Sharpness function makes your photo clearer. However, do you know why you can see the result clearly ? It is because the function makes clear edges in your photos.
Before learning the Sharpness functions, let us know more about the edge. Here we go!
1. WHAT IS EDGE ?
The edge appears between two colors.
The edge can be seen because of the difference in brightness level between two colors.
2. WHEN CAN WE SEE CLEAR EDGE?
The edge can be seen clearly if the difference in brightness level between two colors is large. Please see the photos below.
Clear edge
There is a big difference in brightness level between black and white.
Unclear edge
There is not much difference in brightness level between dark gray and light gray
3. WHAT DOES SHARPNESS FUNCTION DO?
Sharpness function makes edge clearer. It enlarges the gap of brightness level between two colors around the edge.
This is an example. I made a clear image using the Sharpness function.
This is the original edge
This is the result. The edge can now be seen clearly
Please see the photo below. The left side around the edge became darker while right side around the edge became brighter. The Sharpness function changes the edge to enlarge the gap in brightness level so we can see the edge clearly.
Let us see the edge in a real photo. Here is an example. I highlighted the edges from the photo and put them side by side.
The edge is like a border or an outline. The Sharpness function detects the edges and make them clearer. So edges in the photo became clearer. As a result, we can see the whole photo clearly.
I made the original photo clearer using the SHARPEN function. We can see the edges of her face clearly.
If you want to learn the Sharpness function more, go to the SHARPEN versus STRUCTURE page. In that page, I explained the different types of Sharpness functions. Click #Sharpness in my blogs so you can see the examples.