The image of the person is blurry

[surfbug]

The image of the person is blurry. How do I fix?

[Sepiana]

Hi surfbug,

Elements offers more than one way to sharpen images. You just have to experiment and see which one will work best on a given image.

Here are some possibilities.

Tools Panel > Sharpen tool (shortcut = R)

This tool is designed to sharpen details (specific areas) in your image rather than sharpen the entire image. You drag this brush over the areas to be sharpened.

Enhance > Unsharp Mask

Adjust the sliders until you like the resulting sharpness in your image.

Enhance > Adjust Sharpness

Back in Elements 13, Adobe "renewed" this feature. Now it gives you much more control. There are new settings which allow for a more accurate sharpening. They enable you to sharpen the dark and light areas in your image (Shadows/Highlights).

Filter > Other > High Pass

This filter (applied on a duplicate layer) allows you to adjust the layer's opacity. The usually recommended layer blending mode is Overlay. You can also experiment with the other blending modes in that group.

You may want to check this video by George Peirson. He discusses different techniques to address the problem of blurry images.

In this Photoshop Elements project tutorial I show you how to sharpen a blurry photo image 3 different ways depending on the sharpening technique required including use of the Sharpen Tool, Filters, and the Shake Reduction tool.

How You Can Sharpen Blurry Photos using Photoshop Elements

You mentioned in another thread you have PSE 2020. You may want to check the Shake Reduction feature he suggests. Adobe introduced it back in PSE 14.

[surfbug]

Thanks again

Mar 28, 2022 0:39:25 GMT Sepiana said:

Hi surfbug,

Elements offers more than one way to sharpen images. You just have to experiment and see which one will work best on a given image.

Here are some possibilities.

Tools Panel > Sharpen tool (shortcut = R)

This tool is designed to sharpen details (specific areas) in your image rather than sharpen the entire image. You drag this brush over the areas to be sharpened.

Enhance > Unsharp Mask

Adjust the sliders until you like the resulting sharpness in your image.

Enhance > Adjust Sharpness

Back in Elements 13, Adobe "renewed" this feature. Now it gives you much more control. There are new settings which allow for a more accurate sharpening. They enable you to sharpen the dark and light areas in your image (Shadows/Highlights).

Filter > Other > High Pass

This filter (applied on a duplicate layer) allows you to adjust the layer's opacity. The usually recommended layer blending mode is Overlay. You can also experiment with the other blending modes in that group.

You may want to check this video by George Peirson. He discusses different techniques to address the problem of blurry images.

In this Photoshop Elements project tutorial I show you how to sharpen a blurry photo image 3 different ways depending on the sharpening technique required including use of the Sharpen Tool, Filters, and the Shake Reduction tool.

How You Can Sharpen Blurry Photos using Photoshop Elements

You mentioned in another thread you have PSE 2020. You may want to check the Shake Reduction feature he suggests. Adobe introduced it back in PSE 14.

[surfbug]

I read you may want to check this video by George Peirson. He discusses different techniques to address the problem of blurry images. Do u have any links to Peirson site

[Sepiana]

Mar 28, 2022 1:17:30 GMT surfbug said:

Do u have any links to Peirson site

Here is the link to the Photoshop Elements section on his website.

How To Gurus

Here is the link to his YouTube channel.

Photoshop Elements Essentials

[surfbug]

Thx

[BuckSkin]

Mar 28, 2022 0:18:20 GMT surfbug said:

The image of the person is blurry.

I am sorry, but I don't see any way to help that particular image, regardless of what you try.
Has the person been "photoshopped" into the image ?
The person is terribly out of focus; yet, everything else is in good focus; I don't see how an auto-focus lens could miss focus that bad unless auto-focus was off and no attempt at manual focus had been made.

[cats4jan]

I agree - That looks like the person has been photoshopped into the photo - and the part with the guy didn't have enough pixels to be enlarged that much.

Or - most likely - the opaqueness of the guy has been reduced - because if you look at the project on imgbb and enlarge it, you can see the background photo through the guy.  

It's definitely been photoshopped and most of the blurriness is coming from the fact that you can see the original photo through the guy.

So, the answer is, look to your layer stack and if the guy is on his own layer, check the opacity setting to see if it's been altered.

And, as a side note, he's way too big on this project.  And too centered.  If the layer can be manipulated to increase opacity, and thus become usable,
I'd make him smaller and not so centered.

Another way to make the man more opaque, if your project is in layers and the man is on his own layer, you can duplicate the man layer and it will get darker and may solve your problem.  I still think - in addition to the opacity - the man may not have enough resolution to enlarge to the size you want him to be.



Note the opacity setting is on 100% -

 
Reduced opacity -  the smaller the number, the more you can see through the layer to the layer underneath it.


Note: you can see background photo through cat

[Lillias]

I agree with you Janice. I would say this has definitely been photoshopped.

The man is a bit big but I personally don’t mind him being in the centre as I myself don’t always obey the rule of thirds or whatever the perceived convention is, preferring to go more with what looks good to me.
If the man is on a separate layer I wonder if duplicating that layer and applying the multiply blend mode at a reduced opacity might work. Also you could then merge those two layers and go to Enhance and Adjust Sharpness and see how that works out. These are just suggestions but something to try at least.

[BuckSkin]

Mar 28, 2022 12:38:36 GMT cats4jan said:

Or - most likely - the opaqueness of the guy has been reduced - because if you look at the project on imgbb and enlarge it, you can see the background photo through the guy.

Good catch.
Now that you have brought it to my attention, I don't even have to look at the larger view as it is somewhat obvious in the thumbnail view.

[BuckSkin]

Mar 28, 2022 13:09:54 GMT Lillias said:

I myself don’t always obey the rule of thirds or whatever the perceived convention is, preferring to go more with what looks good to me.

Me too.

As for the man, I would flip him 180°, move him to the left, and then select/copy/paste his coat button back into the correct orientation.

There is a story why I will forever always notice whether buttons are male/female oriented.
My nut-case mother thought it would be funny to replace my red button-front shirt with a female one and let me go to school that way.
I did notice it was a bit odd when I was trying to button it that morning.
Early in the day, a girl asked me if I knew I was wearing a woman's shirt and explained and showed me the difference ---- needless to say, I was mortified...; and, I still had the rest of the day to go, plus a death-defying combat ride on the absolute worst school-bus in the country, loaded with malicious bullies who were born without a conscience and a bus-driver who never looked behind him.
Dear sweet mother had hidden my real shirt and was very pleased that she had once again accomplished her mission in life which was (and still is) to create misery and embarrassment  to anyone and everyone and especially to me; it is disheartening to know that she will most likely outlive Methuselah... 

[cats4jan]

I like your idea Buckskin - and yes, if you flip the guy, the buttons will be on the wrong side, but only the most detail-oriented will notice that small thing (heck, I had to go to the coat closet and check which side the buttons are on because I so seldom have anything to button up.). But you have to flip the guy and put him on the left because there is detail in the background on the right in the photo that shouldn't be covered up.

[hmca]

surfbug , I have been following your threads. It seems like you have been working really hard on trying to improve your image and have gone to great pains to isolate your subject. Unfortunately, as Janice has pointed out you have now encountered a new problem. We have created a separate board Member to Member Photo Advice where you might want to consider adding the image of the man and the background you would like to use.  When posting on this board you give permission to members to download your photos and try to help you achieve your desired outcome.  They will not only share their results but guide you in taking the steps needed to do this yourself.

[Sepiana]

surfbug,

I quite agree this is a composite as pointed out by BuckSkin, cats4jan, and Lillias. I also agree this is a difficult "blur" to fix. As I said earlier, Elements offers you several techniques to address this issue. The problem is trying to figure out which one will work on a given image. Also, keep in mind that, in some cases, the ending results are not going to be optimal.

As far as composition (man image centered, not abiding by the Rule of Thirds, etc., etc.), I don't see the need to address this issue at this point in our troubleshooting. The important thing is to address your concern as specified in the OP.

Mar 28, 2022 0:18:20 GMT surfbug said:

The image of the person is blurry. How do I fix?

I'm inclined to agree with BillieJean.

The Adjust Sharpness technique (Enhance menu) seems to be the most promising, i.e., the one which will give you results you may be able to live with, especially that PSE 2020 has the "renewed" version of this tool. You have much more control on the adjustments, more settings, and the ability to tackle the Shadows and Highlights. Also, if you work on a duplicate layer, you can add a Layer Mask to hide the sharpening in some areas and you can also adjust the layer Opacity.

Mar 28, 2022 13:09:54 GMT Lillias said:

Also you could then merge those two layers and go to Enhance and Adjust Sharpness and see how that works out.

Now, I have some questions. Your answers will help with this troubleshooting.

Question #1:

Is the original image of the man blurry to begin with?

Question #2:

How did you bring it onto the background? Did you do a Copy/Paste job, did you use the Move tool, or did you use File > Place?

Question #3:

You asked about getting Topaz Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI in this thread. Did you use either one on the image of the man prior to creating the composite?

[xairbusdriver]

If the original was not blurry, I think there may be two different resolutions involved. I'll probably get this backwards, but I'd say the 'person' image is at a much lower resolution than the background; 'person' @ 60px/in, background @ 300px/in. At any rate, in order to get the 'person' to the 'right' size, his image has been 'zoomed' quite a bit. On the other hand, my brain often feels like man...