Stupid, Stupid, Stupid - I'm depressed

[gregkdavis]

Chalk it up to a bad mistake and next time, make sure the eyes are always in focus.

[Al_Nowak]

If you are using PhotoShop, take the Lasso tool and just outline her eyes with a closed line.

Then with that section selected (i.e. that selected area showing up on the screen) you can sharpen the eyes till you are happy without affecting anything else in the image.

When you are finished, click somewhere outside of her eye area, and you're done...

There are lots of unsharp pictures around. Unless you are making a large print, don't let it bother you too much. On a computer screen, nobody would likely notice it too much.

[moscato_images]

Still_Images has the right idea. Remember, even if something is out of focus, our eyes see what IS in focus by comparing it to what is out of focus. So, by making everything slight MORE blurry that the face...the face will become the sharpest thing in the image. Of course, just make sure not to do it too often b/c it's not a technique...it's a coverup process. Improve the original image at all costs.

Here is my go at it:

[kevgre]

[quote=RoshGlamour]I love this image from a recent shoot, but the focus is off. I have tried some things I know to sharpen it, but I need some more ideas. Any thoughts on how to make it look better?
It's depressing me. The pose and such is, in my opinion, HOT.
I did an alpha unsharp with snapshot and "undid" the areas of oversharpening.. Not sure if it is to your liking but either way, let me know you have seen it and I will delete it from myserver

And the image by itself

[eldor]

Nice job, Kevin! Really nice.

Can you perhaps explain that "alpha" unsharp in general terms?

[kevgre]

Ugg.. I said alpha channel sharpen and I meant Lab Color sharpen.. Sorry about that.

Here's how I did it..

Please note. the Lab conversion apparently is a "Lossy conversion", albeit slight.
Using Photoshop
Step 1)
Got to Image->Mode->Lab Color
Step 2)
Select the Channels Tab and select the Lightness Layer
Step 3)
Apply unsharp mask to visual satisfaction.
Step 4)
Go to Image->Mode->RGB Color
Voila.
(That's all that was done for the above within one exception)
I used the Snapshot icon (Bottom of the History Dialog.. looks like a little camera)
Once I sharpened I used the History brush at about 40% opacity to undo any oversharpened looking areas. (when you paint, it starts returning to the image to the original snapshot version).

[eldor]

Thanks for the explanation, Kevin. I actually am familiar with Lab Sharpening, but was thrown by your mention of "alpha sharpening".

One of the tricks I use from time to time is to make a duplicate of my image, flatten to the minimum number of layers possible and then do my conversion to Lab color and sharpen (or even some other kinds of editing - including switching to 8-bit for some effects/tools that aren't available in 16-bit mode). Once I'm happy with the result, I then select the new layer and shift-move it onto my original image, where of course it remains as a new layer. This works (fine as far as I can see) even when changing color modes or bit depth. Then I can change the opacity of that new layer and/or add layer masks, etc.

Cheers!

Eldor

[CamScam]

Originally Posted by Still_Images

I tried to blur other than the face so the face would appear sharper...

problem is, the color shifted because I assigned RGB1998 when I brought it in..

Good idea but the look seems unnatural and a bit over-compensated to me. you could duplicate this layer and adjust the blending/opacity to soffen the effect.
I like the idea of going B&W and here's annother idea. you know those selective focus deals everyone is crazy about these days? lensebabies whatever, belows lense effect. you can get a prety good approch to that with the blur-tool but high res images may lock up your system. Somthing to try. The girl is beautiful and the shot is really great as is. Somtimes its better to leave photo unchanged and original unless it will be used for commecial work and the art director is hammering you for somthing "perfect".

[Stupid]

Hey now, let's watch the use of the "S" word

[ogpro]

Originally Posted by SamBeasley

I tried man, but I dunno how good I did...

I did unsharp mask, but using alpha channels to keep the sharpening on just the edges in the image (so as not to oversharpen larger areas like skin, the rocks, etc.). Doing it this way you can sharpen to your hearts content so that, say, her eyes look sharper, but other areas won't look oversharpened. At least, that's the idea.
Sam
BTW, I didn't actually change anything with the color of the image, but somewhere in the conversion the color changed some...

Can you please tell me how you use alpha channels that way? Thanks!