I want to share my most favorite Photoshop trick with you.
It’s easy and very rewarding.
The reason why I am sharing this technique with you is simple – I would like you to experience the same level of amazement that I go through each time I make this magic happen.
See the gray film over this original (“before”) picture?
This is the “after” picture.
The gray film is gone!
The picture looks much more realistic.
I love this game!
Of course, I could continue working on that picture giving it some more light and sharpness but I am leaving that for later.
For now, let’s just get rid of that unsightly gray film.
Let’s burn the haze!
What I find most fascinating about this technique, aside from its terrific result, is how quickly and easily it’s done:
1. Open the picture in Photoshop (File -> Open).
2. In the Layers palette, click on the Background layer and then press Ctrl+J (Mac: Command+J) to create a duplicate layer. Leave this new layer selected (highlighted).
3. Click Enhance (in the upper bar) -> Unsharp.
A new window will pop up.
4. With the Amount slider go somewhere between 15 – 30. Then move the Radius slider somewhere between 17 and the end of the line. Set the Threshold slider to 0.
Play with the Amount and Radius sliders to achieve the desired effect. Then click OK.
5. Now click Layer (in the upper bar of your screen) -> Merge Visible.
6. Save the picture (File -> Save As).
And that’s it!
This is another SOOC (straight out of the camera) picture.
Haze be gone!
And another one before the treatment.
And after.
Just try this technique and let your pictures enjoy some more clarity, contrast and sharpness.
Enjoy, dear friends!
Thanks for the tip!
Oohh!!! Lovely! I’m going to give it a shot. I really need to learn my photoshop… thank you SO much for posting this one!
wonderful! it worked! and super easy! thanks for the tip – how awesome are you?
Very helpful tips. I’m always trying to learn more about photography so this is just wonderful!
i’m so gonna try this on almost all pics hehe .. i hate that dull look too
This is an awesome tip! Thank you for sharing.
Velmi, velmi dobry post. Dakujem
Oooo! So pretty! Sharpness is one thing I haven’t quite figured out how to mess around with. Great tutorial!
As an [amateur] GIMP user, whenever I hear someone say “Photoshop,” I go Eeeh.
But then I read your posts just brimming with excitement – and if that wasn’t enough, they get sprinkled with the most gorgeous photographs and I can help but say Aaaaw. And then quietly contemplate checking out Photoshop
You have powers, woman!
You can do it in GIMP too. Filters –>Unsharp Mask. You have to play around with the sliders some to get it to work right. I got a nice effect with the Amount set on 0.30 & the radius on 17.
Thanks for sharing. What a pelaurse to read!
I’m a new Linux (and GIMP) user, and I haven’t figured out how to run Photoshop on my machine. So I tried this process in the GIMP. And it worked beautifully!
So cool of you to share your photoshop tricks. I got to tell you, I don’t enjoy photography (but as a food blogger, I consider it a necessary evil), so I can use as much help as I can get with pictures
.
*kisses* HH
Thank you!
~ingrid
Thanx for the concise explanation and great tip!
WOW – i had no idea. I am going to go and try this right now. Thanks!
I use GIMP to adjust the images on my site. Instead of this filter, I adjust the levels. Often this haze is due to not enough contrast. You can adjust the black and white extrema for the grayscale level until you get the right kind of contrast. There is also an auto-adjust option, but that doesn’t always work. But when it does, it can do magic. Completely correct colors due to wrong white balance for instance.
Awesome, thanks for that. I often find that contrast/levels are not enough, or increasing them heaps ends up looking too fake without really affecting the sharpness of the image. If you have any idea of how to do this in lightroom that’d just be the cherry on top
I’ve been looking for a good resource of food photography/editing that is not too simplistic but also not so complicated it’s over my head. Thanks.
Absolutely fab tip…thanks a million!
This is one of the problems that has been driving me crazy with my photos…that darn gray film! I’m so glad I found this, now that I have Photoshop, I’m looking forward to trying this trick:)
OMG so easy
I don’t use photoshop, i use acorn for mac but still your precise directions took me there! easy peasy 
great effect
thank you!
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FABULOUS!!! You are most awesome. You just made about 300 of my images from my recent Europe trip look amazing. THANK YOU!!! xoxox
Yay, I am glad I helped, dear Jenna. There’s nothing better than that.
Petra
ohmygoodness. thank you so much for sharing this! it really is like magic. :’D
The after pictures looks so delicious!! Very helpful! Thanks
I just went ahead and tried it and I am not sure what I am doing wrong but it didn’t make as beautiful of an adjustment as yours
That is amazing! Thank you! What is your tip for shooting in tungsten yellow light? How to achieve fabulous pictures? I ‘m a rookie and so far I’ve only been shooting in daylight but alas, winter is almost here and I have to use artificial indoor lighting. What are your tips ?Thanks!
Hi Deepa!
I usually only shoot in daylight, even in winter. I try to work during those few hours of day when there’s enough light, placing my object right next to window.
But there are other solutions:
1. Your camera has a ‘tungsten light’ setting for when you shoot under regular bulbs.
There is even a more precise setting in DSLR cameras called ‘white balance’ – you show your camera white color and it will try its best to picture it as white (I have a post about it here: http://zoomyummy.com/2010/02/15/i-found-custom-white-balance-and-since-then-my-life-hasnt-been-the-same/.
2. There are daylight imitating lights and bulbs that you can buy. I will probably write about that in the future.
3. Also Photoshop or other editing software can help here. There are so called filters there that are quite useful – for orange tungsten light blue filter is good.
Hope I helped a little.
Best,
Petra
I Like it!!! and I’m going to try it and it just may be a “go to”post process for me for me
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Hi Petra,
Your space is beautiful, feel like i have stumbled upon gold, was hooked for hours. I will be visiting you often to seek inspiration.
Pradnya
the haze is in SO MANY of my photos! thanks for the tips and trick!!!
Ossom trick! I love video games, Photoshop and now I’m starting to like cooking (just made that Farfalle pasta recipe) so I can combine all these things at once thanks to pix! Thank you!
)
Your site is absolutely amazing Petra! I’m so glad I stumbled upon it on Food Gawker!!!!
Holy Molly! That’s a neat trick!
And I thought I knew all of the Photoshop tricks out there.
Thank you so much. This is going to change things for me. Thank you thank you!
Wowzers!! That is brilliant! Thank you for sharing this tip, Petra. This has really helped my baking photos that may be suffering a bit from the grey! P.s: Keep doing what you’re doing; I live in the UK and love visiting your blog, it always brings me sunshine!