trying to read car reg in night vision

[mz7734144]

Hi,

Wonder if anyone could help me to clear the blurred car registration image or advise how to best enhance the image. Basically, this guy keeps dumping his trash in front of my house. We have CCTV but  those are night pictures and we have a hard time reading the car reg. number. I was able to play with the picture a bit and read maybe two last numbers but it is not enough to report him. Just wonder if there is any software out there to help.

[fenjas29325284]

Most of the plate is pure white (255,255,255) or the the very lightest shades of grey (down to 248,248,248). There's nothing to get back, sorry.

Fenja

[Nancy OShea]

That's not blurred.  It's washed out. 

[Chuck Uebele]

Do you have the video of this?

[mz7734144]

I have video file. The picture is taken from that video. Probably that is why quality is not so great.

[Chuck Uebele]

Can you either post the video or several frames from the video? If you get some different shots of the trunk being opened, the light might change enough to make out some other letters.

[Norman Sanders]

The surprisingly smooth area that held the numbers seems to suggest that your file has been purposely altered.

Is that possible? (This version was created with extreme LAB Curves. No brushwork.)

[Nancy OShea]

Some sneaky people use reflective coating on their plates to avoid detection by cameras.   In California it's a fairly common practice.

[Norman Sanders]

It makes you wonder, though, doesn't it?

Even the tone values of the figure can't really be attributed to a trunk light.

It just seems fishy.

[Chuck Uebele]

Many plates are made with highly reflective paint, so they can be seen at night with little light.

[mz7734144]

I took the picture from video file. That is the quality unfortunately. I'm glad there are at least few numbers showing. That's a start. Thank you so much.

[mz7734144]

I'm unable to attach video. I can only copy/paste in here. Any suggestions?

[Chuck Uebele]

You could use dropbox, or just go through the video and make some more still shots that might show different portions of the plate, when the trunk is being opened.