146 PART 3 HOW THE DIGITAL DARKROOM WORKS
How the Digital Darkroom Focuses
Pictures After They’re Taken
When a digital camera translates the continuous
gradations of color into discretely colored pixels,
finer details get approximated. The result is a
slightly softer look than photographic film will
yield. To compensate, digital cameras usually do a
bit of electronic sharpening before they send the
image to your computer. Once on your computer,
your digital darkroom can add sharpening effects
using the same methods.What does it really mean to focusan image
you’ve already taken? To the digital darkroom,
it means increasing the contrast between certain
pixels by making some darker and others
lighter. You can see this when you zoom in.Dark lines are a bit darker,
and the light areas next to
them are a little lighter.2
1