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Ways to Improve the Sharpness of a Digital Photo During Resize

The similarities of digital images to their film forefathers are few and far between. With film, grainy and fuzzy images occurred with faster film speed, the amount of light on the image and the size of the negative. Digital images still have some of the same issues, but since the photo is made up of computer bytes of information, the photos can be manipulated and improved using methods never available for film images. Improving the sharpness of a photo can be achieved in many ways.

Resize the Image
- The resolution of an image is determined by the number of pixels captured in the original shot. Cameras are made with different maximum resolution capabilities, and photographers have the option of saving the images to the digital card in various compression sizes. The more pixels captured in the original image, the bigger the file and the larger the resolution. This all translates to sharpness when printing or displaying the file. To improve the sharpness of a slightly fuzzy image, resize it to a smaller size. If the original is 8-by-10 inches at 300 Dots Per Inch (DPI), open the photo in Windows Paint, Macintosh Preview or an image editing program and make the photo smaller by changing the dimensions to 4 inches by 6 inches at 300 DPI. Making the image smaller will place the pixels closer together and create what appears to be a sharper image.
Save as a TIFF
- Digital images can be saved in various formats. The most common compression is JPG (Joint Photographic [Experts] Group), since photographers can choose multiple levels of compression when saving. But JPG files lose sharpness and resolution in the compression process. To retain the photo̵7;s original sharpness, open the file in Windows Paint, Macintosh Preview or an image editing program, make it the size you want and save it as a TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) file. TIFFs are larger files but retain the image̵7;s sharpness when opened and viewed many times. JPGs will lose sharpness with continued use.
Prevent Moiré
- When downsizing an image, small, detailed elements may become lost and the software will interpolate the missing pixels, causing a softening effect in parts of the image. Be careful not to downsize an image too much when resizing images. The moiré effect cannot be reversed; some recovery can be achieved by running third-party filters, but the original sharpness will disappear.
Crop the Image
- Before changing the size or dimensions of an image, crop the area of emphasis and crop out any area not in focus. Resize the cropped portion.
Change the Color Mode
- Convert the image to RGB (red, green and blue) under the mode setting. The red, green, blue mode is the traditional way of handling images, and it has detail in all three color levels. Do not try to sharpen or resize a GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) file, because the GIF is a very small, compressed file used for Web viewing. When a GIF is made, detailed images are reduced to a limited number of pixels, so sharpening is not possible. The RGB file is larger and will retain sharpness when it is resized.
Filters
- Use third-party filters to sharp and unsharpen an image when resizing it. Change the settings until the preview image is satisfactory. The filters and setting windows are different in each image editing software, but the results are similar.
Scanning
- Many scanners offer sharpen or reduce noise filter when the image is passed through the system. Turn on that function and input size settings when scanning.

Photography