Click on the color swatch next to "Target" in the USM Tone Targeting box in the editor and you'll see a new option at the very bottom of the popup.  If you select that bottom option, then TTS not only does what you tell it to whatever you target, it does the OPPOSITE to everything else.  Example: you click the eyedropper on the face and choose "target RGB" and use a USM of 2,-100 to soften the face.  Now, as it was before, the targeting would apply that 2,-100 to whatever you were targeting and it would leave the rest (the stuff you didn't target) alone.  That's still the default.  If you check that bottom option on the popup menu now, however, it'll not only do what you tell it to the targeted area, it'll do the opposite to everything else.  So in this case, it'll apply a 2,-100 softening to the face but everything else will get a 2,100 sharpening.  The Off/Max slider, as always, controls the magnitude of the overall effect.

You can play with different ways of doing it to in order to get the balance you want too.  Another example: click on a skin tone on the face and instead of softening that at 2,-100 using "Target RGB", select "Target all RGB EXCEPT the selected..." and choose a sharpening of 2,200.  Now everything BUT the face will get sharpened with a USM of 2,200 but if you select the bottom item on the popup menu, not only will "everything but the face" get 2,200 USM, but the face itself will actually be softened.

Give it a try.  It's quite versatile and will allow you to do things like target your background and soften that while sharpening everything else.  Or target your subject and have that sharpened while at the same time softening everything else.

It's a simple concept when you think about it.  By default (and in prior versions), your prescribed USM was applied by a weighting curve.  Everything in the image was either sharpened at the full USM you specified, not at all, or somewhere in between.  Now instead of ranging between your USM and nothing, you can tell it to range between your USM and the OPPOSITE effect so that values far away from your target get the opposite effect.  Sharpen your target, and values far from the target get softened.  Soften your target and values far from your target get sharpened.

So that's it in a nutshell.

Mike

Thanks Mike. This will make the new USM targeting methods even more useful!

Jeff Jessee

Mike, I've an issue with this update that has not occurred on any previous.

1. load your face/eye crop image into the que (For example)
2. Go into the edit screen
3. click on the USM eyedropper and select the skin next to the nose (Far right)
4. When the preview screen opens only the far right side of the image is visible
    The image is shifted to the left side of the preview screen - not centered.

I am on a system with WIN 7-64 bit

Thanks Terry. Sure seems like a hand tool that can be used to move the image around inside the preview panel would be much more intuitive.