Unable to get the little sharpening tool working

[blue squirrel]

I realise this has been asked before, and I went through the answers given on another post but found them unsatisfactory as it didn't resolve my issue.

I tried to play with sharp tool (the little triangle icon on the left menu), but when I use it nothing happens. I zoomed in all the way. found a good clear edge. Applied the sharpening zoom and although I zoomed in to the extend I can see the individual pixels (as I wanted to see how they would change)... Nothing is happening. At all.

I tried the blur function and that one was quite happy to alter the pixels.

Back to the sharp tool. It's like I've got nothing selected. it doesn't even attempt to change or alter anything. it's really frustrating. I may never use it if it was available but as I just bought the program I very much would like everything to work!

 

What on earth is going on and how do I get this sharp tool to work?

Many thanks

 

 

[R C-R]

Make sure Opacity on the Context toolbar is set to a high percent (100% for the most drastic effect) & the Width & Hardness are set to large enough values to affect enough pixels for the effect to be easily noticeable.

The Sharpen Brush Tool will use the currently selected brush in the Brushes studio panel, so make sure you are using a suitable one for the effect you want. A good starting point is the 128 px Round Brush in the "Basic" brush category, but adjust the size as needed.

The tool has three modes selectable on the Context toolbar. I find that for most images Clarity or Unsharp Mask work best -- for reasons not clear to me Harsh often does not do much.

[lepr]

.

 

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, owenr said:

I doubt that Harsh mode is working correctly. It does nothing where there is no contrast in the opacity of pixels, whereas the other modes do affect the colour channels if opacity is constant or varying.

According to the Mac help topic, "Harsh—increases contrast on all pixels." I do not think I have ever seen any signs of that effect.

[John Rostron]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

Harsh—increases contrast on all pixels.

I thought that contrast was essentially a muti-pixel property - a relation between adjacent pixels. If so, how can one increase contrast on all pixels?

John

[R C-R]

5 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

I thought that contrast was essentially a muti-pixel property - a relation between adjacent pixels. If so, how can one increase contrast on all pixels?

I think they mean all pixels the brush touches but I still don't see much if any effect this mode has on any of the images I have tried it with.