Gaussian Blur Discovery Enigma

[westdr1dw]

Accidential discovery with the Gaussian Blur tool.

Not sure how this works since I have not seen it posted on the web. There does not appear to be any blurring to the image. 

While on the process of converting images to black and white to prepare for engraving I discovered when changing to B&W and applying the Divide Blend Mode I can then use gaussian blur with a high setting to achieve amazing results. You can then apply a layer mask to tweak the dark areas.

[John T Smith]

When you post a question you always need to tell the Adobe program you are using
There are MANY programs in a full subscription, plus other non-subscription programs
Please post the exact name of the Adobe program you use so a Moderator may move this message to that forum

[westdr1dw]

Thanks, assumption was I was in Photoshop forum when posted. 

[kglad]

<moved from cc services >

[John T Smith]

To ask in the forum for your program please start at https://community.adobe.com/

[westdr1dw]

Repost to the Photoshop Group

Accidential discovery with the Gaussian Blur tool.

Not sure how this works since I have not seen it posted on the web. There does not appear to be any blurring to the image. 

While on the process of converting images to black and white to prepare for engraving I discovered when changing to B&W and applying the Divide Blend Mode I can then use gaussian blur with a high setting to achieve amazing results. You can then apply a layer mask to tweak the dark areas.

[S_Gans]

Cool! Thanks! I can't wait to give this a try! 
Can you please tell us which method you're using to do your conversion to B&W?

[westdr1dw]

The enigma is this does not appear to work on all images. Trying to understand what it is doing.

Layer/New Adj Layer/B&W

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Hi @westdr1dw I've requested this post be merged with your original post with the same discovery.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/gaussian-blur-discovery-enigma/m-p/13...

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Are you aware of the relationship between Gaussian Blur and High Pass? 

[Imaginerie]

I immediately thought about an unsharp mask 🙂

[westdr1dw]

Thanks, will compare the two and see the diff.

[westdr1dw]

Not familiar with High Pass. Just tried running it on another image and appears to alter the image similar to Gaussian Blur. Is there a correlation between High Pass/Gaussian Blur?

Will try it and post back on the results.

[westdr1dw]

Just wanted to follow up with the replies from the group. The High Pass filter is providing awesome results in the workflow. In order to get a better understanding on what Gaussian is I did a little research and defintely worth the effort to learn how to use. Been a longtime user of PS and still learning features I never knew were in the app. 

Thanks for sharing.

[Imaginerie]

In ye olden days when the sharpen filter did not exist, some people (and definitely not me) devised a way to "invert" the bluriness using the high-pass filter. The frequency separation technique functions using a high pass as well, separating texture (high frequencies) and colour (low frequencies)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-pass_filter (image section)
Now we got filters that do that for us! (as the technicalities go way over my head 😁)

[westdr1dw]

Thanks, I think the AI features Adobe has added make us a little lazy to learn new techniques. I also use Topaz SAI which has been an awesome sharpening tool. I noticed after processing only parts of the image are enhanced. Also casting what appears to be 50% grayscale to the image. Which adds a selection step to the process. In any case will add this as another tool to reach for.