Software for correcting a too shallow depth of field: Has anyone had success with a software solution to ‘sharpen up’ photos taken with too wide an aperture? I’ve got a few photos of a...

BushDog Loc: San Antonio, TX

Has anyone had success with a software solution to ‘sharpen up’ photos taken with too wide an aperture?

I’ve got a few photos of a group of people that I’d like to work on where some people are in clear focus but some are not. I did stop down the aperture but not enough.

I do use Lightroom but not Photoshop. I’m not averse to buying additional software. The learning curve of Photoshop stumps me.

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

Develop that software and retire well! I have some of those images in my "Aw Shucks" file folder.

saxman71 Loc: Wenatchee

I have many photos like that. For me it's mostly with birds. One bird is in sharp focus and the others nearby are not. If software existed that would "fix" this I think we we would all be using it.

BushDog Loc: San Antonio, TX

Don, the 2nd son wrote:

Develop that software and retire well! I have some of those images in my "Aw Shucks" file folder.

😀 That may be my only option, Don. 👍🏽 Thanks for the humorous, painful reality check.

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

It won't help you with the photos you've already taken but for some situations Focus Stacking (merging) solves inadequate depth of field situations. It's available in several processing apps but I don't know about LR.

BushDog Loc: San Antonio, TX

saxman71 wrote:

I have many photos like that. For me it's mostly with birds. One bird is in sharp focus and the others nearby are not. If software existed that would "fix" this I think we we would all be using it.

Thanks SaxMan. Wishful thinking gets me only so far.
(On an aside note, if you play tenor sax, I’m envious.)

BushDog Loc: San Antonio, TX

Wanderer2 wrote:

It won't help you with the photos you've already taken but for some situations Focus Stacking (merging) solves inadequate depth of field situations. It's available in several processing apps but I don't know about LR.

Thanks Wanderer.
I guess I was hoping some new artificial intelligence software was smarter than me on this matter. 😉

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

BushDog wrote:

Thanks Wanderer.
I guess I was hoping some new artificial intelligence software was smarter than me on this matter. 😉

Sorry, I haven't used AI software (too old fashioned) so it might do something in this situation - I don't know one way or another. Good luck.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

BushDog wrote:

Has anyone had success with a software solution to ‘sharpen up’ photos taken with too wide an aperture?

I’ve got a few photos of a group of people that I’d like to work on where some people are in clear focus but some are not. I did stop down the aperture but not enough.

I do use Lightroom but not Photoshop. I’m not averse to buying additional software. The learning curve of Photoshop stumps me.

They are working on this all the time and in the future I expect this will be possible but for now I agree 99% with the previous comments.

I do use a technique in Photoshop that can sharpen a slightly out of focus image. Slightly is the key word. But I don't think it will help what you want.

Attached is a slightly out of focus image of mine on the left and the same image with focus revived a bit. Notice especially the eyes and hair in the comparison. Done in PS CS6.

(Download)

saxman71 Loc: Wenatchee

Fotoartist wrote:

They are working on this all the time and in the future I expect this will be possible but for now I agree 99% with the previous comments.

I do use a technique in Photoshop that can sharpen a slightly out of focus image. Slightly is the key word. But I don't think it will help what you want.

Attached is a slightly out of focus image of mine on the left and the same image with focus revived a bit. Notice especially the eyes and hair in the comparison. Done in PS CS6.

The "improved" image is noticeably better. Now it would be helpful and instructive if you tell us the steps you took in Photoshop CS6 to get the better result. I, for one, would be interested assuming said steps are within my PS capabilities (a big assumption to be sure).

BushDog Loc: San Antonio, TX

Fotoartist wrote:

They are working on this all the time and in the future I expect this will be possible but for now I agree 99% with the previous comments.

I do use a technique in Photoshop that can sharpen a slightly out of focus image. Slightly is the key word. But I don't think it will help what you want.

Attached is a slightly out of focus image of mine on the left and the same image with focus revived a bit. Notice especially the eyes and hair in the comparison. Done in PS CS6.

WOW! That’s impressive Fotoartist. 👍🏽

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

BushDog wrote:

Has anyone had success with a software solution to ‘sharpen up’ photos taken with too wide an aperture?

I’ve got a few photos of a group of people that I’d like to work on where some people are in clear focus but some are not. I did stop down the aperture but not enough.

I do use Lightroom but not Photoshop. I’m not averse to buying additional software. The learning curve of Photoshop stumps me.

I've been using Topaz Sharpen A.I. but don't think it will help - I imagine nowadays sharpening algorithms make use of pixels that are "near sharp" but how would it "know" to work on the unsharp faces in the background, or whatever?

...sorry - attempts to upload examples keep failing...will have to try later.

BushDog Loc: San Antonio, TX

f8lee wrote:

I've been using Topaz Sharpen A.I. but don't think it will help - I imagine nowadays sharpening algorithms make use of pixels that are "near sharp" but how would it "know" to work on the unsharp faces in the background, or whatever?

...sorry - attempts to upload examples keep failing...will have to try later.

Thanks f8lee 👍🏽

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

f8lee wrote:

I've been using Topaz Sharpen A.I. but don't think it will help - I imagine nowadays sharpening algorithms make use of pixels that are "near sharp" but how would it "know" to work on the unsharp faces in the background, or whatever?

...sorry - attempts to upload examples keep failing...will have to try later.

Sunuvagun...'twould seem the issue might have been the Firefox browser; now in Chrome it works. I've moved away from Chrome lately but I guess I need to use it for this stuff.

Anyway, below are the original image (cropped from the raw file) and the one generated by Topaz AI

Original image (cropped from actual raw file)

(Download)

After Topaz Sharpen A.I treatment

(Download)

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

f8lee wrote:

Sunuvagun...'twould seem the issue might have been the Firefox browser; now in Chrome it works. I've moved away from Chrome lately but I guess I need to use it for this stuff.

Anyway, below are the original image (cropped from the raw file) and the one generated by Topaz AI

That is a nice picture, with or without Topaz. Great timing to catch the berry in the mouth. If that is the best Topaz can do, I would forget about sharpening. I could probably do as well in LR or PS.