Sharpen Filters

Sharpen filters increase the contrast between adjacent pixels, which can make an image appear more distinct. These commands work with all image modes except Black & White, Duotone, and Indexed.

Although the Sharpen and Blur filters have opposite effects, they do not negate each other. To reverse the effects of a Sharpen filter, choose Edit | Undo.

• Sharpen filter: Modifies an image slightly. The effect of the Sharpen More filter is about four times greater.
• Sharpen Edges filter: Affects only high-contrast areas.
• Unsharp Mask filter: Provides additional control over the sharpening effect.

To Sharpen an Image:

1. Select one or more paint objects to sharpen. You can select an area in one image to sharpen the selected area only.

2. Choose Image | Filter | Sharpen, and then choose a filter.

   Original

   Sharpen More applied 5 times

   Sharpen Edges applied 8 times

   Unsharp Mask Amount = 113 Radius = 4.5 Threshold = 0

To Apply the Unsharp Mask Filter:

1. Select one or more paint objects to sharpen. Select an area in an image to sharpen the selected area only.
2. Choose Image | Filter | Sharpen | Unsharp Mask.
3. In the Unsharp Mask dialog box, enter 1 to 500% for Amount. Enter less than 100 percent to sharpen the image slightly.
4. Enter 0.1 to 250 pixels for Radius. This is the size of the area used to determine new color values for the original pixels. Smaller values focus the sharpening effect on high-contrast edges.
5. Enter 0 to 255 levels for Threshold. Enter 0 to filter all pixels. Enter a larger value to filter only high-contrast edges.
6. Click OK to apply the filter.

See Also:

• Blur Filters