magicunicorn Loc: Melbourne Australia

Hi everyone,

i fear that this photo is a dumper as it has blur and it cant be fixed but i thought i would try your fantastic people to see if there was any way to fix this one.

Thank you in advance

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

You can try correcting it in any pp software with fractal capability - or you can go for an artistic (oil or watercolor) interpretation. Just because a shot is not perfect does not mean it does not have potential.

magicunicorn Loc: Melbourne Australia

Thank you for your help a lady wanted to buy this print but i cant sell it like this.
Thanks again

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

My honest answer is NO... it cannot be fixed. Sure, you can tweak it and make marginal improvements, but it's simply not something I would buy or sell. Sorry. Just my opinion.

PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

I must agree with the others that your shot is not fixable - BUT - you can certainly learn something from your mistakes.

Look carefully and you will see that you focused far behind the horse and rider. The white barrier screens beyond the green decorations are in sharp focus. You needed to be pre-focused on the jump area.

Also, why were you using Aperture Priority? In an action situation, shutter speed must be uppermost. I assume you had time to make some tests before the event began. This kind of situation is made for Manual mode. ISO should have been higher than the 200 you used. ISO 400 or 800 should be no problem with the camera you had and would have allowed a higher shutter speed.

As far as the action is concerned, you nailed it with the horse and rider in just the right position, but a little more thought and preparation would have carried you through. Better luck next time.

magicunicorn Loc: Melbourne Australia

Thanks everyone,, thank you photo man for your explanation, I have a 7d canon but I'm a little shy using manual mode as I've at times got it wrong the photos were too light. I see what you mean about focus point... I also need to stop rushing too I suppose. I agree defiantly not one for selling... She will have to pick another one.
I had better go and get some practice with M mode.
Thanks again everyone
Have a great day.

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

I agree here, editing software has limitations and refocusing is not one of them. You need to practice with action shots, using a fast shutter speeds.

graham52 Loc: Scotland

The other are right photoshop can fix a lot of things but not focusing. You could try the radial blur effect.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

I have been taking my unfixable pictures and fixing them using Photoshop CS6. However, we might need to define "fixing." See my photos blog to see what I have done to some of them, this post specifically: http://russelrayphotos2.com/2012/09/24/you-dont-have-to-be-a-purist-featuring-zoey-the-cool-cat/

General Dogsbody Loc: Suffolk UK

Why not GIVE the photo to the lady? Explain it is not up to your usual standard but a mother proud of her daughter will still be pleased with it

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

The way you shoot sports is to track the movement with the camera. The shot of the equestrian event shown here is a stationary camera clicked at the right moment, but not tracking the subject. Tracking with the subject limits motion blur, and promotes better focus. Better to have a background getting blurry than the subject.

Tracking with a 1/8 second shutter speed