Any way to fix out-of-focus pictures?

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Tom

Tom

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Yesterday I snapped pictures of a bunch of new/transfer members at one of our clubs. I knew something was wrong, but didn't realize until I got home that the pictures were all out of focus  :eek:  I tried several apps that claim to be able to fix the pics with 1-click. No surprise to me, but none of those apps solved the issue. Anyone know of a way to do this? FWIW the pics were saved as jpg files.

The subjects live in other towns, and I might need to visit their homes individually to re-take the pics  :(

It's a long story, but today I noticed that the auto focus feature on the camera was switched off, and manual focus enabled  :-[
 
Thanks. I tried my installed version of Photoshop, but it didn't help. If you talk with your friend, could you ask if/how he'd fix them in PS. TIA.
 
I don't know if any of my friends have Photoshop Pro. But, I found this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS4YvoHTeOo

Good luck!!!
 
There is absolutely no way an out of focus photo can be fixed by any photo editing software. Sorry for the bad news. Just about any other problem can be fixed but not out of focus. In the future learn to take four of five shots of every shot you take if it is possible.
 
Thanks Tom. That was my belief until I looked at the linked video.

In the future learn to take four of five shots of every shot you take
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In this case, five each of the same shots would have merely given me five times as many out-of-focus pictures. In any event, circumstances were a little chaotic; We were trying to bring in a bunch of new members (they all get their picture taken), cope with a long line of existing members wanting to buy tickets to several events, and get 125 people seated for a catered lunch. Meanwhile, I was also trying to get set up to video a Veteran's Day event.

I knew something was wrong, because the external flash wouldn't fire, and I should have stopped right there to figure it out.

OTOH the video of the event came out pretty good, although I could have used a little more experience with the external mic' - it was getting swamped by the audio system in the clubhouse, but I couldn't tell until I played it back.
 
Here is two screenshots, one from the beginning of the video and one after the image was 'fixed'. I fail to see enough difference to consider it fixed. When I suggested taking multiple shots I failed to mention that you need to look at the shot before taking the next one.
 

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In my book the eye of the subject must be in focus otherwise I delete the shot. Motion blur is equally as important as eye focus. Motion blur occurs when the shutter speed is too slow and either the camera moves or the subject moves. When I was photographing birds in flight I always kept the camera set at Shutter Priority 1000th of a second. Cameras like to use many focus points and I always had the camera set to Center Point Focus so it would ignore all the other dots. And I would set it for Center weighed metering. Then I would put the subject dead center and crop it in post for the best composition. Of course a 1/1000th won't freeze a hummingbirds wings but I don't do a lot of hummingbirds in flight. I used to shoot hundreds of shots a day when doing BIF and I don't have the time to be screwing around changing settings on the camera so these settings worked for me most of the time.
 
I'm going to epoxy that darned AF/MF switch, or put a blob of silicone over it, so it can't accidentally move in future. Since I'm a P&S picture taker, I won't miss the MF option at the next monthly club meeting ;) Our meetings are not normally this chaotic.

Meanwhile, as I told a pro photographer yesterday, at least the pics were not newly weds now on their honeymoon  :)
 
What I would always do is take the first shot and check the focus. If it was ok then I would take a bunch more. If not I would refocus and try again.
 
Tom said:
I'm going to epoxy that darned AF/MF switch, or put a blob of silicone over it, so it can't accidentally move in future. Since I'm a P&S picture taker, I won't miss the MF option at the next monthly club meeting ;) Our meetings are not normally this chaotic.

Meanwhile, as I told a pro photographer yesterday, at least the pics were not newly weds now on their honeymoon  :)
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My suggestion is to get a modern (last two years) cell phone camera. Most do not even have a manual focus option. The photos would be better than your point and shoot and some automatically uploaded to the Internet so no need to have an SD card and manually upload your photos. The newer cameras have much brighter screens.
 
I see them fix out of focus pictures all the time on CSI, there must be a way  ;) ;D
 
Back2PA said:
I see them fix out of focus pictures all the time on CSI, there must be a way  ;) ;D
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I see them magnify images about 100 times to read a license plate from a mile away in some movies. They can do anything on TV and in the movies.
 
My suggestion is to get a modern (last two years) cell phone camera.
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No plans to buy a new cell phone; The one I have is less than 2 years old. As you've seen (and commented on) I'll occasionally use it for P&S pics, but I like the Panasonic G7 with the external flash. No reason to change the world because of this one episode.
 
Sigh. All I did was ask a simple (maybe naive) question, although I felt intuitively it wouldn't be possible. I understand what caused the issue, and have a simple fix to prevent it happening again. If I'm unable to correct these pics, I'll simply visit the subjects' homes one at a time and re-take the pics. Thanks to all for the responses.
 
Looks like I can use what I have at a push. Played around with this a couple of days ago, and took another pass this morning. I physically shrank (squeezed) each image into their assigned places in our club newsletter without changing the pixel count, and the visible/perceptive out-of-focus/blur is significantly reduced on the 40" monitor I'm using. When I view on a 20" monitor it's not apparent that they're out of focus. Viewing on a tablet or phone they're even less noticeable.

Saves me some driving to other towns (to re-take the pics), and I don't need to buy a new phone  ;) Now if I can just put the correct name with each picture it will save me some grief.
 
I can sympathize with you Tom. I have a lens that due to the location of the switch it is easy to inadvertently move it to MF, very annoying when that happens, grrrrr!
 
Agreed Debra. In this case, the switch is on the rear of the camera body, adjacent to the indent for opening the rear screen.

Everything worked out OK, until someone told me I'd switched a couple of names  :-[ Had to issue a corrected newsletter and humble apology.
 
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