The 12th essential creative option is the sharpness setting.
Sharpness (sometimes called Sharpening) refers to the amount of contrast around the edges of individual pixels. When you turn your sharpness setting to its highest setting, the difference between these are intensified, making the scene appear ‘sharper.’ Think of it as if you were outlining all the objects in front of you with a small, extremely thin, black marker. Whatever is outlined will appear a bit clearer, sharper, more in focus.
This is what your sharpening setting allows you to do, it sharpens the edges of the graphic elements in your picture. Keep in mind however, that your sharpness setting will not (and can not) actually make a blurry photo more in focus, it can only adjust the appearance of the edges of pixels, making them seem more defined.
Exploring the Sharpness Option
The Sharpness Setting
The only thing that guarantees that a photo is in focus … is you.
As with every other essential creative option, the amount of sharpening applied to each image varies greatly depending on how you want your image to feel. Which is best will always be the setting that represents your vision. Be careful however not to fall into the trap of using the high setting for everything. Not everyone (or everything) looks great with intense sharpening. Should your structure be weak, should your noise level be high, you will not want to use a high sharpening setting, as this will only intensify these faults. Keep your vision in mind, use what needs to be used … don’t over do it.
Adjusting the Sharpening Setting
About the Options:
In-camera sharpening options on the latest digital cameras can be found in a variety of places. Take a few moments and look up this character trait in your manual. It is generally associated with (and found next to) your other character options such as contrast and saturation. Most offer at least 9 sharpening options, starting at zero (0).
The sharpness control is usually mapped (located) with the character options your camera offers (contrast, saturation, hue) and is often found at the top of the menu.
To find the sharpness control, you may have to maneuver through several menus. In Rod’s Nikon, for instance, it takes three steps. In my Canon, it also takes three steps.
Nikon (Sharpening)
- Find Picture Control
- Choose Picture Profile
- Choose Sharpening Setting
Canon (Sharpness)
- Find Picture Style
- Choose Picture Profile
- Choose Sharpness Setting
Check your camera manual to discover the route to your Sharpness control now.
To change the setting, simply move the highlighted icon either to the left or to the right. On most DSLR cameras, moving it to the left lowers the sharpening level and moving it to the right raises the sharpening level.
Sharpness Comparison
While in the field, we will often ask our new students to shoot extreme variations of character and supporting features. What follows are a few comparison sharpness examples. The left images show the results of a low sharpness setting, while the right images show the results of a high sharpness setting.
Click on an image to launch the slideshow.
Next: An In Focus Approach to Creative Photography
This is post #15 of 16 of In Camera Magic: The 12 Essential Creative Options, a free online photography course for creating spectacular images right in the camera.