Sharpen an Image in Photoshop (High Pass + Smart Sharpen Workflow)
This fast workflow stacks two sharpening techniques for clean, detailed results. You’ll build edge contrast with a High Pass layer, refine with Smart Sharpen, and keep control with opacity and grouping for easy before/after comparisons.
Step-by-step instructions
Duplicate the image layer
Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate the background image layer.
Select the upper (duplicate) layer in the Layers panel.
Build edge contrast with High Pass
Go to Filter → Other → High Pass….
Set Radius to 3 px (adjust based on image resolution/quality), then click OK.
Change the layer’s blend mode to Hard Light in the Layers panel.
Adjust the layer’s Opacity to fine-tune the strength.
Review the image at 100% to ensure edges are crisp without halos.
Create a merged visible layer
Press Cmd+Shift+Option+E (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E (Windows) to stamp visible layers to a new layer.
Select the new merged layer at the top of the stack.
Refine with Smart Sharpen
Go to Filter → Sharpen → Smart Sharpen….
Ensure Remove is set to Gaussian Blur.
Enable More Accurate.
With Preview checked, adjust Amount and Radius in Basic to taste for your image.
Click OK.
Group and compare results
Select the two sharpened layers (High Pass and Smart Sharpen) and press Cmd/Ctrl+G to group them.
Toggle the group’s visibility to compare before/after and adjust Opacity as needed.
