Sharpen

The Sharpen filter sharpens an image by enhancing medium and high contrast edges.

Customized settings can be saved as a preset for future use. Presets can be selected from the Presets drop-down, or saved by clicking the adjacent Save icon.

To sharpen an image using the Sharpen tool:

  1. Select Filter | Detail | Sharpen from the main menu, or press Alt + N.
  2. Set the image as described below.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Click OK to apply any changes and close the tool.
    • Click Cancel to discard all changes and close the tool.

Sharpen 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. It is recommend to set the threshold to enhance edges while keeping background noise to a minimum.

100% Preview

Click the preview image in the 100% Preview box to compare the image before and after filtering.

Right-click a slider to reset to the default value.

This filter features a Pixel Targeting tab (see Pixel Targeting for more details).

Use the Edit Brush to paint this effect onto specific areas of the image.

Use the Gradient tool to transition this effect across specific areas of the image.

Use the Radial Gradient tool to apply effects around, or directly to, a center point.

See also: