Blurred old photograph -portrait

T
Posted By
tonyjeffs
May 8, 2004
Views
440
Replies
5
Status
Closed
How do I make it appear sharper? If I simply use ‘sharpen’, it looks sharper from a distance, but becomes grainy close up.
I could almost do it the long way by using ‘find edges’ to create a line drawing, reducing color depth to get just the lines I want; the border of the face, the lips the eyes, then making a mask and applying it to the original.
Or I can see it could be done mathematically, "where the graduation over a span of 30 pixels is between x and y, consider this a line. set pixels 1 to 15 = x; set pixels 15to 30=y

Then I’d need to be able to set x, y, the ranges and stuff until I got exactly what I want.

….I’d like to have a way of controlling ‘sharpen edges’ in the same way that I can control the magic wand select.

Sorry for rambling…

How can I make this photo appear sharper in the appropriate places?

Many thanks

Tony
Related Tags
blur old portrait

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

V
V1nc3nt
May 8, 2004
"TonyJeffs" wrote in message
How do I make it appear sharper? If I simply use ‘sharpen’, it looks sharper from a distance, but becomes grainy close up.
I could almost do it the long way by using ‘find edges’ to create a line drawing, reducing color depth to get just the lines I want; the border of the face, the lips the eyes, then making a mask and applying it to the original.
Or I can see it could be done mathematically, "where the graduation over a span of 30 pixels is between x and y, consider this a line. set pixels 1 to 15 = x; set pixels 15to 30=y

Then I’d need to be able to set x, y, the ranges and stuff until I got exactly what I want.

…I’d like to have a way of controlling ‘sharpen edges’ in the same way that I can control the magic wand select.

Sorry for rambling…

How can I make this photo appear sharper in the appropriate places?
Many thanks

Tony
This is a nice tutorial :
http://www.russellbrown.com/body.html
Go to "More Tips" and download both Quick time movies for "Sharpening"
T
tonyjeffs
May 8, 2004
Aha!
Answer my own question – I discovered
Focus Magic 3.

The Biz

Tony
D
Don
May 8, 2004
The alternate procedure you describe is already built into PS. It’s called "Unsharp Mask." Use it instead of "sharpen" and it will reduce the amount of grain enhancement. You’ll have to play with the settings to get the best results, but start with amount-=100%, radius=1.0 or 1.5, and threshold=3.

Don

"TonyJeffs" wrote in message
How do I make it appear sharper? If I simply use ‘sharpen’, it looks sharper from a distance, but becomes grainy close up.
I could almost do it the long way by using ‘find edges’ to create a line drawing, reducing color depth to get just the lines I want; the border of the face, the lips the eyes, then making a mask and applying it to the original.
Or I can see it could be done mathematically, "where the graduation over a span of 30 pixels is between x and y, consider this a line. set pixels 1 to 15 = x; set pixels 15to 30=y

Then I’d need to be able to set x, y, the ranges and stuff until I got exactly what I want.

…I’d like to have a way of controlling ‘sharpen edges’ in the same way that I can control the magic wand select.

Sorry for rambling…

How can I make this photo appear sharper in the appropriate places?
Many thanks

Tony
B
bhilton665
May 8, 2004
"TonyJeffs" wrote in message

How do I make it appear sharper? If I simply use ‘sharpen’, it looks sharper from a distance, but becomes grainy close up.

Try the technique known as "edge sharpening", which basically requires making a black/white copy of the image as a new channel, running the find edges filter on this, inverting, blurring a bit, loading as a mask and then sharpening with USM at something like 400%, rad 1 (try 0.4 – 1.4), threshold 0 thru the edge mask. The edges get sharper while the smooth tonal areas are masked off, avoiding the grainy look you mention.

I have an action that does all these steps in LAB mode, working on the L channel, and it’s pretty much the only way I sharpen.

Bill
T
tonyjeffs
May 10, 2004
Thanks to all for the insights, and to V!nc3nt for the website with the tutorials. V helpful.

I must say though, that just after my initial post, I discovered that program
Focus Magic. www.focusmagic.com
It is worth reading the blurb on the site which explains how it works. It really does unblurr blurred images, as opposed to making them appear sharper, much like the maths I mentioned in my first post. Only point, it gives you 10 goes on the free trial, but doesn’t tell you until you’ve used it a couple of times.

Sorry for sounding like an advert. I’ve no connection whatsoever with the company.

Cheers

Tony

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections