Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge Tool

Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge Tool

Learn how to use the Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge Tools to retouch your images in Photoshop.

When to use

These tools are helpful anytime you want to sharpen parts of an image or blur things to make them out of focus. 

Instructions

Sharpening a Photo

• Begin by opening one of the three landscape photos from the resources folder.
• Duplicate your layer by selecting it and pressing Command/Ctrl+J on the keyboard.
• Select the Sharpen Tool which can be found just beneath the Gradient Tool.
• Choose a soft round brush, and then make sure that the 'Strength' setting in the top toolbar is set all the way up to '100%'.
• Check off the 'Protect Detail' box along the top toolbar.
• Begin brushing over parts of the image that you want to sharpen. 
• Make a few passes over these areas and you should see any soft edges become more crisp. 
• You can turn the visibility of this top copy on and off to compare it to the original layer underneath.
• You can also adjust the opacity to reduce the strength of the sharpening.
• Once you're happy with how things are looking, select your top layer and then press Command/Ctrl+Alt/Option+Shift+E to merge all of the layers together and create a new copy on top.

Blurring a Photo

• Select the Blur Tool, which is nested with the Sharpen and Smudge Tools.
• Once again, use a large soft brush and then adjust the 'Strength' along the top toolbar to around '50%' or so.
• Begin brushing over the corners and edges of the photo to blur them, making a few passes over those areas to make them out of focus.
• Just like with our Sharpen Tool, we can reduce the opacity of this layer and turn the visibility on and off to compare it with the layer(s) below.

Smudging a Photo

• Switch to the Smudge Tool, which is also nested with the Sharpen and Blur Tools.
• Similar to the Sharpen and Blur Tools, you can choose what type of brush you'd like to use and also adjust the strength or intensity of the effect.
• Since the Smudge Tool can drastically distort all or part of an image, it works best to use it in a subtle way.
• Zoom in to an area of your photo and reduce the size of the brush using the left bracket key.
• Try pushing and pulling different areas of the image to move things around slightly without distorting things too much.
• This creates an effect similar to using the Liquify Tool or transforming an image with warping.

Hints & tips

• Using the Sharpen Tool is a great way to lead the viewer's eye to the areas with the most detail.
• Using the Blur Tool is a great way to add depth of field to an image.
• The Smudge Tool can be useful for painting and also for warping and distorting parts of an image.