LightZone: Sharpening a Photo
Description: How to sharpen all or parts of your photo.

LightZone Help
Index

# Sharpening a photo

The Sharpen tool allows you to sharpen all or parts of your photo using a technique based on the tradition of using an unsharp mask in a darkroom to increase the perception of sharpness by emphasizing edges.

Most digital photos have a slight softness in the fine details and would benefit from sharpening.

## To sharpen your photo:

1. Click the sharpen tool button in the tool bar. (A new sharpen tool will appear at the top of the tool stack.)
2. Use the sliders to adjust the sharpness:
   - The Amount slider controls how much sharpening is done.
   - The Radius slider controls how widely the sharpening effect is done around each pixel.
   - The Threshold slider controls how different each pixel must be from its surrounding area before it is considered an edge pixel and therefore sharpened.
3. Optionally:
   - Create a mask using regions.
   - Select a different blend mode.
   - Adjust the Opacity slider.
   - Make a color/luminosity selection.

Note: It's best to be viewing your photo fully zoomed-in before sharpening it by selecting View > Actual Pixels.

### See also:

- Tool anatomy