The sharpening tool is one of those really cool tools found in most photo-editing programs – perhaps too cool! For those who have trouble finding it, it is cunningly called the “unsharp-mask” – why? No one seems to know. Regardless of what it is called, it is one of the first tools people try for perhaps a couple of reasons – not only does it produce instant visual gratification is also brings on a psychological effect. This psychological effect tricks us into believing that this tool can actually “fix” poorly focused images.

Here are the common mistakes almost everyone makes when they first attempt to “improve” a picture using the sharpening tool -

1. They attempt to sharpen an image that does not need sharpening. Not every image needs such fine detail. Just ask any woman how sharp she would like those wrinkles around her eyes to appear in her picture.
2. People apply too much sharpening. One of the side effects of sharpening is a halo effect- a bright secondary image that appears near sharp edges. Unless you are photographing a religious artefact, the halo is a sure sign that too much sharpening has been applied. Another annoying side effect caused by sharpening too much is that any noise in the image will get exaggerated.
3. In the majority of cases, sharpening should be the very last effect that you apply to an image. Personally, I rarely (there are exceptions) save an image with sharpening applied. If I do, happen to save a sharpened image, I save it under a different name by adding the word “sharp” to it. For example, I would take the file – IMG_1234.jpg and save the sharpened version as IMG_1234_sharp.jpg. The original is intact and I know that the new image has been sharpened. The reason for this is simple. If you change the size of the image to make a different sized print, the sharpening effect will be partially lost, and then you will be tempted to re-sharpen the resized image, which will make it worse. It is much better to resize the un-sharpened version and then apply sharpening. If you need to save this newly sized image, don’t forget to save it under a new name to indicate that it has been sharpened.
4. This is probably the biggest mistaken people make – you can only sharpen the part of an image that is in focus. It is a sharpening tool – not a re-focusing tool.

If you need an excellent sharpening tool, there is a plug-in called “Intellisharpen II” available at a nominal cost from fredmiranda.com. This particular sharpening tool will sharpen only the parts of an image that can and should be sharpened so that the final image looks natural. In addition, it can be set to minimise or eliminate the halo effect. Furthermore, it can also reduce the “noise” that is often exaggerated as a result of using a less sophisticated sharpening tool – but this option does increase the time to process the image.