Someone came to me with this issue: He has a family photo that is adhered to the bottom of a half-round of glass that is used as a paper weight. He wants the photo to be duplicated so it can be printed and framed. I tried scanning, but the scanner didn't give good results, so I tried taking a photo of it and though I got much better results, the photo is still .... blurry(ish). I hoped that maybe someone who is more familiar with the workings of a camera might be able to tell me what settings I can use on my camera to get a clearer digital copy of the photo to work with. Thank you.

Without removing it (perhaps a hair-dryer?) I can't think of a thing. Using the largest f-stop setting (smallest aperture) you can on the camera might help with varying focus, but you'll still have the obvious refraction problems. Perhaps the liquify filter could help with those.

Hi PJ.

I’ve never done this. But here are some thoughts.

Your best chance of a decent picture is by using a SLR type camera.

The glass may alter the focus distance so use the viewfinder to focus.

You will have to experiment with the aperture. Normally you use a small aperture to copy photos but if there are any imperfections in the glass then a larger aperture may be better.

Even when you manage to get a sharp image it will be distorted. You may be better trying to take pictures from different angles and then stitching them together
Also you could try a macro lens and a telephoto to find which gives the best results.

Reflections.
A polarising filter will cut down any reflections off the glass if that is a problem.

Lighting.
Must be even. Outside on an overcast day. There are some tips here
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11621


Good Luck

Ken

I would think that the top surface of the glass is also scratched, rough, and unless you cleaned it, very dirty and greasy. This of course will add to all the points raised above.

Is the print in color or B&W?

Have you tried an SLR camera, and what did the result look like?

Mike

I wonder if you could take it somewhere and have them resurface the glass part to make it flat so that a photo could be taken easier?

Just a thought.

Loverly

Cameraken, I have a Canon Powershot S2 IS. It's digital and 5 Megapixels. I don't know what an F-Stop is, but I'll give a run through the owner manual and figure it out. I apologize for my ignorance, but I don't have a lot of experience with cameras. I get around Photoshop very well, so manipulating an image is no problem, but I've never had a desire to get into photography.

Mike, the surface of the glass is neither scratched, rough dirty, or greasy. It's just like new. The print looks like sepia tone.

Loverly, the paper weight does not belong to me, so I can't have it resurfaced.

Thank you all for you suggestions.

This photo is in a paper weight and the owner wants it as a regular photo to put in an album. The photo can not be removed from the glass it's under. I couldn't scan it, so my only alternative was to take a photo of the paper weight and try to remove the refraction from the glass so it appears square and flat as a normal photo would. I realize there will be much cloning to bring the leafy background into a square, but my main concern is... well... obvious. How does one "un-orb" an orb?

This photo is in a paper weight and the owner wants it as a regular photo to put in an album. The photo can not be removed from the glass it's under. I couldn't scan it, so my only alternative was to take a photo of the paper weight and try to remove the refraction from the glass so it appears square and flat as a normal photo would. I realize there will be much cloning to bring the leafy background into a square, but my main concern is... well... obvious. How does one "un-orb" an orb?

Hey happy holidays!
Sorry I've got back problems going on or I'd sit and do you up an example.. But I've done this before! Yaay something I've got an answer for!

Liquify has a lovely little tool called "pucker". The trick is select the orb as a whole, use your select/transform selection option til you have the whole thing. Then go into liquify, choose "pucker", make sure your brush covers the WHOLE orb as the center of the brush will be where you want it to be less destorted, and gently click starting out small until you have the image somewhat less distorted. It can take a few seconds, or a few hours, depending on the glass and/or the angle of the light refraction.
By the way, this is a lovely little bit for those old convex glass photographs.
Good luck!
Teri
P.S. fabulous tool for photos of your inlaws if your upset with them.:) good therapy! :D

Well I didn't adjust the proportions of the photo, the couple looked about right, but I did select the couple and worked on them and the background separately. I used levels to adjust the luminosity and Shadow Highlight on a masked layer to brighten up some dark areas. I also desaturated the image using the red channel which seemed to have the fewest artifacts.

pj,

welcome to RP.

this is actually fairly simple. make a selection of the circular image.
using the distortion tools in the effects menu, pick 'pinch'. set this to about 24 and apply. it shld remove the distortion pretty well.

now, that's in psp 10. what the equivalent in ps is, i'm not sure, but probably fairly similar.

craig

Can you try to illuminate it from the side using a bright, even light source (LED-based flashlight would probably be perfect for this). Remove all other ambient light. Take a picture with the light shining in from four sides (north, south, east, west). Either get four lights and take one picture, or one light and four pictures and combine the four in photoshop.

Experiment with other light angles if that doesn't work.

Another thought--is there an anti-glare coating you can rub on the orb?

Bart