How To Make Your Photographs Appear More Three Dimensional With Photoshop’s High Pass Contrast

The unfiltered image.

A low High Pass filter setting for sharpening

A high High Pass filter setting for contrast

The filter High Pass

Photoshop’s often overlooked filter High Pass is one every user should know. It can be either an edge sharpener or a unique luminosity contrast enhancer that produces a three-dimensional effect unlike any other tool.

When you use high Radius settings with the High Pass filter, it moves beyond sharpening and becomes tonal enhancement. The halos (light lines) and lines (dark lines) it produces become so broad and feathered that rather than only contour contrast (Think edges and thin lines.) they instead accentuate broader image contrast (Think planes chiseled by a sculptor.).  In short, images filtered with high High Pass settings look contrastier and more three dimensional, as if all the planes in an image are dodged and burned.

Take these steps to apply High Pass contrast.