Sharpening

[Limepickle]

I've got a fairly low quality snap of my neighbour and her late husband, which I need to give a bit more definition to, has anyone got any sharpening tips? I can't seem to make any headway with the unsharp mask, it just seems to bring out the noise in the pic. Do you think its worth removing any noise before sharpening?

Picture of couple

[Kraellin]

it's always a bit of a trick with sharpening; you sharpen and add noise, reduce the noise and lose the sharpening.... sort of a catch 22.

i tried unsharp mask on your pic and didnt get much of a result either. so, i tried Focus Magic, a plugin/stand-alone app and got things looking better, but it did add noise. still, it was fairly good and that noise can be cleaned up afterwards.

i also tried a simple sharpen more, then duplicated to a new layer, masked the eyes and lips of the gentleman, and ran an edge preserving smooth over it at a medium low setting. gausing would prolly work also.

as to which you do first, sharpen or reduce noise, i've done both and it somewhat depends on the image, at least to me. if the noise is the bigger problem, then i'd prolly handle that first, but if sharpening is more in need, then i'd prolly run that first. in your pic i ran the sharpening first in every test. this gives the tools more accurate data to work with, thus hopefully getting better results. but if that hadnt worked, i'd simply switch things around. it just all depends on what works best.

the first image here is the original. the 2nd is the focus magic result and the third is the sharpen more with edge preserving smooth. i purposely left the eyes and lips un-clean from the sharpening and masking to show where i masked.

Craig

edit: oh, and take a look at the channels. you'll notice one channel is pretty badly damaged. i think it was the blue. you might then work with sharpening the red or green and using that.

[Paris]

Hi Limepickle,

There is a great tutorial on sharpening here http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=158 I used it on your image which I have attached a portion of the before and after results. Hope this helps.

Paris

[Duv]

Something you may also want to try is on your copy of the background, change to Multiply, then Alt-Mask and with a low opacity brush paint back in a little more depth around the eyes, mouth and nose.

Cheers
Dave

[Panpan]

You might also use a blurry background so your couple looks relatively sharper. Here's an example.

[Limepickle]

Brilliant responses folks, plenty of things to try here!

Many thanks!!

[Cassidy]

Limepickle, one of my favourite methods for providing detail where it does not exist particularly well is created by producing a high pass greyscale image and placing it under a layer to enhance edges and other usually increased detail. My methodology is as follows:

1. New Layer by copy
2. Increase contrast high to bring out the most enhanced edge detail (not best picture)
3. Select Image Adjust and desaturate
4. Select Filter->Other->Highpass and adjust to the point where you get greatest edge details
5. Select the original layer and do a New Layer by copy
6. Drag new copy of image to top of layers and then adjust the opacity (usually no lower than 75%)
7. Adjust brightness and contrast to suit
8 Final touch is to do a little burn of details you want to pick out such as eyes, nose, lapels etc. (usually no more than about 6%) using the burn tool

[Limepickle]

What do you think? It needs some work around the black dress, especially the shoulder area to remove the ghostly outline, but overall what are your impressions?

Do you think I've made a wise choice with a BW background? ( or not )

almost there

[Cassidy]

For some reason didn't see the BW pic last night, yes very good detail considering the first pic I saw, agree that should could do with a cleanup of the shoulder or even a mild blend around the edges right round to maybe remove the cut-out look. Really not sure as to what I'd regard would be the best result, I'd try both and then pick my preference. The BW background does bring out the detail more as a contrast. Great Stuff and well done so far.

[Kraellin]

well, the real question is, do you think you made a wise choice? but yes, i kind of like it. it would be particularly relevant if that background were something from their earlier days, an old house they lived in or something like that. but yes, lookin better.

Craig

[Kraellin]

and limepickle,

i was having a tiny bit of trouble making out your avatar and what all that was above the orang's head, so i loaded it up and changed it a bit. use it if you like, throw it away, tell me i'm an arrogant puss for daring to alter your great image, or whatever, but there it is i also put it in .gif format.

[Limepickle]

LOL, can't believe you touched up my Avatar! You've removed his hanging branch, now hes plummeting to his doom!!

How obsessive are you???

Thanks!

a cleanup of the shoulder or even a mild blend around the edges right round

Any suggestions on how best to blend the edges? If I feather I lose the shape....

NP, found a good tutorial on the subject:
link

[Cassidy]

On the uppermost layer (presumed has figures upon), select the eraser tool with say a 2-3% value and just gently brush the edges