2.1

Sharpening Images

Approach Used and Results

Taj Mahal \( (\alpha = 0.85, \sigma = 1.5, \text{ window size } k = 9) \)

Monastery from Project 1 \( (\alpha = 0.75, \sigma = 1.5, \text{ window size } k = 9) \)

Mount Everest \( (\alpha = 4, \sigma = 2.5, \text{ window size } k = 15) \)

Observations

For the image everest.jpg, notice that while sharpening the image brings back some contrast and a large number of the mountains features, there is still an element of blur (a net loss of information) from the blurring. The edges are not as sharp as before, and the color contrast is a bit off. Thus we see that sharpening does not really create any new information/details, but only rephrases the existing information in a way that produces an apparently "sharper" image.