Adjusting Details

To highlight important details in your photo, and remove the emphasis from others, you can use the Detail Brush. The impact of the Detail Brush is cumulative. This means that the more you brush in a particular area using the blur option, for example, the more blurry the area will become.

To Adjust Details:

  1. In Edit mode, in the Detail group, select Detail Brush.

    2. You can also access the Detail Brush tool from the Filter drop-down menu or Filter toolbar.

  2. Adjust the settings as described below.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Click Done to apply your changes and close the tool.
    • Click Cancel to discard all changes and close the tool.

Drawing Straight Lines:

Hold the Shift key while using the Detail Brush to draw horizontal or vertical lines. For example, holding Shift, then clicking and dragging horizontally will lock the cursor into horizontal only so long as shift is being held. Release Shift to return to free hand brushing. You can even release Shift to return to free hand brushing, then press it again while still drawing the same line to unlock and re-lock the brush at will.

Drawing Diagonal Lines:

Using the Detail Brush, you can create straight diagonal lines by placing two points on the image. Place the cursor where you want the line to begin, press and hold Shift, then Left-Click on the image to create a point. Let go of Shift, and move the brush to where the line will end, press and hold Shift, then Left-Click again to create a second point. A straight line will fill in between these two points.

Detail Brush Options

Operation

Select the operation would you like to perform:

  • Blur
  • Sharpen

Tool settings

If you selected Sharpen, set the following:

Radius

Controls the number of pixels to adjust around each edge. Higher values increase the number of sharpened pixels and tend to bring out coarser detail, while lower values reduce the number of sharpened pixels and tend to bring out finer detail.

Threshold

Specifies how different the pixel lightness values within an edge must be before the pixels within the edge are sharpened. Higher values sharpen only stronger edges but minimize the appearance of noise. Lower values sharpen both strong and weaker edges, but can increase the appearance of noise. We recommend you set the threshold to enhance edges while keeping background noise to a minimum.

Brush settings

Nib Width

Drag the slider to select a brush size.

Feathering

Drag the slider to soften the edges of your strokes.

Strength

Drag the slider to determine the strength of the sharpening or blurring.

You can also type a number into the number box and incrementally make precise adjustments.

You can right-click a slider to reset to the default value.