Digital cameras: Software to enhance digital photos
Fixing Focus
by kyran.ryan - 4/20/06 1:00 AM In reply to: Photo editing s/w by tasurayas other have already said you cannot fix an out of focus picture,
two things
1. why are they out of focus? try to see if your camera handling is the cause. non SLR cameras are sometimes slow to find focus, know where the focus sensor is in viewfinder and how it works. (read the book!)Fix the problem at source. try careful tsts on something static in case camera is iffy, though this is unlikly.
2. software come in all shapes and sizes. Photoshop is the biggy, Picasa as mentioned is excellent, for more features like PShop look at 'the GIMP'. probally available on Cnet downloads, its like Pshop and is FREE. you need to download the windows installer and then the program. (I think linux based origins).
Free and very easy to use.
by lovevenus - 4/28/06 2:04 AM In reply to: Photo editing s/w by tasurayhttp://www.faststone.org/ will get to them.
Highly recommended. I much prefer it to Picassa.
Frank Taylor
Focus Magic
by ddealer27 - 4/27/06 4:09 AM In reply to: Software to enhance digital photos by afwilson72This program works better than Unsharp Mask. You can down load it and try it on 10 photos. I use the program with a setting of 1 or 2 to sharpen photos before I print them.
Try Picasa II
by hippieg - 4/28/06 5:28 AM In reply to: Software to enhance digital photos by afwilson72I've been using Picasa for nearly 3 years. I'd recommend it highly. A good, basic digital picture manipulator program. Lotsa extra goodies for slideshows, albums and ordering prints online thru a rather large selection of quality vendors. Now owned by Google. Best part, it's free. Cheers!!
Software to enhance out-of-focus digital photos
by wallyk4320 - 4/28/06 5:59 AM In reply to: Software to enhance digital photos by afwilson72Gimp I find is a very good Photo Manipulation sonftware, and it has in Enhance an option to correct out-of-focus digital photos, and it's free.
The link to download it is
http://blog.yumdap.net/archives/43-GIMPshop-2.2.8-for-Windows-released.html
Martin
Sharpen to resurrect & troubleshoot for future
by mediadiva - 4/28/06 8:02 AM In reply to: Software to enhance digital photos by afwilson72As others have said, you can't really retrieve an out of focus or blurred photo. But you can improve it enough to still enjoy the picture. (According to the movies, the CIA and NSA must have some pretty nifty ones, but if so, they're not sharing.)
There are lots of simplified photo editing programs out there, as other posters have listed. I'd try the free ones first and see if they're intuitive for you. I've heard really good things about Picasa from acquaintances. Personally, they all annoy me with their indecipherable little user-friendly icons and I prefer the control of Photoshop. [I know it's terrifying when you open it up, but with 24 hours or one weekend and a good manual (I like the Visual Quick Start guides) you will learn all the tools you'll ever need to use. Your camera/printer/scanner may have come with Photoshop LE or Elements - many do. If you know anyone big into digital photos, odds are they have a few of these free cd's kicking around that they're not using. I give mine to friends. If you take a little time to try it, you'll have amazing fun with what it can do. But I digress...]
With ANY photo-editing program, there are a couple of controls you should try. First, open your image and save it with a different name (I add a "c" to the end for "corrected"). That way your original is unharmed and you can try everything.
You mentioned brightness and contrast as well as focus. The single best thing you can do to improve dull or dark photos is to adjust the Levels (this makes your whites white and your blacks black and balances everything out in between). Now I know that sounds like Greek, but look for a button in whatever photo editing program you choose and try it. The brightness/contrast adjustments are a simplified version of the same thing. In Photoshop, Levels presents you with a histogram (a chart that looks like a heart-rate monitor)... there are three little arrows below. Click on the one at left and drag it in (right) to where the first black jagged peak starts. Click on the one at right and drag it left in the same way. Thsi will help enormously. This is exactly what the brightness/contrast buttons do, but with less control. If the photo is overall still a bit dark, drag the middle arrow to the left until you like the result.
Unsharp mask is a little complex, but try the Filter/Sharpen Edges function and the other sharpening options to "crisp up" a soft focus or blur.
Now, having said all that, with a decent camera like you have you shouldn't be getting blur. Try an ounce of prevention and see what you can do to fix the blur problem:
1) If it's always done it, consider the fact that digital cameras pretty much always have a bit of delay when you take the picture (shutter and focus lag) that film cameras don't. Hold it very steady (or brace it on something) when you take the picture and HOLD it there for a few seconds after to make sure you're not putting your arm down just as it's capturing the image. The default setting is probably to focus when you depress the shutter release (button), and it may take a while to get it right.
2) Try half-depressing the shutter release to lock the focus before you take the picture (but if the subject is moving toward or away from you this won't work either). If what you want to have in focus isn't filling about 1/4-1/3 of the MIDDLE of your scene, then this is essential (if you want, say, your dog on the left and the beach on the right, frame you picture with the dog in centre, half-depress the shutter release, and holding it there, recompose your picture to the right before taking the picture).
3) Avoid taking pictures at full zoom, as this makes any shake worse. If you have your digital zoom enabled (I'd turn it off) and you take pictures at full zoom, you're only getting about half the resolution, because it's cropped the rest of the pixels out to make the subject bigger, thus they'll often look fuzzy.
4) Avoid taking pictures in very dark areas, or at least make sure you have the flash on. Any combination of zoom or no flash and dark area often = poor focus.
5) Try to look through the manual or take it to a shop with a nice sales guy and make sure it's on default settings and normal shooting mode.
6) You might try changing the focus method to "continuous" if it has that option, so it's continually focussing on whatever's in the middle of the frame. This will make more noise and drain your batteries faster, but cut down the wait time for it to focus before capturing the image.
7) If nothing else works, ask someone with a really big, expensive digital to take a few pictures with it. If a photo buff can't get a good shot with it, then I'd talk to the store where you bought it about a replacement. At least then you know if it's your method or the camera.
You could try this
by pearlyvictoria - 4/28/06 8:44 AM In reply to: Sharpen to resurrect & troubleshoot for future by mediadivaIn Photoshop, you can open an image and then duplicate the layer. On the new layer, go to the filters-other-high pass. Choose something between 10 and 15. Click OK. On that same layer choose blend-hard light. Play with opacity a little.
When I bought my D50, I hard a little problem with unsatisfactory sharpness. After many trials, I simply shoot in raw (NEF) and change things in Photoshop.
Photoshop and Photoshop Elements will give you much better results with problems of this sort.
Image Analyzer
by norm962 - 5/2/06 2:03 AM In reply to: Sharpen to resurrect & troubleshoot for future by mediadivaHere's the link to an excellent piece of software:
http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/
It's called Image Analyzer and possibly can do some magic for you. Of course it demands a very powerfull computer with lots of RAM.
As it appears on their site (Mind the feature: "Deconvolution for out-of-focus and motion blur compensation"):
Advanced image editing, enhancement and analysis software. ...
* Build-in conventional and adaptive filters for noise reduction, edge extraction etc.
* Deconvolution for out-of-focus and motion blur compensation (see below)
* Math expression module for creating and transforming images and advanced "pocket" calculator with equation solver
Yannis
Hold your Breathe
by Katcee1130 - 4/28/06 12:23 PM In reply to: Software to enhance digital photos by afwilson72My father taught me this trick at 5 - hold your breathe right before taking the shot. You won't move the camera.
Hold your breath. We both think alike!
by taboma - 4/28/06 9:19 PM In reply to: Hold your Breathe by Katcee1130I like this one best while taking the photo: Do not breathe while taking the photo with a hand-held camera. Before taking the picture, take a breath and exhale. Hold your breath about 1 second and take the picture.
Works the same as shooting a handgun. You can slowly let your breath out also while you take your picture.
Helps to stabilize your hands and body movement.
Best way: get a tripod
2nd best with a partner. Have your partner kneel down. Place your camera on top of their head. Tell them to hold their breath while you take the photo.
I've tried that with my wife to no avail. She starts laughing and that is the end of the photo shoot. We both fall down laughing!! :·))
Just thought of another setup for a camera mount using a partner. Have then kneel down with their arms and elbows on the ground. You can use their upright butt for a camera platform.
I cannot do this with my wife because she starts laughing again and will pass gas in my face!
There goes that shot also unless your neighbors are photographing the both of you at the same time! :·))
Any other cool ideas for a steady camera mount that works?
Monopod, a tree branch, rock wall, automobile, fence, post or leaning against a building or structure? They all help to steady a camera.
-Kevin
Bean bags are frequently mentioned.
by Kiddpeat - 4/29/06 8:08 AM In reply to: Hold your breath. We both think alike! by tabomaOf course, you have to carry the bean bag with you.
Bean bags
by taboma - 5/4/06 9:46 PM In reply to: Bean bags are frequently mentioned. by KiddpeatKiddpeat. Funny but true.
Are you talking about a real bean bag or a person? :·)
-Kevin
![]:)](http://www.cnet.com/i/mb/emoticons/devil.gif)
Focus Magic
by wcsison - 4/29/06 11:33 PM In reply to: Software to enhance digital photos by afwilson72Try this...http://www.focusmagic.com/
They claim that "Focus Magic works very differently to Unsharp Mask. Where Unsharp Mask (or Sharpen) filters increase the contrast at the edges of an image, Focus Magic reverses the formula by which an image got blurred.
"
(NT) Let us know how well it works.
by Kiddpeat - 4/30/06 12:59 PM In reply to: Focus Magic by wcsison
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