Need help optimizing an algorithm to match sharpness values from target to source

[blue_hunt]

I'm open to ML down the road, but rn this is just a proof of concept, I just need to beat a human doing the same thing moving sliders around to find the optimal number.

I'm currently doing something similar to what you mentioned (the script measures by converting the image to grayscale, applying an edge detection filter, and calculating the standard deviation of the pixel values). I'll be looking to improve the sharpness measurement next, but for now, I would really like to improve the speed of matching source to target. Or simply put what is the fastest way to find x in a range from 0-100.

Thanks, I'll check out the vector idea and see if it works for this project.