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Sharpening

You can use the Sharpening tool to define details and fine-tune your images.

You can save your settings as a preset for future use.

To sharpen your image:

  1. In Develop mode, select the Detail tab.
  2. In the Sharpening group, adjust the sliders as described below.

You can right-click a slider to reset to the default value.

Sharpening options

Amount

Specifies the amount of sharpening applied by increasing contrast around the edges.

Radius

Controls the number of pixels to adjust around each edge. Higher values increase the number of sharpened pixels and tend to bring out coarser detail, while lower values reduce the number of sharpened pixels and tend to bring out finer detail.

Mask

Allows the targeting of edges, while suppressing the sharpening of noise and texture. To view the areas the mask affects, press the ALT key when moving the mask slider. Areas affected by sharpening appear white. 

Detail

Suppresses the halo, (the light border that forms around edges with extreme sharpening), by reducing its intensity. The higher the value, the stronger the reduction.

Threshold

Specifies how different the pixel lightness values within an edge must be before the pixels within the edge are sharpened. Higher values sharpen only stronger edges but minimize the appearance of noise. Lower values sharpen both strong and weaker edges, but can increase the appearance of noise. We recommend you set the threshold to enhance edges while keeping background noise to a minimum.

View the effects of your changes in the Preview Window, located at the top of the Detail pane. Move the overlay square on your image to change the area the Preview Window displays.

Set the default sharpening for RAW files by clicking the Settings button in the Sharpening group and selecting Save New Default.

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