As for how to sharpen image, not all photo lovers know the measures to make it with post retouching software. Actually, sharpening is one of those daily tasks that most pictures can benefit from. Everyone wants images with the best effects, which can be realized with the assistance of various tools. In this guidance, you will be able to learn three wonderful methods to get this work done, which can help you to get perfect photo effects and sharpness at ease.

Part 1: Brief Introduction about GIMP

To start to sharpen image GIMP, you first need to know what this tool is. In fact, GIMP is a free and open-source photo editor, which is available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and more operating systems. It allows users to change the source code and distribute users modifications. It can help graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, and scientist a lot, which is equipped with sophisticated tools.

What-is-GIMP

What Does GIMP Do?

  • GIMP can be used to sharpen photos with its classic Sharpen (Unsharp Mask) filter with 3 parameters (radius, amount, and threshold) and a High Pass filter. The sharpening process of it is similar to Photoshop.
  • GIMP is useful in retouching to restoring to creative composites, which provides artists with the power and ability to change photos into truly unique art works.
  • The graphical design elements of GIMP is available for you to design images to the perfect effects.

Part 2: How to Sharpen Image in GIMP?

In order to sharpen image GIMP, you may have no idea on how to use this tool. It is sensible for you to use GIMP to sharpen image before sharing to your dear ones or sending them for printout. Take a look at the following contents and you will know how to apply this great tool to achieve your photo sharpening aim.

2.1 Sharpen image in GIMP fast and simply

Step 1: To handle how to sharpen image in GIMP with high speed and simple steps, you need to choose the menu of “Filters > Enhance > Sharpen” to get the work done.

Step 2: After you see the dialogue of “Sharpen” in the interface, you need to drag the single “Sharpness” sliders at the right and bottom of the picture to control the amount of sharpening to be applied.

Step 3: You can make use of the thumbnail to preview the effect visually. To enlarge the preview thumbnail, you can make the panel bigger to make it.

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Note

    You’d better not set the sharpness amount too high, for this may cause the photo look garish with undesirable noise and grain being sharpened as well in the process.


2.2 Control over the sharpening further more

Step 1: If you have more professional requirements on your photos, you can further sharpen your images with GIMP. To make it, you need to move to the tab of “Filters > Enhance > Unsharp Mask”.

Step 2: You can see more options in the Unsharp Mask filter. You can use the Amount slider to control the strength of sharpening. To specify how many pixels on either side of an edge, you need to adjust the Radius slider. As for detecting edges, you can take advantage of the Threshold slider to assist you.

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After you learn the features of this tool, you can give it a go to verify whether the photo effects can meet your demands. If you desire to know a tool to help you to sharpen pictures automatically, the next part will surely be useful for you to read.

Part 3: How to Sharpen Image Automatically with Leawo Photo Enhancer?

Apart from GIMP, Leawo Photo Enhancer is also convenient for you to deal with how to sharpen image automatically. Driven by the most advanced artificial intelligence technology, this software is quite simple to use, which asks for no photography knowledge. Just click a few buttons and you will succeed in achieving professional images. The intelligent system and friendly user-interface will satisfy you to the most. Follow to check out the detailed steps and you will learn another fantastic method to get your photos sharpened to a proper degree.

Step 1: Download Leawo Photo Enhancer

Navigate to the website of Leawo to choose the proper version of Leawo PhotoIns to download and install on your computer.

  • Photo-Enhancer
  • Leawo Photo Enhancer

    - Enhance portrait photos easily with advanced AI technology
    - Fix photo exposure and white balance issues automatically
    - Optimize photo colors and perfect photo tints
    - Make photos perfectly clear with smart dehaze
    - Boost photo lighting and color quality
    - Process RAW and JPG files

Step 2: Add pictures to the software

Fire up Leawo Photo Enhancer on your computer and then hit on the button of “Add Photo” in the middle part of the interface. Select your images that you need to sharpen from your computer. Alternatively, you can drag and drop your source pictures into the tool directly.

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Step 3: Sharpen image automatically

When your source images are added to the program, you need to hit on the settings button at the top right corner of the interface to toggle on the features of "Automatic Lens Correction", "Face enhance" and/or "Enlarge eyes" to enable the software to sharpen pictures intelligently. You can also use the effect adjuster bar to modify the sharpening degrees. Drag the slider to the left or right to set the sharpening results based on your demands.

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Step 4: Set output options

After you adjust the sharpening degree well, you need to hit on the "Output" button to call out the panel of "Output settings". You can use this dialog box to set the output directory, the photo quality, the image format, the size and name of the photo at ease.

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Step 5: Output sharpened images

In the end, you can click on the button of “Output” to export your sharpened images to the output directory you just set. The processing bar allows you to see the whole procedure intuitively. Wait for a while and you will get the sharpened photos.

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Part 4: How to Sharpen Image Online with onlinejpgtools?

You can also resort to a simple online tool to help you sharpen pictures. onlinejpgtools, a simple browser-based photo enhancer, is free for you to apply without any ads. You can either choose to sharpen a rectangle area of the image or a whole photo online. The steps shown below will lead you to make use of this online tool without any difficulty.

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Steps:

  1. Navigate to the area of “jpeg” and then click on it to choose a photo from your computer to upload to the online sharpening tool. You can also drag and drop an image to this tool or press Ctrl + V to load your photo from the clipboard.
  2. After you upload the image, you can use the sharpener options to adjust or set the sharpen strength, area position and area size according to your need. You can enlarge, shrink or change the position of the rectangle to select the sharpening area.
  3. Finally, you need to click on the button of “Save as …” button under the sharpened jpeg area and then hit on “Download” button to choose a proper folder on your computer to save the sharpened image. The processing speed of this online image sharpening tool is a little bit slow. If you do not hurry, you can take advantage of this tool.

Part 5: GIMP vs. Leawo Photo Enhancer vs. onlinejpgtools

These three great tools are powerful for you to sharpen images, which are all widely used for various photo lovers. In order to help you know their similarities and differences more clearly, here I would like to present you with a chart for your reference.

Products GIMP Leawo Photo Enhancer onlinejpgtools
Automatically sharpen image No Yes Yes
Advanced AI-powered Poor Intelligent Common
Download required Yes Yes No
Network required No No Yes
Support RAW image Plug-in required Yes No
Process batches of photos easily No Yes No
Speed Low High Low
Intuitive interface No Yes Yes
Novice-friendly No Yes Yes
Overall Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐

When you desire to sharpen images, there are various photo editing software you can make use of. You can choose the proper one to help you get the work done according to your own cases. Knowing the clear info of photo editor can assist you to finish your photo enhancing or sharpening task with no difficulty at all.