How can I "sharpen" the clarity on photos for print on Vista?

How can I edit the clarity of photos for printing? Vista's Windows Photo
Gallery Only offers the very basic editing options.
The HP Essential Premiere software will do the job, but is not compatible
with Vista. HP Essential Version 2.01, is compatible isn't able to help.
Windows Movie Maker, does a stand up job!
Is there any way to import a picture into WMM, apply the 'Sharpen" effect
and then print to hard copy?

Please help! I've only got these family pics on loan.

On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:00:04 -0700, Sheri
<Sheri@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> How can I edit the clarity of photos for printing? Vista's Windows Photo
>Gallery Only offers the very basic editing options.

Use better tools. Photoshop is king, but expensive and probably over
kill for most people. Paint Shop Pro is a Photoshop knock-off recently
taken over by Corel. I think it sells for around $100. Adobe's
Elements also is good. If you want something on the cheap, GIMP is
outstanding, developed in the Linux community, but ported to Windows
and is totally free. Haven't got around to installing it in Vista, did
work fine in XP. My only negative comment about GIMP is it is a bit
geeky to use, more so in my opinion than Photoshop.

Regardless what you end up using look for filter named Unsharpen mask.
It works the exact opposite of what the name suggests.

Three things to consider when applying this filter: Amount, Radius and
Threshold. The first controls how much edges get sharpened. The second
how many pixels surrounding the sharpened edge are affected while the
third determines HOW edges are determined. No one answer fits all
images and how the filter works varies depending on who's version
you're using. For some more advanced tips, try using Google to search
for Photoshop tutorials on sharpening. Even if you don't use Photoshop
the basic how-to is pretty much the same regardless what application
you use and there are tons of excellent Photoshop web sites.

Two outstanding books on improving photos are:

The Photoshop book for digital photographers by Scott Kelby

Photoshop Restoration & Retouching by Katrin Eismann.

While geared towards Photoshop again the methods are pretty universal
as to what filters do what as are concepts on how you should approach
it.

Finally be very careful when printing photos. Your printer works in a
different color space than your computer monitor. Whatever application
you use should understand that relationship and offer an option to
switch to some appropriate color profile or you risk the colors you
see on screen won't even be close to what's printed on paper.