Has anybody managed to create an edge mask?

[MikaG]

Hello everybody,

 

I'm struggling to find a way of creating an edge mask that would serve as a protection mask for gradient portions of an image during sharpening. There are several ways to achieve this in Photoshop, but all of my attempts lead into dead ends and now I am lost... The problem for me is, that one can't apply filters to an mask to tweak it further, like applying a levels adjustment or blurring, for example.

 

Any thoughts would be highly appreciated.

 

To show what I'm looking for, I attached an example I created in PS.

[anon1]

Could you explain your exact steps a bit more? I´ve got sort of an idea about what you want to do.

 

You generally should be able to also use live filters on masks but I´ve not dived into this much yet.

Just tried that again and used live filter and live adjustment layers too manipulate the mask. Seems to work just as expected.

 

My no brainer attempt would be:

Filter > Detect edges 

then add all filters you want to use, B/W, blur, Levels

Merge Visible

Layer > Rasterte to mask (to use this merged layer as a mask for a sharpening adjustment)

 

a little fast but you probably get the idea

[MikaG]

Thanks for your reply! I somehow managed to create some rather dirty masks on two of my images with your quick guide. But these work a lot better, than my previous attempts.

 

- in Photoshop I used to choose to most detailed channel, usually the green or blue one and duplicated it

- then I tweaked the contrast with Levels, to reduce most of the gray areas and produce deep blacks and pure whites

- with some combinations of Maximum, Median and Blur the transitions were smoothed out a little bit

- and after inverting the mask, a decent edge mask was ready to protect skin tones, for example, while sharpening the edges only (see example image in 1st post)

 

The biggest problem, I guess, is that I am still confused about how layers, masks, adjustment layers and live filters are managed/applied in AP...

[anon1]

ok well you can just click on the channels (Use RGB or CMYK or LAB as document setup as you like) and choose (right klick) "create greyscale layer from channel"

 

Then you can proceed and add normal adjustments ((Maximum/ median Blur are also available), do the "Merge visible" and rasterize the layer to mask your filter layer.

 

So your result should be just as good as in PS.

[MikaG]

Yeah, I already tried the channels command 'Create Spare Channel'. But I couldn't get this "mask"/spare channel being applied to any given layer...

 

I figured out a way to create a decent black and white mask (attachment below). BUT, although it is rasterized and attached to a Live Filter Layer, it has absolutely no masking effect. Though 'Alt + click' on the mask shows the mask is intact (as shown in attachment). I just don't get it... yet.  :(

 

 

Edit: Stupid me... In the Layer Menu is also the option for "Rasterize To Mask". It wasn't shown in the right click pop-up. Now it works! Now I'm waiting for something like Actions.  :)

[DWright]

Hi MikaG,

 

You can also use a live high pass layer as this is allows you to define the edges and when combined with a contrast blend to sharpen the image. this link is to a video tutorial showing how the layer can be used with a blur effect.

 

Regards,

Darren

[MikaG]

Thanks Darren,

 

for sure, I prefer high pass sharpening over other methods on people all the time, because of its nature of edge sharpening. However, with edge masks one can define the edge areas very precisely where the sharpening effect should be applied. Once you get used to it, its creation is really fast. Not to mention automation, when 'Actions' will be available in AP.