... when it actually sharpens?

Original image here.

Those of you who are photographers probably already know this, but I, as a random point and shoot photographer, didn't.

I wondered why a filter called Unsharp Mask actually sharpened images instead of "unsharpened" or blurred images. Now I know.

Wiki's take on Unsharp Mask

Reading the wiki information gave me a better understanding of the filter and its uses plus why it's called, "unsharp" mask.

I tried to go to the gimp manual to see what it said about Unsharp Mask but currently the connection keeps timing out. I hope whatever's wrong gets fixed because I'd like to see what the manual says about the filter. http://docs.gimp.org/2.6/en/plug-in-unsharp-mask.html

The image I used was originally 2048w and I scaled it to 1400, then to 700 to make it smaller. The original is also a little fuzzy but using unsharp mask and the default settings sharpened and brightened it rather nicely I thought. I particularly like what it did for the large tree trunk on the right side of the image plus the small log or rock that is lying near and to the right of the base of that tree trunk at the very edge.

Hi O!
Great to see you back. =)