Unsharp Masking - Photographic Unsharp Masking

Photographic Unsharp Masking

The technique was first used in Germany during the 1930s as a way of increasing the acutance, or apparent resolution, of photographic images.

For the photographic process, a large-format glass plate negative is contact-copied onto a low contrast film or plate to create a positive image. However, the positive copy is made with the copy material in contact with the back of the original, rather than emulsion-to-emulsion, so it is blurred. After processing this blurred positive is replaced in contact with the back of the original negative. When light is passed through both negative and in-register positive (in an enlarger for example), the positive partially cancels some of the information in the negative.

Because the positive has been blurred intentionally, only the low frequency (blurred) information is cancelled. In addition, the mask effectively reduces the dynamic range of the original negative. Thus, if the resulting enlarged image is recorded on contrasty photographic paper, the partial cancellation emphasizes the high frequency (fine detail) information in the original, without loss of highlight or shadow detail. The resulting print appears more acute than one made without the unsharp mask: its acutance is increased.

In the photographic procedure, the amount of blurring can be controlled by changing the "softness" or "hardness" (from point source to fully diffuse) of the light source used for the initial unsharp mask exposure, while the strength of the effect can be controlled by changing the contrast and density (i.e., exposure and development) of the unsharp mask.

For traditional photography, unsharp masking is usually used on monochrome materials; special panchromatic soft-working black and white films have been available for masking photographic colour transparencies. This has been especially useful to control the density range of a transparency intended for photomechanical reproduction.