My low resolution photos

[melissaj56941518]

I need advice on fixing a blurry portrait photos. I don't know how much amount, radius and detail or masking to edit. I have even tried the alt key when doing it. When we go to print the photos from a lab, it shows on the screen that they are low resolution and they print ugly. please help.

[Szalam]

Are you using Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or something else?

(You've [inadvertently, I assume] posted this in The Lounge​ which is not for product support. If you let us know what software you're using, a moderator can move this thread to the appropriate, software-specific, support forum.)

[melissaj56941518]

Lightroom 5

[Moved from non-technical Forum Lounge to specific Program forum... Mod]

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[Per Berntsen]

If the photos are out of focus or blurry because of camera shake, Lightroom cannot correct for that, and I don't think there is any program that will do that. (although Photosop has a Shake reduction filter, which I haven't tried)

You say the photos are low resolution - what are the pixel dimensions?

If you post one of the photos here, maybe somebody can offer some suggestions.

[melissaj56941518]

[melissaj56941518]

Its fuzzy.

[Per Berntsen]

The image is a little soft, but not all that bad, I think. The sharpest part is the near part of the brick wall, so it seems to be a focusing error, rather than camera shake.

It does improve a little with sharpening, see the screenshot below, which is at 1:1, and you can also see the sharpening settings.

I suspect that the image has also been sharpened in camera, which calls for careful sharpening in LR.

It's best to turn off sharpening in the camera, and sharpen in LR, where you have more control.

And always apply and evaluate sharpening at 1:1 view - amy other view will be inaccurate and misleading because of image scaling.

The image is not low resolution at all - it's 3456 x 5184 pixels, which will allow for an 11 x 17 inch print at 300 ppi.

Are you exporting from Lightroom with Resize to fit checked in the Export dialog?

[Todd Shaner]

The lens is focused is in "front" of the subject. To prevent this set your camera to use the central focus focus point if possible. Below are my suggested settings. As Per Berntsen mentioned the image file has sufficient resolution for an 11" x 17" print and even 16" x 20" print at slightly lower dpi. A full-size Export file for printing should show the same 3456x5184 pixel dimensions. Do not use 'Resize to Fit,' but do use Output Sharpening' set to the target paper type (Glossy, Matte) with Standard or High setting.  The print should look fine!

(click on image to see full-size)

You can also add a Graduated filter to remove the Sharpening settings from the left brick wall area to make it less distracting. A -50 setting removes the Detail panel Sharpening and -51 to -100 adds "blur" if desired.

You can also apply this with the Radial filter tool.

[melissaj56941518]

The reason of why i am redoing these photos is because they print with big pixels because they are blurry photos. Is that right? i normally select the glossy paper with high.

[Per Berntsen · Accepted solution]

Blurry images will not lead to pixelated prints.

If you see pixelation in the prints, you have either exported with a low jpg quality setting (use 100), and/or reduced the size of the image. Make sure that Resize to fit under Image sizing in the Export dialog is unchecked.

[Jao vdL]

My guess is too just like the others that you are accidentally downsizing the images upon export. You might also be using an online service that downscales files you upload. Several services do this leading to terrible results for anything bigger than a 4x6 print. Usually there is a setting somewhere in the uploader that "optimizes" uploads or some such. Make sure these are set to not touch your files.

I have a slightly different approach to get the best prints than Per but the bottom line is that you need to get files out in good enough resolution for printing. I actually do rescale but I rescale to the actual printed size at a resolution of 300 ppi and apply output sharpening.  Interestingly this leads to perceptually sharper pictures than not rescaling and doing output sharpening at the native image size even if in the process you downscaled. Also in my opinion there is no need to go higher than about 90% in jpeg quality. No human being is able to see the difference above that anymore in prints (I tested) but it does save you at least a factor of 2 in file size reducing your upload time.

[dj_paige]

melissaj56941518 wrote:

The reason of why i am redoing these photos is because they print with big pixels because they are blurry photos. Is that right? i normally select the glossy paper with high.

I don't think this is right. How are you printing? Inside of Lightroom, or by exporting from Lightroom and then using some commercial service? Please explain.

Also, what size, in inches or centimeters (width and height) is the paper you are printing on?

[dj_paige]

The lens is focused is in "front" of the subject.

This could be user error, or it is also possible that the camera front-focuses by itself (although it's more common to see back-focus). Here is a solution to front-focus and back-focus. Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Jeffrey’s Autofocus Test Chart

[Todd Shaner]

We need to know what resolution the images are such as 2400 x3600 pixels and what print size you are trying to make. It would also help to know how these files were created (i.e. camera model, scanner, etc.).

[Alinaca]

Thanks~

[Jennycaa]

Adobe offers the online unbluring images solution, try the Adobe official guide:Free Image Sharpener: Unblur Your Images Online | Adobe Creative Cloud Express

[Alinaca]

Hi Jennycaa, thank you for sharing the Adobe official tutorial. I tried and it worked like a charm.