[Macro] "Gaussian Blur to Sharpen"

[Andy05]

Reminded by the most recent tutorial by PixImperfect, I want to share an old macro of mine with the community, which does exactly what he's showcasing in this video. I created it quite a while ago—when I first heard of this method.

In order to adjust the sharpening of the image, you'll have to adjust the setting for the live Gaussian blur filter. (Yes, that's sharpening by adding more blur.) For the best output, you might also have to edit the "sharpening" group's opacity.

Depending on your motive, this method can provide better results than pre-installed sharpness/clarity filters or methods using frequency separation. And it's completely non-destructive. So, might be worth a try.

blursharpening.afmacro

[hanshab]

this is a good takeoff on the frequency separation filter in Affinity.  the gaussian blur (when inverted) works but you might try the bilateral blur filter.  It seems to work better and it preserves edges.  This is also now a part of the frequency separation filter but you can create your own macro  as I have done years ago.  I actually use both now...

[Andy05]

17 hours ago, hanshab said:

this is a good takeoff on the frequency separation filter in Affinity.  the gaussian blur (when inverted) works but you might try the bilateral blur filter.  It seems to work better and it preserves edges.  This is also now a part of the frequency separation filter but you can create your own macro  as I have done years ago.  I actually use both now...

True, I also use both (depending on the source). The problem with bilateral blur is that in some cases, there might appear some miscolouring around some edges. I prefer true colours over slightly better preserved edges.

[hanshab]

hmm I have not experienced that even with zooming way in... but I leave the radius no large than 10 and the tolerance low between 9-10 usually.  By the way I found that in the new frequency separation filter ( wish it were a live filter)  you have to turn the tolerance up more..... would need to look at the algorithm  to see  why that is

 

[Smee Again]

Affinity photo will not import this macro. Has something in the program changed? I've noticed that quite a few of my macros no longer work since installing the software on my new computer.

[Dan C]

7 hours ago, Smee Again said:

Affinity photo will not import this macro. Has something in the program changed?

This is an .afmacro file, which means it needs to be imported into the Macro Studio within Affinity Photo. These differ slightly from .afmacros files, which have to be imported through the Library Studio.

I have imported the attached file directly into my Macro studio, where the file was accepted and opened as expected -

Are you seeing different behaviour to this please?

[Smee Again]

Thanks, but figured out the problem shortly after posting.

Windows 11. Computer went wacky, affinity decided that <ctrl><+> meant I wanted to rotate 90 degrees counter clockwise. Choosing brush selected shadows.

Restarted computer, all is working correctly now.