| Controls
The Load Settings select box lets you choose one of the predefined settings for this tab. You can also save your current settings for future use.
Sharpen fine details - detects thin lines and fine details and amplifies them. Wider and smoother edges are not affected. Please note that such sharpening will be noticeable only on larger prints. If you plan to print 5 megapixels image on 10x15cm (4x6") paper or downsize the image to 25%, a fine sharpening will not be noticeable.
Sharpen edges - increases the contrast on the edges. Noise and fine details will not be affected.
| Extreme sharpening (intensity = +100) |
Original image |
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The Edge width slider – the analog of the radius in Photoshop Unsharp mask filter. Use small values if you want to emphasize small details, use high values to stress outlines of objects.
| Edge width =2 |
Edge width =6 |
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The Threshold - sets the threshold to keep low contrast details from sharpening. Value of 100% corresponds to the detected level of noise.
| Original image |
Threshold = 0%, Intensity = 100 |
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Please have a closer look at the noise on the sky and low contrast details on the stones on the second and the third images. The threshold helps to prevent the sharpening of the noise.
The White halo slider defines the intensity of sharpening of the white edges as a percentage of the black edge sharpening. In most cases a white halo is much more noticeable than a black halo. That is why a default value of this slider is set to 50%.
| Original image |
White halo = 50%, intensity = +50 |
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As you see, 100% white halo produces "snow" effect on the roof (image on the right). The central image (white halo = 50%) looks more natural.
The Suppress halos option makes blurred edges sharper but does not introduce white or black halos. If you already have sharp image the effect will be minimal.
The Sharpening Map button lets you switch to special mode, where intensity of red color corresponds to the degree of sharpening. The green color means that these will be blurred.
It is a good tool to see effects of the sharpening equalizer and the Threshold control.
| The original image |
The image after selective sharpening |
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In the above example the sharpening equalizer was used to selectively smooth green background and sharpen blue object on the foreground.
The sharpening map shows how different parts of the image are affected. |
