The sharpen tool works similarly to the blur tool, but it has an opposite effect. Rather than softening edges and high contrast areas, the sharpen tool will harden edges by increasing contrast. The sharpen tool is available in the same group of tools as the blur tool. If you click and hold the blur tool, the rest of the tools in this group will appear. The button icon for the sharpen tool looks like a pointy triangle.
When you select the sharpen tool from the toolbox, you will see options for it available in the options bar. The options for the sharpen tool are just like the options for the blur tool. You can select or alter your brush hardness and size, choose a mode for the sharpening tool, and choose a strength level with the strength slider. As with the blur tool, if you leave the Use all Layers checkbox unchecked, only the active layer edges will be sharpened.
As with the blur tool, you sharpen areas of your image by holding the left mouse button down and dragging the mouse pointer (a circle representing the brush diameter). The strokes you make with the sharpen tool may alter the colour of the sharpened area, and may also result in some artefacts (unwanted effects). For this reason, you should start sharpening with the tool set at a lower strength (15% - 30%) and a relatively small brush size. Examine the results and then decide to increase the strength depending on what you see.
If you choose Edit->Fade Sharpen Tool from the menu bar immediately after using the sharpen tool, an opacity slider will appear that you can use to control the visibility of the sharpening effects.
You may want to combine the blur tool and sharpen tool in the same image to highlight or enhance (by sharpening) a particular element while obfuscating or deemphasizing another element (by blurring).
These images of the palm tree demonstrate a subtle use of the sharpen tool. Notice how in the left most image, the small wave and waterline in the lower left is more crisp and pronounced than in the image on the right.
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