Paint Shop Pro contains several commands that sharpen your image by increasing the contrast of adjacent pixels:
Sharpen and Sharpen More Focus the image and improve its clarity by increasing the contrast between adjacent pixels where there are significant color contrasts, usually at the edges of objects. The Sharpen More command sharpens with a stronger effect than the Sharpen command. Both commands are automatically applied to the image.
Unsharp Mask Sharpens the mid- to high-contrast edges in the image without enhancing noise. This command locates adjacent pixels that have a difference in lightness values that you specify and increases their contrast by an amount you specify. This command is typically used in professional color corrections.
To use the Sharpen or Sharpen More command:
Choose Adjust > Sharpness > Sharpen or Adjust > Sharpness > Sharpen More.
To use the Unsharp Mask dialog:
Choose Adjust > Sharpness > Unsharp Mask.
In the preview window, center an important part of the image (such as a face). Pan the image by clicking and dragging in the preview window; zoom in or out as necessary.
Sharpen the image with the following options:
Radius The number of pixels to adjust around each edge. A value between 0.5 and 2 works best, depending on the image. A lower value sharpens only the edge pixels, while a higher value sharpens a wider band of pixels. The effect is much less noticeable in print than on-screen because a small radius (for example, 1 pixel) represents a smaller area in a high-resolution printed image. Therefore, use lower values for on-screen images and higher values for high resolution printed images.
Strength The amount of contrast to increase in the image’s pixels. Start with a low value and increase it gradually.
Clipping The difference in lightness values that adjacent pixels must have before they are sharpened.
Click OK.