When done properly, sharpening can enhance edge detail while preserving much of the overall tone of the image. This keeps the image looking like an image, not an abstract grouping of outlines and shapes. Improper sharpening can significantly boost noise without enhancing the visual content of the image. Sharpening can extract spatial information from an image that might be lost or overlooked, especially when the intensity levels across straight or curved borders are slightly varying. The use of sharpening filters is especially important in one-meter imagery, where many more edges and boundaries are present.
Several examples show the detail that can be enhanced by using a sharpening function.
Figure 4 is significantly clearer. TTCs prescribed by the ICA are designed specifically for 11-bit processing and are designed to extract the maximum information from an image. System calibration TTCs may be combined with monitor calibration curves that correct each monitor's nonlinear response. Individual monitor and printer calibration ensures that the human perception ability is preserved to the maximum extent for each displayed scene. Until very recently, full ICA-compatible software has not been available to the commercial marketplace.