dust removal vs edge sharpening

[jimh12345]

I'm doing focus-stacked shots of some small gem stones.   Dust is the enemy, and you never win - I think the dry winter air is part of the problem.  I  wipe the stone off with a damp microfiber but but when I look at the images, dust has returned, and it sparkles.  😞

Fortunately AP's Dust and Scratch Removal works well, taking out 80-90% of the dust.  But it also softens the many sharp clean edges on a faceted stone.  I try to bring those back with the High Pass filter but something is inevitably lost.

I'm thinking there should be a clever way to mask the Dust Removal to avoid the edges found by High Pass.  Maybe the High Pass filter can be used to produce a mask for the Dust Removal tool.  Or something like that.  Anyone have ideas?

 

[debraspicher]

1 hour ago, jimh12345 said:

I'm doing focus-stacked shots of some small gem stones.   Dust is the enemy, and you never win - I think the dry winter air is part of the problem.  I  wipe the stone off with a damp microfiber but but when I look at the images, dust has returned, and it sparkles.  😞

Fortunately AP's Dust and Scratch Removal works well, taking out 80-90% of the dust.  But it also softens the many sharp clean edges on a faceted stone.  I try to bring those back with the High Pass filter but something is inevitably lost.

I'm thinking there should be a clever way to mask the Dust Removal to avoid the edges found by High Pass.  Maybe the High Pass filter can be used to produce a mask for the Dust Removal tool.  Or something like that.  Anyone have ideas?

 

Band-pass mask? Maybe just invert the mask?

 

[debraspicher]

https://affinity.help/photo2/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/LiveMasks/mask_liveBandPass.html?title=Live Band-pass Mask

[jimh12345]

Yes, "Band-pass mask" sounds like it might be the thing.  I'll have to research it.  It's not clear to me how it would differentiate between edges and dust, but I'll find out.    Thanks!