NEWBIE- Blurred image

[snowangel38]

Several weeks ago my daughter went to the prom, I had asked my son to take our picture. Well, I love the picture but is is kind of blurry. Can anyone help me with this? (It is the best one of us together). I am so new, I can only change red eyes..
file is too large to upload. don't know how to make is smaller...sorry

[PatrickB]

Well, on blurry pictures there is usually not really much you can do, but we can try. Maybe you can put the picture somewhere online so we can have a look at it?

In case you use photoshop, use the Save for Web feature, it could reduce it in size a bit

Patrick

[Cameraken]

snowangel38
You have not posted a picture
Please read this if you are having trouble
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/image-help/7933-attaching-files-images-threads-posts.html
Ken

[snowangel38]

sure hope you are able to see the picture ok. Like I said, I'm new to all this and want to learn all I can. I have other photos I need to edit, mainly ones with eyeglass glare, I'm trying but can't seem to do it right..

[Caitlin]

I think you are going to have a lot of difficulty getting an image you are happy with from this - There are various plug-ins and filters that either come with Photoshop, or can be purchased seperately (eg Focus Magic), but the result they can get from something this blurred is fairly limited. I had a go, both with the photoshop filters and with Focus Magic and was not happy with any of them. If you want to give them a go though, one tip I'd suggest is also try to erase out some of the obvious double image yourself (eg. the edge of your daughter's face), so the blur is less obvious.

I don't think it will be possible to make it as sharp as you would like it though. Have you considered giving it an artistic effect to hide the blur? It is not something I know much about myself, though there are many on this forum that specialise in this.

I've attached the result of a pass through 'Focus Magic' - which I don't think brings the photo to an acceptable point, and also a version that is then passed through a simple built in filter in photoshop, called texturizer - I think it looks quite nice, and as a portrait works quite well.

btw - this is a lovely picture, I can understand why you like it - one of those photos you could say - are you two sisters??

[Legacy~Art]

I used Neat Image and smoothed it out alittle, but i know a lady on here called Flora who is a whizzkid on this program, so maybe she can get it clearer, other than enlarge it and color in the pixels one by one i am not sure whatelse to do.

Elle

[Legacy~Art]

I shall be back though as i got an idea!

[Ken Fournelle]

My guess is the blur of the image is caused by the camera moving during a slow shutter speed opening.

I tried this:

1. Duplicated the image
2. Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen. Set to Remove - Motion. Amount: 500%, 1.4 pixels.
3. I then used a High Pass Sharpening method. Filter>Other>High Pass set
to 4.3 pixels and made the blending mode Overlay.
4. I then used Neat Image to reduce noise.

On my image, some other pattern showed up. I don't know what it is. Likely caused by over sharpening.

k

[Gary Richardson]

Hi, Had a go with your image. As others have already said, the main problem is motion blur, and there's not too much can be done. Any attempt will probably fall short of what you'd really want.

However, what I did was to clone out as much of the "doublelining" as I could, then sharpened using USM, masked with a layer mask.

[Cameraken]

Snowangel38

I had to have a go at this.
Although you will never get a perfectly sharp picture.
Call it creative soft focus.

Ken

[palms]

Ran a actions i usually find one that i like that makes a bad picture either acceptable or good but it is all a matter of personnel taste (wouldn't know how to begin to put it right, i am still on the learning curve) Although i did find something interesting that maybe some one could explain, using curves to brighten the photo the motion blur seemed to diminsh a bit ! ! !

[Legacy~Art]

I have the larger of the painting if you want me to carry on with it i shall, but i need a picture of both you and your daughters eyes, as the picture is too dark for me to pick up the eye colourings.

Elle

Ps...I am moving house in 2 weeks i have not boxed things up so if i am not seen on here for a couple of weeks that is the reason.

[Gary Richardson]

Good luck with the house move Elle. Look forward to hearing from you in your new abode.

[creeduk]

This is caused by a movment of the camera before the image was fully captured. This gave me chance to try the new sharpen feature of CS2 using a motion blur setting. It seems to vary from between 6 to 9 pixel of blur, I applied the filter but still had some manual work to do removing some of the duplication. I also used some of your features to recapture some of your daughters. I first checked with a difference layer and your features are so close it was amazing. I then ligthened the eye area a little.

[Flora]

Great job everybody .... for me, this is one of 'those' I can never get right!!!

snowangel38,

Welcome to RP!

Pity for the blurring ... it's really a beautiful picture!

I also had a go at it .... nothing much, really, just did what I usually do in these cases ... fighting fire with fire .... meaning I strongly blurred the background so, in comparison, the 'subjects' might look a tad sharper .... Unfortunately, here, there are 'duplications' so, the result isn't what I hoped for ....

[tb5821]

here's mine ...

[imrtun]

Here's my attempt using unshake, a free program that's memory hungry!

[Flora]

Elle,

Great job!!!
It surely is a beautiful way to correct strong blurring!!!

Originally Posted by Legacy~Art

Ps...I am moving house in 2 weeks i have not boxed things up so if i am not seen on here for a couple of weeks that is the reason.

All the best for your moving ... and looking forward to seeing you back!!

tb5821,

Very nice job! .... Great idea increasing the contrast!!!

imrtun,

Unshake looks very interesting .... have you still got the link of where you downloaded it from??

[creeduk]

Flora

maybe you could carry on where I left off, I managed to get most of the doubling I am not sure about the quality of the detail I tried to recover though.

[Cameraken]

Unshake is available here

http://www.hamangia.freeserve.co.uk/
http://www.hamangia.freeserve.co.uk/Unshake/index.html

Ken

[snowangel38]

Sorry I haven't replied to anyone, but I've been away from the computer. All I can say is WOW !!! I can't believe what you guys ahve done. They look great, even though they are slightly blurred. Would it help if I attached clearer pictures taken that same day ?
I also have another question. In some of the ohter photos I took that day, the flash went off on most of the pictures, since it was dusk, so I thought that would brighten them up. Boy was I wrong, it made the background darker, so it looks almost black behind them. How can I brightne them up. This I need to learn( this program is new to me-never did any of this stuff before) cause there were so many that turned out dark.

Thanks again for all your suggestions. I really appreciate it !!!!

[PatrickB]

Hi there,

the best way to lighten up something is to copy the layer and set the blend mode of the copied layer to screen. Then simply mask out the parts in the foreground and you are good to go! Another approach is to use the black and white pickers on a copied layer and create two pictures, one with correct lighting in the foreground and one in the background and then again, mask the layers.

Patrick

[Legacy~Art]

Thank you Gary and Flora!!!

Snowangel i can super imposed pictures together and then maybe paint them as i had above, maybe that will do it.

Anyhow i am moving in the next 2 or 4 weeks depends on my fella getting me a van to use, but i can try and do you another picture.

Also i got your email and i did reply.

Elle x

[snowangel38]

Thanks Elle, pictures on the way.

[Legacy~Art]

Received! Beautiful pictures and that dress is gorgeous!

[palms]

Had another go tried something different