Anyone know of any decent photo software?

[dan-the-mon]

I have a lot of very good photos that have come out all blury and i was wondering if there is any decent software on the app store that can quickly correct this annoying problem.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Dan.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Do you have an example photo, or can tell us the model/make of the camera?

Not many blurry photos can be re-focused that easily, it depends on the level of blurriness and the resolution it is available at.

 

[dan-the-mon]

Do you have an example photo, or can tell us the model/make of the camera?

Not many blurry photos can be re-focused that easily, it depends on the level of blurriness and the resolution it is available at.

its a fujifilm hs20.

 

[Jessica Lares]

View attachment 403879


its a fujifilm hs20.

Don't shoot in P mode. Use Manual. The lighting will be off, but the pictures will be sharp. your shutter speed is fine, but your aperture is too high and causing the blurring.

 

[Bending Pixels]

If you're getting a lot of blurry photos, there are one of three causes:

• The camera has a focusing problem
• Too slow of a shutter speed
• Focusing on the wrong area

 

[jaimejaime]

That shot specifically is out of focus, rather than blurred because of motion. The focus in the image is further back than the subject. I'm not sure about your camera, but if there is a way for you to select your focus point, then definitely be mindful of where that is when you're shooting.

 

[snberk103]

Don't shoot in P mode. Use Manual. The lighting will be off, but the pictures will be sharp. your shutter speed is fine, but your aperture is too high and causing the blurring.

I don't agree... the photo would have been fine had the point of focus been on the swan's head and not the water behind it. jaimejaime is perfectly correct, imo.

Unless the cause is due to a faulty camera (possible but unlikely) it is most likely because the OP half-pressed the shutter - and then waited. In many cameras a partial shutter press freezes the focus. In this example if the OP had frozen the focus and then waited for the swan to get closer then focus point would have been off. It is easy to do the 'half-press' in the heat of the moment... when you see the shot and you are getting ready to push the button... the shooting finger can tighten up without you ever knowing it.

The second reason may be because the example we're seeing may be heavily cropped. The swan may have been on the fringes of the image, and whatever was in the middle (and now cropped out) would have been in focus.

@OP - post some more examples. Include the before and after versions of you are cropping them substantially. You may also want to ask to have this thread moved to the digital photography forum. Just click the red triangle to the left, and ask a moderator to move it in the dialogue box that pops up.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

Don't shoot in P mode. Use Manual. The lighting will be off, but the pictures will be sharp. your shutter speed is fine, but your aperture is too high and causing the blurring.

How does any of this pertain to his image? And what do you even mean by "the lighting will be off"? You mean under-exposed? Over-exposed? And what is a "high" aperture? Do you mean "large" aperture or high f/stop? Those are opposites by the way...

His image is back-focused, not blurry. You can see that the water behind the subject is in focus, while the subject is not. Plus, he was at f/8 and 1/1000th sec; fast enough shutter speed and deep enough DOF for a swan floating on a lake to be in focus, ASSUMING the camera focused on the swan. He (or the camera) somehow missed focusing on the subject.

To the OP - I believe you can change the focus target mode on your camera. You may have it set to "auto", where depending on the scene mode you are in, the camera selects what it thinks is the subject. You want to make sure that it is in a scene mode, which shows a focus box in the viewfinder. Go out and shoot some more and make sure your subject is in the focus box.

If it STILL mis-focuses, it may have gotten banged up and messed up your auto focus system.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I don't agree... the photo would have been fine had the point of focus been on the swan's head and not the water behind it. jaimejaime is perfectly correct, imo.

Unless the cause is due to a faulty camera (possible but unlikely) it is most likely because the OP half-pressed the shutter - and then waited. In many cameras a partial shutter press freezes the focus. In this example if the OP had frozen the focus and then waited for the swan to get closer then focus point would have been off. It is easy to do the 'half-press' in the heat of the moment... when you see the shot and you are getting ready to push the button... the shooting finger can tighten up without you ever knowing it.

The second reason may be because the example we're seeing may be heavily cropped. The swan may have been on the fringes of the image, and whatever was in the middle (and now cropped out) would have been in focus.

@OP - post some more examples. Include the before and after versions of you are cropping them substantially. You may also want to ask to have this thread moved to the digital photography forum. Just click the red triangle to the left, and ask a moderator to move it in the dialogue box that pops up.

How does any of this pertain to his image? And what do you even mean by "the lighting will be off"? You mean under-exposed? Over-exposed? And what is a "high" aperture? Do you mean "large" aperture or high f/stop? Those are opposites by the way...

His image is back-focused, not blurry. You can see that the water behind the subject is in focus, while the subject is not. Plus, he was at f/8 and 1/1000th sec; fast enough shutter speed and deep enough DOF for a swan floating on a lake to be in focus, ASSUMING the camera focused on the swan. He (or the camera) somehow missed focusing on the subject.

To the OP - I believe you can change the focus target mode on your camera. You may have it set to "auto", where depending on the scene mode you are in, the camera selects what it thinks is the subject. You want to make sure that it is in a scene mode, which shows a focus box in the viewfinder. Go out and shoot some more and make sure your subject is in the focus box.

If it STILL mis-focuses, it may have gotten banged up and messed up your auto focus system.

I was reading his EXIF. He has it on Program AE. So the camera was setting both aperture and shutter on its own. And I misread, it is f/8, my eyes are getting old.

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?imgurl=h...tachment.php?attachmentid=403879&d=1363941895

It does say that the point of focus was the swan's eyes.

I think dan-the-mon just wanted to know if you could take the blur out, in that case simsaladimbamba was right that it wouldn't be possible, or just take a bit too long and not worth it.

For someone just taking pictures, and not caring about the aspects of good photography, etc, I'd still say setting it at Manual would be best. I tend to get dark shots using it, but fixing brightness and contrast/gain/color balance is easier than fixing a blurry shot.

 

[snberk103]

....

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?imgurl=h...tachment.php?attachmentid=403879&d=1363941895

That's a cool Exif reader ...thanks for sharing.

It does say that the point of focus was the swan's eyes.

Yes, it does. Which then leads me to think the OP froze the focus (shutter half-pressed) and then waited. Or, that camera has longish shutter lag and the swan moved while the camera thought about things.

I think dan-the-mon just wanted to know if you could take the blur out, in that case simsaladimbamba was right that it wouldn't be possible, or just take a bit too long and not worth it.

I agree. I know that there are people who claim they have techniques for unblurring... but I don't know that I'd want to do more than a few images.

For someone just taking pictures, and not caring about the aspects of good photography, etc, I'd still say setting it at Manual would be best. I tend to get dark shots using it, but fixing brightness and contrast/gain/color balance is easier than fixing a blurry shot.

With all due respect - and with tongue in cheek - let me suggest that maybe 'you are doing it wrong.' Seriously, whether you use the computer in the camera or the one behind the camera the same light meter is being used, either computer can calculate proper exposure. The one behind the camera works slower, but can have more experience and can know more than the one in the camera. If your images are consistently dark, I would suggest figuring out why. You lose a lot of information that way... there is less information recorded in the darker tones than in the lighter ones. When you brighten a dark image the software is filling in the lost the information on 'best-guess' basis. Often you will see banding in the shadows in this case.

Personally, I like the happy medium.... Av or Tv (Aperture or Shutter Priority) plus liberal use of the exposure +/- dial. Depending on the shot I choose a DoF or shutter speed that I think suits the photo, let the computer in the camera figure out the corresponding value... then I adjust for conditions with the +/- dial. Works very well. I also like to overexpose my images slightly, without clipping the highlights. You'll see this called Expose To The Right (ETTR) because it captures the most information.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

I was reading his EXIF. He has it on Program AE. So the camera was setting both aperture and shutter on its own. And I misread, it is f/8, my eyes are getting old.

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?imgurl=h...tachment.php?attachmentid=403879&d=1363941895

It does say that the point of focus was the swan's eyes.

I think dan-the-mon just wanted to know if you could take the blur out, in that case simsaladimbamba was right that it wouldn't be possible, or just take a bit too long and not worth it.

For someone just taking pictures, and not caring about the aspects of good photography, etc, I'd still say setting it at Manual would be best. I tend to get dark shots using it, but fixing brightness and contrast/gain/color balance is easier than fixing a blurry shot.

The camera metered the scene and as you stated, set the aperture and shutter speed to capture a proper exposure (although the left hand side of the subject is blown out). There's nothing inherently wrong with P Mode, especially when you are shooting outdoors; you will get a "proper" exposure. Most likely snberk103 hit the nail on the head - the OP could have half-pressed the shutter, waited a bit, and then snapped. Very easy to do.

However, I don't understand this comment:

"For someone just taking pictures, and not caring about the aspects of good photography, etc, I'd still say setting it at Manual would be best. I tend to get dark shots using it, but fixing brightness and contrast/gain/color balance is easier than fixing a blurry shot."

If you are shooting in Manual and are getting dark shots, either open up the aperture or shoot with a slower shutter speed. Shooting in Manual doesn't automatically mean you get a dark shot. You can also increase the ISO as well - a grainy in-focus shot is much preferred over a clean blurry shot. You can only push your exposure so much in 'post' before it degrades the quality. Getting it right 'in camera' is what one should strive for, even if they are just "taking pictures".

If you are afraid that you are going to get blurry pictures, you can at least shoot in Shutter Priority, set your shutter speed to something that will ensure a non-blurred shot, and let the aperture ride where it needs to to ensure a proper exposure. You'd probably have less adjustments in post that way...

 

[Jessica Lares]

Thanks for clarifying, learned something new today.