Why do digital photos often need sharpening, and when does it help?
Asked 4/2/2011
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In Lightroom, my images often look better to me with little or no added sharpening. Why is digital sharpening used at all, and what problems is it meant to correct? In what situations does sharpening improve a photo, and why can too much sharpening make an image look worse?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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Sharpening of digital images is made necessary by two things that degrade the image:
1) the anti-alias filter, to prevent aliasing it filters out high frequency information, but that degrades the image sharpness.
2) the Bayer matrix, this is a scheme to recover pixel level colours from a 3x3 matrix which also degrades image sharpness.
This degrading of image sharpness is quite significant so it is normal to try to reverse the degradation somewhat by applying sharpening. And herein lies the problem. The precise amount (and manner) of sharpening is a subjective process and when too much is applied the image acquires an artificial look with thin white/black/grey lines or halos around edges.
A good way to see this is to use a tool like QuickMTF to analyse the edge sharpness of a five degree slanted edge.
The first image below shows the edge sharpness of an image with very little sharpening applied. Here the edge blur is 2.57 pixel.
The second image has moderate sharpening applied and the edge blur has decreased to a very respectable value of 1.64 pixel. Now the shape of the curve indicates very little 'ringing' which means there will be no sharpening artifacts visible.
The third image has had excessive sharpening applied which has reduced the edge blur to 1.56 pixel. You will see considerable 'ringing' in the graph indicating the over sharpening. So while the image is sharper there will be visible sharpening artifacts.
How much sharpening you want must be balanced with how much artifacts you are prepared to tolerate and this is your subjective choice.
Image 1, very slight sharpening. Edge blur = 2.57 pixel.

Image 2, moderate sharpening. Edge blur = 1,64 pixel.

Image 3, over sharpening. Edge blur = 1.56 pixel.

Originally by user1368. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1368
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Digital sharpening is mainly used to restore apparent detail that is softened during image capture and processing. Two common causes are the camera’s anti-aliasing filter, which slightly blurs fine detail to reduce moiré, and the Bayer/demosaicing process, which also reduces edge crispness somewhat.
Used moderately, sharpening can make edges look clearer and improve perceived detail. But it does not truly recover lost detail—it boosts local contrast around edges. If pushed too far, it creates halos, harsh outlines, and other artificial-looking artifacts, which is why zero sharpening may look better than too much.
How much sharpening helps depends on the camera, subject, exposure quality, image size, and final output. A file for large print or billboard use may need different sharpening than an image shown small on a screen. Some cameras also need less sharpening than others, especially if their AA filter is weak or absent.
So the benefit of sharpening is improved perceived sharpness and compensation for capture softness. The downside is that it is very easy to overdo, and the “right” amount is subjective and output-dependent.
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