the high pass technique is one non-destructive way to add sharpness and contrast to your screenshots. It's a touchy technique, and is better for pictures where your subject seems to blend into the background.
start by opening your file. right-click your Background layer, and choose "Duplicate Layer" from the pop-up menu. You'll see two identical layers in your palette- we're going to be working with the top one.
Next, with the top layer selected, go up to the "Filters" menu. The High Pass filter is hidden, so you have to ask PS to show it. Do this by choosing the "Show all Menu Items" at the bottom of the menu.
Now that all your filters are showing, go down to "Other" and select "High Pass" from the menu.
As you can see, the High Pass filter highlights the edges of shapes and darkens everything else. Don't worry, this won't ruin your image! This is also a part that is different for every image- sometimes, you just need small lines, sometimes, big spaces. Feel free to experiment! I've chosen 25.3 for this image, and you can see the big fuzzy lines around the shapes. Click okay when you are satisfied with the highlighting in the image.
Now is when the magic happens. with the High Pass-ed layer selected, go to the Top of the Layers palette and open up the little menu. Scroll down and click on the "Overlay" option. Get ready to be surprised!
Wow! as you can see, the High Pass technique can be powerful. It's not always the appropriate tool, and can sometimes make an image look a bit funny, but you can tweak it with layer masks and edit the opacity until you are satisfied. There are other techniques of course, but this is a good one to know.
And here is the image with some layer masking applied to it. Lovely!
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