#sharpen tutorial

STEP ONE:

load your gif into photoshop with your preferred method of doing so (i have a tutorial here on how i do mine). after you resize/crop your gif, you'll want to convert it to a smart object. this is basic photoshop knowledge, so i'll be skipping how to do it for the sake of time.

STEP TWO:

after your gif has been converted to a smart object, open your actions and then you'll want to create a new set. i'm naming mine "action tutorial" for the purpose of this tutorial. you can choose whatever name you want for it!

STEP THREE:

your new set should be automatically highlighted after you highlight it. do not unhighlight it. you will then want to create a new action. again, name it whatever you desire, but i will be choosing "gif sharpen action tutorial" for the sake of this tutorial.

hit the record button and photoshop will start the recording process.

STEP FOUR:

next, you want to go to filter > smart sharpen and adjust it to these settings when the window pops up:

after you hit OK, go back to filter > smart sharpen and that window will open again. you now want to change it to these settings:

hit OK again and then you can hit the stop button to stop recording because you're pretty much done at that point. since this is a basic sharpening, i won't go any further with any more settings unless someone requests it.

FINISHED PRODUCT WITH COLORING:

i do most of my process through actions; of which i have several for different gif dimensions ie 540 width (typically for fancams where i keep the width of the file the same but change the height), 540 height (which i use the most for gifs like the above), and 850 height which i use for my sets that have side by side gifs like my pinned

actions make the beginning of making a gif a lot faster and especially save time when you're rushing to make comeback gifs lmao

after i've converted to the video timeline and selected all of my frames and converted them to a smart object, i apply userdramas's camera raw filter action which can help gifs look higher quality and create the illusion of skin texture when there isn't any

after this i convert the layer into a smart object again and apply my sharpening as follows (partly from anyataylorjoy's action pack)

smart sharpen 1:

smart sharpen 2:

smart sharpen 3: (this one is optional)

smart sharpen 2 duplicated

gaussian blur:

and i click this button on the far right to change the opacity of the blur (usually i set it around 10-30)

it may look funky but noise at the end will always fix it :p

after i sharpen i start on coloring!

my coloring process starts with editing values with curves, brightness & contrast, and sometimes levels

this helps to achieve the high contrast look i really like on my gifs and below are my settings for this specific set

i find that the marker in the center of the curves graph can often help darken skin tones if the subject appears too light

after i have my values down i move on to the actual colors

i start with adding a selective color layer; adjusting the red values, followed by yellow, then black, white, and any other colors i would want prominent in the gif

for example, with this set i wanted the blues to look really nice so i increased the cyans and decreased the yellows to my liking

changing the black values adds to the dimension i like in my gifs; these are my settings

forgot magenta whoops

next i add a hue/sat layer where i mess with the red and yellow values which often adds extra help to skin tones (i also recently started using hue/sat on colors like the blues here)

now these gifs didn't need it thankfully, but if needed i will also do color balance and channel mixer layers

after all my coloring and sharpening is done and i'm satisfied with how a gif looks i will convert all layers to a smart object and add noise (typically 1.5-3)

then the gif is done and i save it! these are my save settings

and that's how i turn this

into this!

hope y'all enjoyed and found this helpful and thank you again for 500<3333

(I'm using photoshop cc 2017)

once you've uploaded, cropped your gif and set the frame delay, convert it to timeline by clicking that tiny button at the bottom

2. click SHIFT on your keyboard and select all of your gif layers, then right click and convert them to smart object

3. this next step is not for exactly for sharpening but for softening the sharpen a little bit. as I like my gifs to be preeetty sharp and intense, doing this next step helps to make it look a bit softer (idk if it's the right word, but you get what I mean)

select the top layer, right click and duplicate it

4. go to file > blur > gaussian blur

my setting are usually 1.5 or 2. after you've done that, reduce the opacity of the top layer, I usually pick about 20%.

5. and now we finally get to sharpen our gif! I usually use 2-3 actions, the first one is very basic sharpening. select the bottom layer, go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen, here are my settings:

6. then do that again! select bottom layer, filter > sharpen > smart sharpen, here are my settings:

I like to mess around with this one depending on the gif itself, sometimes it requires more details, sometimes less, so I just spend a few minutes playing with the amount and radius until I like the result

7. finally, I add noise. you can totally skip this one, too, but I like the way it looks, especially on bigger 540px gifs! once again, select bottom layer, filter > noise > add noise, my settings are:

here’s a gif I’ve without editing and sharpening, only with cutting and speed adjustment:

as I said at the beginning you need to have the basic knowledge in creating gifs. using the timeline, just click on your gif, then go to filter → convert for smart layers, that basically makes your entire gif one frame.

the sharpen: filter → sharpen → smart sharpen. you will sharpen in these settings first:

my photoshop is in portuguese but it doesn't really change anything!

you can also duplicate the original gif, add just the sharpen filter, and lower the opacity until be good and you can add gaussian blur and apply the settings in: 1x and lower the opacity by 50% - 55%

but if you want to continue following the action, just after that, I add again but with these settings:

after using these settings my gif was like this and your gif probably there will be very similar to that:

homies, it's very sharper, so it's only to use the action once.

my sharpen action is available right here, you can also try some combinations of my PSDs and get a coloring like this:

This is more of a tutorial on how i sharpens my gif since im sure there are a tons of very similar gif tutorial already. Please see these if you want a more detailed tutorial. (x) (xx)

Um the only really different things I do from the above tutorials are the fact that I import my psds before i click convert timeline and the sharpen method...

Anyway after I import my layers and psds etc. I prepare to sharpen my gif.

***this feature is only available if you downloaded the full version of PS6. If you don't have this button, you'll have to download actions that sharpens the layers one by one.

Your layers panel should look like this now...this will allow you to edit the gif as if you are editing a picture.

This is my gif without any sharpen: 

First way

This is the classic way: just smart sharpen. You'll go in Filter, Sharpen and then Smart Sharpen. This is the settings I use: 

And this is the result: 

Second way

This setting is for when I don't want to sharpen my gifs but I also want to sharpen my gifs. It's a middle term. You'll go in Filter, Sharpen, Smart Sharpen and use the exactly same settings that I used in the first way.

Now, duplicate your layer, go in Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur and in the option "radius", put 1,0 pixels.

After that, change the layer's opacity for 30% or 35%.

Here's the result:

Third mode

Go to Filter, Sharpen, Smart Sharpen and you the same configuration you used in the first way, but in Radius, you will change for 0,5%. 

Duplicate the new layer and go to filter, blur, gaussian blur. The same setting you used in the second way: 1,0 pixels.

You'll change the layer's opacity for 60%. 

Go again in filter, sharpen, smart sharpen and use the same setting that the first way, but change amount for 86%.

Now, the difference of these three ways:

I hope you like the tutorial and forgive my english mistakes :) Like or reblog if it helped you. 

(Skip to step 3 if you've already got your gif all set) Get your gif open by File, Import, Import video frames to layers and choose your selection. I'm using Bradley James: 

Hold down Shift, click the first frame and then the last frame to select all the layers and then right click the frame speed (where it says 0.04) and choose 0.1 to make the gif slower 

Crop the gif to your liking and change the size and all that

then click the magic button which is: 

 and then hold shift, click the first layer and then the last to select all the layers and then right click on the layers and choose: 

Then Filter, Sharpen, Smart Sharpen and use these settings: 

Then add a PSD or edit it yourself and there we go. All your frames sharpened. But make sure when you save it the looping options are set to Forever.. 

Final product: