Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:35 pm   Reply with quote         

I've just been given a seemingly impossible task here at work.

One of the departments has some digital photos that they need to include in their annual report. These are photos that can't be re-shot (time and place has passed) and the pictures are very blurry.

Is there a way to fix them? Personally I think it's a lost cause. Here's an example photo to show what I'm up against:

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Why I do believe it's pants-less o'clock! - Lar deSouza
”The mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work if it isn’t open.” - Frank Zappa
Created using photoshop and absolutely no talent. - reyrey

Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:38 pm   Reply with quote         

Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:46 pm   Reply with quote         

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Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:57 pm   Reply with quote         

downsampling it until we can't see what's on the pic would be a solution. I'm not sure it helps... Actually, I'm sure it doesn't.

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:03 pm   Reply with quote         

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:07 pm   Reply with quote         

There is nothing you can do about that image. Sorry. There are lots of sharpening tools out there. (I have tried them all) They help a little bit. They don't really sharpen it as much as they fake a sharp edge. If the info is not there, you can not add it. In otherwords, you will never see her eyelashes or her pupils. You will never know what color her eyes are and you will never be able to read that trophy. Sorry

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:08 pm   Reply with quote         

I just hit a bunch of random items and came up with this...

its not much better though.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7443/alibenda1copy9hv.jpg

with more time, Im sure I (or someone) could get in there and basically redraw her fairly cleanly.

But that would take some time. There may be someone else that could get it a little closer to what you want though.

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:11 pm   Reply with quote         

Yellow Piggy has a possiblity, you can download a trial version of Focalblade, why not give it a shot.

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Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:12 pm   Reply with quote         

Here I was waiting for Rey to step in here and BADA-BING "Hey that's easy" and show us all the intricacies of sharpening images in Photoshop.

Rey, I must say... I'm very disappointed.

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:15 pm   Reply with quote         

mason4300 wrote:

well, you could always re-paint it photorealistically. I'm sure someone here could do it very well.

Would be nice but there's 6-8 pictures like this. You'd think they would've looked at the preview BEFORE deciding no to take another shot.

The only bright side I have is that I think they are going to resize the images down for inclusion the annual report. I don't think they need details such as eye color or text on the trophy though. Simply something that looks crisper for the report.

_________________
Why I do believe it's pants-less o'clock! - Lar deSouza
”The mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work if it isn’t open.” - Frank Zappa
Created using photoshop and absolutely no talent. - reyrey

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:21 pm   Reply with quote         

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:26 pm   Reply with quote         

Quote:

Would be nice but there's 6-8 pictures like this. You'd think they would've looked at the preview BEFORE deciding no to take another shot.

The only bright side I have is that I think they are going to resize the images down for inclusion the annual report. I don't think they need details such as eye color or text on the trophy though. Simply something that looks crisper for the report.

So do you have these in a high res version? Not that it makes a differnce really, its still going to be blurry, but if this is the size they are going to have in the report, then the quality is going to drop even more. A 72dpi image in a printed piece... scarier than a blurry starting image.

[/quote]

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:42 pm   Reply with quote         

dewking wrote:

So do you have these in a high res version? Not that it makes a differnce really, its still going to be blurry, but if this is the size they are going to have in the report, then the quality is going to drop even more. A 72dpi image in a printed piece... scarier than a blurry starting image.

Don't I wish. All pics are 640x480 and anywhere from 40kb-88kb. As I said originally I was only hoping there was a way to improve the pics. I knew that fixing the images was not going to happen.

Why can't it be like the crap they show on TV (i.e. CSI, Star Trek, etc.) where the technician types a couple commands, clicks a couple buttons and {POOF!} instantly better picture? I HATE when they do that in shows. My wife is so sick of me saying "Yeah right!" or "Oh puh-lease!" when I see that happen.

_________________
Why I do believe it's pants-less o'clock! - Lar deSouza
”The mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work if it isn’t open.” - Frank Zappa
Created using photoshop and absolutely no talent. - reyrey

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:44 pm   Reply with quote         

Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:56 pm   Reply with quote