Image Help - - Severely Pixelated Image

AndrewR · #1 07-26-2005, 08:17 AM

I dont know what can be done but could someone try. I have been trying to fix this picture for a while now but to no avail, It is for a charity church group who would like to display it in their church.

It needs to stay B&W but as you can see its very pixelated and it is really getting on my nerves now, but looking at some of the stuff that has been done on here HOPEFULLY someone will help.

Kraellin · #2 07-26-2005, 08:57 AM

welcome to RP, AndrewR!

i didnt see pixelization as the biggest problem here, but ok. what i saw was a bit of blurriness and some pixelization. so, i sharpened it, ran curves to lower the light in the sky and give some more contrast, ran gausian blur for the pixelization and a fairly light treatment of unsharp mask to bring the whole out a bit more. i also cleaned up a few minor specs with clone.

hope that's what you're after.

Craig

Flora · #3 07-26-2005, 10:17 AM

Hi AndrewR,

Welcome to RP from me too!

I also had a go at your picture....

I balanced Shadows/Highlights and run Neat Image (a noise removing software that can be downloaded free here) to minimize pixelation ...

Kraellin · #4 07-26-2005, 01:12 PM

flora,

nice contrast, a bit over-white in some of the shirts and i still think it needs some sharpening. maybe a curves and usm?

Craig

Flora · #5 07-26-2005, 03:17 PM

Craig,

I agree with you that my version is a tad on the 'soft' side ...

I don't think too soft if compared with the original posted .... but surely much softer compared to yours ... Since what bothered Andrew seemed to be pixelation, I tried to improve contrast without sharpening as I found that sharpening only worsened the problem ...

PatrickB · #6 07-26-2005, 03:35 PM

Andrew,

since nobody else has yet posted this question I will: Is there a chance to re-scan the picture with a higher resolution? Obviously this photo must have been there for a while and back in those days they used to make real big prints instead of the small ones used 10 years ago for holiday pictures. So another scan with higher resolution might really boost your chances?

Patrick

AndrewR · #7 07-27-2005, 04:01 AM

Thanks for fixing it they are better than what I come up with. I have made the image bigger for you to see the pixelation more so hopefully this will help.

AndrewR · #8 07-27-2005, 04:26 AM

Flora thanks alot for the link to neatimage it has really helped in some of the others images I have on my computer, people have been taking photos with ISO on the camera and it has been a nightmare for me to tidy them up but this really helps. Cheers again Flora your a star.

pjanak · #9 07-28-2005, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewR

Thanks for fixing it they are better than what I come up with. I have made the image bigger for you to see the pixelation more so hopefully this will help.

Uhgg!. Yeah that was a bad scan. Or did you recieve this via the internet(email?compressed as a jpeg or something?) Get your hands on the original and scan it yourself or ask them to scan it to a Hi res Tiff or TGA file, burn it on a CD and send it to you.

cinderella · #10 07-31-2005, 01:39 PM

Hi Flora, Your improvements are always worth reading. But I have noticed that you mention tools that I have not got available since I work in PS7.
Would it be possible for everyone to mention the version they are using to correct a photo???
Is there always a PS7 corresponding fix to a tool used in CS???
Thanks for all your work and suggestions and explanations.
Cinderella

Flora · #11 08-01-2005, 06:05 AM

Hi,

Andrew,

thanks for you feedback!

So glad you found Neat Image useful ... It is a real jewel!!!

cinderella,

Thanks for your kindness!

Quote:

Originally Posted by cinderella

Would it be possible for everyone to mention the version they are using to correct a photo???

You are absolutely right ... I always try to remember it particularly when using Options available from a particular PS Version onwards...but sometimes it slips my mind ...

In this case, however, my

Quote:

I balanced Shadows/Highlights

didn't refer to a Tool but to what was done ... and here I've used Curves and Levels ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cinderella

Is there always a PS7 corresponding fix to a tool used in CS???

Most of the times I found that there are 'alternative' ways of doing things ... the most popular are:

* For 'lifting' the shadows is Katrin Eismann's Fill Flash Technique as explained by Doug Nelson:

Quote:

1) have orig loaded in Photoshop
2) Image>Duplicate
3) Convert Duplicate to Grayscale
4) Apply Gaussian Blur (3 pixels in this case, more for larger files)
5) Image>Adjust>Invert
6) Make orig window active and Select>Load Selection, under Document select your grayscale image, under Channel Select Black or Background Gray (book differs from my experience here)
7) New Layer Via Copy
8) activate Preserve Transparency
9) Edit>Fill>50% Gray
10) change Blend mode to Color Dodge
11) erase anywhere you don't want dodging

You can duplicate layer to increase effect, or crank down opacity to decrease

*And for overall balancing Shadows/Highlights is the Contrast Mask method described here..

Hope this helps.