A method for sharpening a captured image (14) includes (i) selecting a pixel (240) in the captured image (14); (ii) selecting a selected high intensity value (302); (iii) selecting a selected low intensity value (302); (iv) normalizing the intensity value to establish a normalized intensity value using the selected high intensity value and the selected low intensity value (304); (v) determining an adjusted normalized intensity value for the normalized intensity value using a contrast correction function (306); and (vi) scaling the adjusted normalized intensity value to get a transformed intensity value (308). Subsequently, the adjusted image (16) can be generated using the transformed intensity value for each pixel (240). The contrast correction function can be selected that provides the desired amount of sharpening. Thus, the amount of sharpening that is applied to the image (14) can be specifically selected.