You can see that this picture is quite blurred with little contrast. This was taken by a friend of mine. He has turned it over to me to see if I could improve it. Let me try. I am using Photoshop CS 2.
Step 1 : I have right clicked the background layer. The above dialogue box opens. Click Duplicate Layer.
Step 2 : This dialogue box opens. Click OK.
Step 3 : The Background copy has been created.
Step 4 : With the Background copy selected go to Filter>Other>High Pass
Step 5 : This dialogue box opens. Set the Radius to 10 pixels. Click OK. The image turns gray.
Step 6 : Now go to the Layers/Channels/Paths palette and change the opacity to Hard light from the drop down box as shown.
Step 7 : Now drag the opacity down to around 70 per cent. Now let us see what we have.
Step 8 : Nothing great as yet. Let's see what else can be done.
Step 9 : Press SHIFT on the keyboard and click the Background layer. This will select it together with the Background copy.
Step 10 : Right click and the above dialogue will open. Click Merge Layers. This will merge the layers.
Step 11 : Go to Image>Adjustment>Levels and the above dialogue box will open. I have dragged the sliders on the Output levels till I was satisfied.
Step 12 : Now I have gone to Image>Adjustments>Curves which brings up this dialogue box. I have selected RGB and pushed the top of the diagonal line down. Then I have selected the Green and made some further adjustments. You will have to experiment in the images you work with.
Step 13 : Now drag the Background copy to the New Layer Button this will create a duplicate layer. It is another way to duplicate the layer. Another method has been described in Step 1.
Step 14 : Go to Image>Mode>Lab Color
Step 15 : The above dialogue box opens. Click Flatten.
Step 16 : Go to Filters>Sharpen>Unsharp mask
Step 17 : This dialogue box will open. The threshold has been set to 0, Radious 2.0 and Amount 120.
Step 18 : Now change the image back to RGB mode by going to Image>Mode>RGB.
This is the sharpened image. Try it out.
