Here is the before and after effect for various parts of the image:

Hair and Decorations

Before