can these be improved with the Sharp mask?

[christineredgate]

I took some pics of the Jackdaws today,and a couple did not turn out very clearly.I went into the filters on Photoshop E2,but when I clicked the sharp box,there was no sliders or anything as there is inthe colour/brightness box.Does it do things automatically if on just clicks on the box,and would sharpen help to clear a somewhat fuzzy pic.I did not have my beanbag to hand,and I'm not very good at keeping the scope steady when the camera is attached without it.Will submit 2 pics.
Thankyou,

[Joe A.]

Hi Christine,

Not familair with Photoshop E2, but used USM (Photoshop 7.0, using Andy's suggested USM numbers) on your 2nd photo with marginal results. I believe the eye on the bird on the right is a tad sharper. Probably not much help to you.
Joe

============
I took some pics of the Jackdaws today,and a couple did not turn out very clearly.I went into the filters on Photoshop E2,but when I clicked the sharp box,there was no sliders or anything as there is inthe colour/brightness box.Does it do things automatically if on just clicks on the box,and would sharpen help to clear a somewhat fuzzy pic.I did not have my beanbag to hand,and I'm not very good at keeping the scope steady when the camera is attached without it.Will submit 2 pics.
Thankyou,

[Andy Bright]

I took some pics of the Jackdaws today,and a couple did not turn out very clearly.I went into the filters on Photoshop E2,but when I clicked the sharp box,there was no sliders or anything as there is inthe colour/brightness box.Does it do things automatically if on just clicks on the box,and would sharpen help to clear a somewhat fuzzy pic.I did not have my beanbag to hand,and I'm not very good at keeping the scope steady when the camera is attached without it.Will submit 2 pics.
Thankyou,
You need to go into filters, then sharpen, then unsharp mask. It should be in Elements.
I've done some serious oversharpening on the second photo, using the actual sharpen tool as well on some parts. It's not pretty (lots of jpeg compression blockiness) but ok'ish for web/monitor viewing.

[christineredgate]

Thanks,Jo and Andy,yes Andy,I see what you mean,all the little pixel boxes are enhanced.So obviously if the picture is blurred,as such there isn,t really much one can do.

[Reader]

Thanks,Jo and Andy,yes Andy,I see what you mean,all the little pixel boxes are enhanced.So obviously if the picture is blurred,as such there isn,t really much one can do.

I'm not in the same class as Andy & co but i had a quick go in Photoshop 7 using unsharp mask & a bit of cloning. It has come out a bit too sharp in comparison to Andy's but i thought I would still throw it into the melting pot.

[christineredgate]

I'm not in the same class as Andy & co but i had a quick go in Photoshop 7 using unsharp mask & a bit of cloning. It has come out a bit too sharp in comparison to Andy's but i thought I would still throw it into the melting pot.Reader,thankyou yes,they do seem clearer,but,how does the Sharp/unsharp work,as there are no sliders as there are in the adjust colour /brightness?

Just re read your comments Reader,now why did you use un -sharp as I would have thought that if a photo was fuzzy,then one would use the Sharp button to make it clearer?

[digi-birder]

Just re read your comments Reader,now why did you use un -sharp as I would have thought that if a photo was fuzzy,then one would use the Sharp button to make it clearer?

Christine, this is a bit of a strange name for the technique, but it does work. Someone will undoubtably have the correct history and meaning of the word, but I know it's taken from the developing of film.

Basically, if you click the Filters menu and then Unsharp Mask, you will see the sliders where you can make adjustments. I think it's the same in Elements as it is in Photoshop 7.

When you open another photo and go to the Unsharp Mask again, it should have saved the settings used previously, so you can use the same settings on all the photos.

[Reader]

Hi Christine

Digi-birder has basically answered the question. I use Photoshop 7 so I don't know if you can do the same in Elements. In photoshop I click into filters, on the tool bar, then into sharpen then into unsharp mask. You have a slider to use. I tend to have the sliders set so that it doesn't make a major change then click ok. If it is not quite right I click again and repeat the application until I am fairly happy with the resulting image. You can then use the sliders for finishing it off. Mind you doing this usually results in some form of white fringing and this is where the cloning tool becomes useful as I touch up around the areas affected as it copies the area by the side of the fringing and covers up the fringing so creating a sharper outline.

[christineredgate]

Diane and Reader,thankyou.Later on will go to Adobe and check it out.I could not find any sliders,but perhaps was not looking in the right place.
Thankyou both again for time taken to reply.

[scampo]

I took some pics of the Jackdaws today,and a couple did not turn out very clearly.I went into the filters on Photoshop E2,but when I clicked the sharp box,there was no sliders or anything as there is inthe colour/brightness box.Does it do things automatically if on just clicks on the box,and would sharpen help to clear a somewhat fuzzy pic.I did not have my beanbag to hand,and I'm not very good at keeping the scope steady when the camera is attached without it.Will submit 2 pics.
Thankyou,Christine

Hi there. The trouble I find is that Photoshop - even PS Elements - is a tough program to master. So... I've spent a while (at home poorly means I have a bit of time spare!) trying out a whole range of demo image editing software that claims to improve a less-than-perfect image and which works within PS.

Well, after much testing this and that until I am blue in the face (don't worry ...it's easily corrected with Photoshop...; whoops now I'm red with embarrassment, oh well...). Anyway... the results of my tests are that three products are Definitely Worth a Good Look if you are not so very computer savvy (No 1 is very easy indeed to use, no. 2 is less easy to Use and as for no 3, see below:

1) "Focus Magic";
2) "Intellihance Pro";
3) and leaving easily the best till last, AutoFX "Autoeye 2";
4) Original image.

Here are your jackdaws with a bit of help from a), b) and c). BTW, if I had the original image, the results would have been far better than is possible on the web-sized image I had to use:

[christineredgate]

Christine

Hi there. The trouble I find is that Photoshop :
Steve,sorry to hear you haven,t been well,hope things are a little better now.It wasn't you who had back problems ,was it,some had.
Anyway,re the comments about PSP,yes it is a little difficult ,esp with layers and cloning etc.I spent a whole 3hrs trying to cover up part of a feed tray the Robin was sitting and I just wasted my time.I still have a couple of similiar Jackdaw pics.They are ones I was taking for Steve(Nova),and several more came out sort of slightly blurred.I was not using the bean bag,and I do tend to wave the scope around as it tips up and down.But will go to PSp and re size another on.Then return to the thread.So see you soon.
Thanks
PS,When I have time will send you an excerpt from one of Norman Nicholson,s poems" Guillemots".Quite possibly miss spelt!!Sorry

[scampo]

Here is another filter that takes a bit of work but seems all the better for it:

[christineredgate]

Steve ,here are the same pics,but from the original saved ones,just cropped and re sized.But could you tell me how to obtain these other programmes please.Or at least the one which is the simplest but effective.
Thankyou
Steve,have just re read your reply,does that mean you would rather have the pics in the original size?.Would they not be to big to download?

[scampo]

Christine - I'll send you a PM to explain the best way.

[scampo]

PS,When I have time will send you an excerpt from one of Norman Nicholson,s poems" Guillemots".Quite possibly miss spelt!!Sorry
Look forward to the poem, Christine, I don't know his writing. Here's an energetic little poem by the late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes - very apt for your photos:

Brambles


The whole air, the whole day

Swirls with the call of jackdaws. The baby jackdaw

Generation is being initiated

Into jackdawdom—that complicated

Court–world of etiquette


And precedence, jingoism and law.

Nearly a prison world—with bars

Of cries and signals. The jailors

Are all the other jackdaws. Tearing a track

Through the intertangled briars


I thought again: do they feel this?

Briars are such a success, their defences

So craftsmanlike,

Their reachings so deliberate, are they awake?

Surely some nimbus of pain and pleasure


Sits on their naked coronet,

Their sexual offer. Surely they aren’t just numb,

A blind groping. Yet why not?

Aren’t my blood–cells the same?

What do even brain–cells fear or feel


Of the scalpel, or the accident?

They too crown a plant

Of peculiar numbness. And the jackdaws

Work darkly to be jackdaws

As if they were seeds in the earth.


The whole claque is a benighted religion

Around the godlike syntax and vocabulary

Of a mute cell, that does not know who we are

Or even that we are here,

Unforthcoming as any bramble–flower.


Ted Hughes

[christineredgate]

Steve,
thankyou.I haven't read any of Ted Hughes's work,but have heard lots about him,keep your eyes open for a new thread tommorrow re poems ,I have run out of time now,but have printed off a copy.

[Andy Bright]

Christine - I'll send you a PM to explain the best way.
Alternatively post them on birdforum for everyone's benefit, it won't be regarded as advertsing as they are such specialised products.

I just bought focus magic, good fun (although not on 35mb files!) and it could cause some tears as I realise some of my old deleted shots could be given a new lease of life :C

[scampo]

I do intend to, Andy, but Christine's email came in before I had the results ready and I have to do a bit more to do to be sure that what I post is fair and worthwhile.