A H M

Getting the High Pass Filter

Effect in Pixelmator
Posted by seydoggy in Photography
**EDIT:** *Before this tutorial even got cold, the Pixelmator Tutorial Podcast picked up the tech-
nique and improved on it! Be sure to [check out their slightly different method](http://www.y-
outube.com/watch?v=ae29SOl8lqU YouTube Creating a High Pass filter in Pixelmator) which
allows for greater control by allowing you to visualize the sharpening effect.*
I recently canned Adobe Photoshop and switched to [Pixelmator](http://www.pixelmator.com/
Pixelmator). No, [Pixelmator](http://www.pixelmator.com/ Pixelmator) is not yet everything that
Photoshop is. It is missing key items like vector tools (one could argue that Photoshop should not
have had them anyway), but [Pixelmator](http://www.pixelmator.com/ Pixelmator) is catching up
really fast. [Pixelmator](http://www.pixelmator.com/ Pixelmator) might even have a leg up on
Adobe in a number of areas like that fact that is looks, smells and feels like a Mac app from
*this* decade.
One thing I found missing that I use quite regularly in photo enhancement work is the high pass
filter. A high pass filter is a great way to add some sharpness to your images if you find the edges
a little fuzzy. You may not be aware, but the high pass filter in Photoshop is little more then an in-
verted, blurred copy of the original. Its easy enough to create manually, but having the feature
built into Photoshop made it quick and easy.
So my plan is to write some AppleScript to make happen in [Pixelmator](http://www.pixelmator.-
com/ Pixelmator). Unfortunately [Pixelmator](http://www.pixelmator.com/ Pixelmator) doesnt
yet have an AppleScript Dictionary, so such a script is going to have to be done with what we
call menu scripting. Until I have time to sort that out though, here is how you manually emulate
the high pass filter found in Photoshop.
### 1. Duplicate your original layer (!J) ###
![image showing layer duplication](http://images.adam.merrifield.ca/high_pass_duplicate_layer-
20100723-161047.jpg image showing layer duplication)
### 2. Name the duplicate high pass ###
![image showing the renaming process](http://images.adam.merrifield.ca/high_pass_rename-
20100723-162152.jpg image showing the renaming process)
### 3. Remove the color ###
You want to remove the color but preserve the luminescence of the image, so the easiest way to
do this is with `Edit > Fill` ("!F), then choose `black`, and the blending option `color`. Keep the
`opacity` at 100% and click ok.
![image showing color removal](http://images.adam.merrifield.ca/high_pass_remove_color-
20100723-163520.jpg image showing color removal)
### 4. Duplicate high pass (!J) and Invert (!I) ###
![image showing inversion](http://images.adam.merrifield.ca/high_pass_inversion-20100723-
165536.jpg image showing inversion)
### 5. Add Gaussian blur (`Filter > Blur > Gaussian`) ###
Add as much or as little Gaussian blur to the duplicate as you need. The radius will directly corre-
late to the number you would have used in your Photoshop high pass filter setting. I typically
used between 4 and 20, depending on the amount of sharpening I was after, but you are wel-
come to go to any extreme you like.
![image showing gaussian blur being added](http://images.adam.merrifield.ca/high_pass_ad-
d_blur-20100723-164600.jpg image showing gaussian blur being added)
### 6. Set Blending to `Linear Light` and Opacity to 50% ###
![image showing blending](http://images.adam.merrifield.ca/high_pass_linear_light-20100723-
165938.jpg image showing blending)
### 7. Merge high pass layers ###
![image showing the merging process](http://images.adam.merrifield.ca/high_pass_merge_lay-
ers-20100723-170223.jpg image showing the merging process)
### 8. Set the Blending of high pass merged to overlay and enjoy! ###
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3 Comments
![image showing new high pass filter](http://images.adam.merrifield.ca/high_-
pass_blend_merged-20100723-170726.jpg image showing new high pass filter)
Jul.23
Adam Merrifield { the collective } - the collective thoughts and web works of adam
merrifield 24/07/2010 at 10:59
[...] it out and I want that editor to make that process intuitive. Yesterday I blogged about making a high pass
filter in Pixelmator and honestly I had not done it the manual way in years, but I had no trouble at all finding
what I [...]
Troye 25/07/2010 at 01:42
PMTUT did a tutorial on You Tube of what you have done here. When I seen this effect, I thought that it
looked like the effects I was getting in Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen luminance and unsharp mask. So I
thought I would try your way and the filter sharpen way and would have one on top of the other and hide
the top then show it. Now not being a professional and might not understand something but I fail to see the
difference between the two. Any thoughts?
admin 25/07/2010 at 09:35
The two methods are nearly identical except when it comes to the math in the subtraction
process. In my past experience, high pass was best suited for large scale images because of its
smoother transitions and more predictable behavior. I personally prefer the control in a high
pass layer but I am not opposed to using USM either, depending on what the image is best suit-
ed for. There is an exhaustive article on sharpening by Tony Freixas that can be found here.
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