Sharpening Tab

Sharpening is a useful feature which can make your images look much better. The basic mechanism is to find edges and make these edges more noticeable.  This effect is achieved by making brighter edge even brighter (white halo) and darker edge even darker (black halo).

Please note that the sharpening filter is not applied on the tabs where downsized  images are used for faster preview (Brightness, Color, Distortions, Frames tabs). 

To apply all filters and see the final result please switch to the Save tab. If you like the result, you can save it and process the next image. If you don't, you can always switch back to the filter, fine tune the settings and get updated result.

The program remembers the settings for each file you processed. So when you open a file again, the program recalls the most recent settings for this file. You can also save the file settings manually (Menu->Settings->File Settings).

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

 

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 Edge width =10

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 Threshold = 100%, Intensity = 100

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 White halo = 100%, intensity = +50

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 The sharpening map

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.

The Sharpening Equalizer

To open the Sharpening equalizer use the appropriate button on the sharpening tab. Equalizer lets you define sharpening level for every hue on the image.

A common task is to keep softer skin details while sharpening the rest of the image.

Sample print screen on the left illustrates the above case with blue figures (see Sharpening map). Use Sharpening Map button to analyze the effects more precisely.

To change the equalizer curve simply click on the equalizer or drag the curve. To reset the equalizer right click on it.

White vertical line shows you the hue of the area beneath a mouse cursor. Black line shows the hue under the last click.

Simple mode

If you prefer easy and straightforward interface, you can switch to simple mode. Go to main menu of Helicon Filter and select "View\Simple preview mode" command. Or press button on the toolbar. 

Hints and Tips

Recommended workflow

To show or  hide Help panel of Helicon Filter use button from the toolbar or View->Help panel command in the main menu.