A method and apparatus for automating the design of morphological or template-based filters for print quality enhancement. A plurality of different phase, but same resolution, subsampled images are generated from training documents. Statistical data derived therefrom is then employed in an automated process to generate filters. The filters may be used for resolution enhancement and/or conversion of bitmap images. Furthermore, the statistical data is used to produce filters that are intended to not only optimize image structure, but image density as well.