Modes

When you run FocalBlade for the first time, you are asked if you want to start in Novice Mode. If you don't have very much knowledge about sharpening, you should follow this invitation. But even if you are a a pro and don't know FocalBlade yet, it may be a good idea. If Novice Mode is too restricting for you, you should switch to the Selective Sharpen or Selective Sharpen Pro modes. If you are used to FocalBlade and want to use its full power, you should choose the Expert Mode, because it lets you create all the effects of the other modes (with the exception of the DeBlur modes which allow a stronger sharpening).

Novice Mode

In Novice Mode you are only presented with the three combo boxes of the Auto feature. They quickly let you produce a sufficient sharpening effect by experimenting with their settings. If you have no idea or about sharpening or know which settings are best, please leave them at the medium setting.

For more detailed information, please read the Auto Feature page.

Sharpen

Using the Sharpen Mode is not recommended for photos that contains the slightest noise or artifacts, because it doesn't distinguish between edges and surface like some of the other modes and therefor may amplify them. In this respect it works similar to traditional Unsharp Mask filters. However, it still doesn't produce halos if the Compensate check box is active and it doesn't amplify color noise.

It offers two of the three Auto combo boxes, a Sharpen and Radius slider and a Method combo box.

Sharpen Edges

Sharpen Edges is similar to the Sharpen Mode with the difference that it only sharpens the edges and not the surface. This mode is nice for landscape photos or photos with objects that have a flat surface. For photos of people or textured objects, please use one of the Selective Sharpen modes.

Selective Sharpen

The Selective Sharpen mode lets you sharpen edges and surface independently. This mode already gives you a lot of control over the sharpening process with a minimum amount of controls. If you mastered the Novice Mode, need a bit more control and still find Expert Mode too confusing, you should use this mode.

For more detailed information, please read the Auto Feature page and the Edges & Surface Tab page

Selective Sharpen Pro

Compared to the Selective Sharpen mode the Selective Sharpen Pro mode additionally offers the Mask features. This Mode is very similar to Expert Mode. It only misses the Soften slider from the Surface Tab, the Fix tab and the Glow slider.

For more detailed information, please read the Auto Feature page, Edges & Surface Tab page and the Mask Features page

Blur

The Blur Mode lets you apply gaussian, cosine, circular, linear and median blurs with a certain radius.

Selective Blur

Selective Blur only blurs the surface in the photo while the edges remain as they are. This mode can be used for reducing too strong sharpening effects that were produced by other tools or for giving the photo a more soft look.

Selective Blur Pro

Unlike the previous mode the Selective Blur Pro mode offers additional Mask Features. They let you enlarge or reduce the surface area to which the blur effect is applied to. The Fix tab offers the Highlights and Shadows sliders for reducing the blurring in the highlight and shadows areas.

For more detailed information, please read the Mask Features page

Soft Focus

Soft Focus is basically like the Blur mode, but offers an additional Soften slider. It lets you create different soft focus effects. More sophisticated soft focus effects can also be created with the Selective Blur Pro mode by using a lower Sharpen value and a higher Radius value.

Glow

The Glow mode was designed for special glow effects.

For more detailed information, please read the Mask Features page and the Glow Feature page

DeBlur

The DeBlur Mode is similar to the Sharpen Mode with the difference that there are no Auto Features and that the Sharpen slider has an extended range for producing more extreme sharpen effects. Please only use this mode on strong blurred images that aren't tackled by one of the Sharpen modes. For more control over the deblurring process, please use the DeBlur Pro mode.

DeBlur Pro

DeBlur Pro lets you deblur edges and surface separately. It also offers the Mask features for defining edges and surface areas. If the photo was blurred artificially by a flat blur algorithm, choose "Linear" from the Method box. If it was blurred with a Gaussian Blur filter, choose "Gaussian". If the blurring was introduced by incorrect focusing when taking the photo, using "Circular" may help. Otherwise please keep the default "Gaussian" setting of the Method box.

For more detailed information, please read the Edges & Surface Tab page and the Mask Features page

Expert Mode

Expert Mode lets you produce all the effects of the other modes and many more at the same time. This mode is only recommended if you have at least a rough idea what all the controls are for. However, Expert Mode doesn't offer the extended ranges of the Sharpen sliders that the two DeBlur modes offer. So for deblurring photos you still have to switch to the DeBlur Pro mode.

For more detailed information, please read the Auto Feature page, Edges & Surface Tab page, Mask Features page and the Glow Feature page