Sharpening an image

[Tony Lee]

I need to sharpen a few images. Does anyone know of a good piece of software that is tried and tested.
This would be of great help
Best regards and thanks
Tony

[John]

Folowing our phone conversation, you mean sharpening an out of focus image, not the sort of sharpening that Photoshop does.

I don't know of any specific software, but the aloternatives are printing smaller, sharpening more in Photoshop or maybe converting to black and white.

A bit of lateral thinking could be making the most of the lack of sharpness - how about converting to sepia, adding grain and blur and making an old image out of it?

[PhilipHowe]

The only way I know is to give the picture to one of those Hollywood films where they hit the enhance button and it becomes a perfect picture! Photoshop doesn't have that yet, but I don't have CS5

I agree with John, it depends on the image you are trying to sharpen and it depends on why it's not sharp.,

I took some motorcross pictures and the rider was in the air, slightly blurred, but noticeable, so I blurred the rest of the scene even more. The photo, although still not sharp, then became legible, if you get what I mean.

It could be a question of being creative with what you have.

[Tom Gerrard]

HI,

The only way I know is to give the picture to one of those Hollywood films where they hit the enhance button and it becomes a perfect picture! Photoshop doesn't have that yet, but I don't have CS5

Tom Knoll along with his brother John, who wrote the application called 'Display', then 'ImagePro' which later became 'Photoshop' recently expressed his desire to invent the program which will enhance an image as described above. So it's certainly not CS 5 and from the way he said it, I wouldn't hold my breath hoping it will appear in CS ,6 7 or 8 etc, etc.

Tom.

[Paul Jones]

The only way I know is to give the picture to one of those Hollywood films where they hit the enhance button and it becomes a perfect picture!

Yeah, they make it look so easy in programs like CSI...

This might be worth a try... http://www.niksoftware.com/sharpenerpro/usa/entry.php

[Tony Lee]

Thanks guys - I think I have been asking too much of my 28 - 300 Sigma lens. Distance shots (say the subject is 7 - 10 metres away) have left the subject ie a couple of people's faces way out of focus. I need that distance to get in the required amount of background.

I take all your points on board but I need the subject's faces in focus and that would do.

I'll try the NIK software and report back - thanks Paul for that one.

Best regards, Tony

[PhilipHowe]

Tony, why don't you post your troublesome image and the EXIF info up and maybe someone could help further.