Comments on: Design a Surreal and Ornate Photo Manipulation

By: Matos

Matos — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:22:42 +0000

Clever tutorial !

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:24:22 +0000

Thanks a lot Eric! I can’t wait to publish your next tutorial and see what the readers think. I agree with you on the unsharp masks though, for sure!

By: Eric Vasquez

Eric Vasquez — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:39:40 +0000

Really nice tutorial Tom! I love the final outcome and think it’s a very cool composition. I just wanted to add that when using Unsharp Masks that it is often best not to set the radius and threshold settings too high as it can become overdone. I think the goal is to bring additional sharpness or crispness into your image without going overboard.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:32:14 +0000

Thanks Mark! To be honest, I generally just experiment with unsharp mask settings, as they seem to vary for each composition. If you just play around I’m sure you’ll settle upon a pixel radius that you’re happy with. As a rule of thumb though, as with any photo retouching, you want your work to be ‘invisible’. In the piece for this tutorial, you can’t really notice that I’ve used an unsharp mask, unless you toggle between the original and the sharpened version. Just keep things subtle, and don’t overdo it.

By: MarkT

MarkT — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:00:32 +0000

This is cool, Tom, I like it.
I always wonder about unsharp masks and what pixel radius to use; I admit it’s not something I have a settled view on, or much understanding of. What advice would you give in order to not make the result look surreal or (I’m searching for another word but can’t think of one) … abnormal?