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Photoshop Tutorial: Add Contrast and Sharpen a Photo
Sometimes photos turn out too dark, too light, or a little blurry. Here are a few easy steps to improve the quality of any photo in Photoshop without having to retake any photos. This is really helpful for any artist preparing either an online or printed portfolio of their work. However, keep in mind that you cannot sharpen a really blurry image or increase the contrast or tonal value in a really dull image.
Here is a before and after shot of an image I chose to perk up.
 
Step 1: Open up your image in Photoshop. Double-click the image layer (called “Background” and either name it or click OK.
Step 2: Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. Click OK in the New Layer dialog box.
As shown below, adjust the shadows, midtones and highlights by dragging the Input Levels sliders so that the end point sliders are under the start or edge of the histogram edges. To adjust midtones, move the middle slider to increase the midtone value and image detail. You will have to play around a bit until you have a good balance of highlights, shadow and midtones while preserving detail in the image.
A. Shadow Input slider B. Midtone slider C. Highlight Input slider
Click OK when you are done. Remember that these levels are on their own layer so you can always go back and make changes.
You will now have a higher contrast image with darker shadows, brighter whites, and more midtones, and as a result the colours will pop.
 
lower contrast higher contrast
Step 3: Next we will sharpen the image to make it a little crisper. Make sure you have the image layer selected and zoom in about 200%. Next go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask.
Make sure the “Preview” checkbox is selected so you can see how your adjustments affects the image. Next, move all 3 sliders to the far left to start at 0 so you can see the image before and after as you move the sliders. Play around with the sliders until you feel the image looks as sharp as it can be without oversharpening the image which will result in a halo effect. Click OK when you are done.
Depending on the image, you may have a subtle or dramatic change in sharpness.
without Unsharp Mask with Unsharp Mask, final result
Note: Using the Unsharp Mask gives you the greatest control allowing you to preview your work as you make adjustments, compared the Sharpen, Sharpen Edges, and Sharpen More filters which are automatic and don’t allow you any options.
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