Photoshop Elements Help - Out of Focus Picture

[ciaobella]

Calling all Photoshop Elements Experts ...

I know that there is a way to focus an out of focus picture, but I can't figure it out! I have played and played with the picture to no avail.

I call myself the mammarazzi because I take so many pictures of my little guy ... I am posting my out of focus picture to see if anyone can save it! I will crop out everything in the background except his face.

I appreciate the help!

TIA

Anne

[mudder17]

Anne, try playing with the sharpen filter.

Here's a test with the "sharpen more" function, although you can sharpen just the edges or sharpen a little at a time, etc.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/18449.jpg


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://www.babysfirstsite.org/newtickers/ticker/16994.birthday.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amber_9m.gif Breastfed 9 months and counting

[ciaobella]

That looks so much better!

Would you mind posting the steps? I tried the sharpen tool but did not have any luck.

Thanks again!

[mudder17]

Okay, I actually cropped the face out onto another layer so that I could compare it easily to the original.

Select what you want to crop of the face. Copy it and paste it onto a new layer. (I think if you paste it, it'll automatically paste it into a new layer.)

Then I just chose the cropped face layer and when to the sharpen tool. But instead of using the regular sharpen tool, there's a choice that says, "Sharpen More". Choose that instead and it should sharpen the face for you.

You could also play with the sharpen edges and other choices, but I'm not sure if multiple clicks of those will be enough to bring the face into focus. I didn't mess around with it long enough. The "sharpen more" choice just seemed to do a better job. :)

Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://www.babysfirstsite.org/newtickers/ticker/16994.birthday.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amber_9m.gif Breastfed 9 months and counting

[August Mom]

They way we generally improve focus (per an Elements instructional book that we have) is to use Unsharp Mask (it's with the same tools as Sharpen, Sharpen More, etc.). You basically just play with the sliding ratios until the picture looks like you'd like. You'll pretty quickly see that using too high of a value will create a bit of a green cast, but really you just need to play with it.