Improve Photo Quality Using Photoshop

[som nam na 0]

Took some photo's in a restaurant at night using my camera phone.

 

The subject, a TG, looks good but the picture quality is very grainy .... how can I improve the quality of the picture?

 

Would very much appreciate advise from BM's.

 

Thanks SNN

Edited March 25, 2008 by som nam na

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Took some photo's in a restaurant at night using my camera phone.

 

The subject, a TG, looks good but the picture quality is very grainy .... how can I improve the quality of the picture?

 

Would very much appreciate advise from BM's.

 

Thanks SNN

 

There's a hundred and one ways to improve a pic but without the original its hard to say what would work best.

 

PM me and I'll give you my e-mail addy or access to my photo host account to upload the pic to and see what can be done to improve it. How big is the original file BTW?

[som nam na 0]

334 kb PM sent

[Sailfast 503]

I'm not expert. That being said, Picassa.com (google product) works nicely. Just using the "get lucky" option can work wonders. It's free.

 

 

 

I just downloaded the trial version on photoshop and there is just so damn much to learn.

[Samsonite 181]

There is Adobe Photo Shop, the granddaddy of them all, but there are many other software programs that do a excellent job.

Two that come to mind are ACDSee and The GIMP. The price on The GIMP is certainly "right," it is free OpenSource software and it does a very good job.

 

http://www.gimp.org/

Edited March 25, 2008 by Scalawag

[CheshireTom 1,377]

334 kb PM sent

 

1.3 mb returned.

[joekicker 53]

Photo Toolkit is a truly excellent utility to do photo-touchup if you're a novice or if you simply can't be bothered spending weeks to learn Photoshop.

 

http://pho.to/editor/features.php

or

http://www.photo-toolkit.com/features.html

 

It is by the extremely dependable VicMan people, is totally free, has absolutely no spyware/adware, etc. While nothing is foolproof (because fools are so bloody inventive) it is extremely simple and obvious to use.

 

Picasa is good, but ONLY if you want to use Picasa as your main photo cataloguer. Personally, I find Picasa is very intrusive and demands to do things I don't want it to do, such as cataloguing all my family photos with my, well, my non-family photos for example.

[dogblower 3]

Have you tried this (free) program: http://www.neatimage.com/index.html?D69 ? It's fairly simple to use and the price is right.

 

On the other hand, if you have and are familiar with Photoshop, there are some fairly easy things you can do to eliminate some of the grain without losing too much detail. Details to follow if you are interested.

[Sailfast 503]

Have you tried this (free) program: http://www.neatimage.com/index.html?D69 ? It's fairly simple to use and the price is right.

 

On the other hand, if you have and are familiar with Photoshop, there are some fairly easy things you can do to eliminate some of the grain without losing too much detail. Details to follow if you are interested.

 

 

 

Please, details would be great.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Please, details would be great.

 

Sailfast,

 

A basic tutorial gives some idea what you can do.

 

http://video.about.com/graphicssoft/Remove...n-Photoshop.htm

 

It was a bit of an understatement to say the original pic was very grainy.

[1234 0]

Try out picasa or adobe photoshop. They are easy to crop, add a few touch-ups,resize etc.

 

Just go through the help section, especially in picasa which will give you an idea how to use the free software. You will really be amazed at the enhanced quality of your pics. Once you learn to do a few photos, the rest will be child's play.

[joekicker 53]

Try out picasa or adobe photoshop. They are easy to crop, add a few touch-ups,resize etc.

 

Good grief. When you go to buy a car do you only try out the Honda Civic and the Lambhorgini?

 

IMAHO there's not a single reason to try out Adobe Photoshop to enhance some camera-phone pictures. It is hugely expensive and hugely complicated -- a program you have to learn. It is a GREAT program, but it's not for hobby photogs who want to work on a few photos for 10 minutes maximum. And when I say "expensive" I don't just mean in dollars, not that the price won't rock your world.

 

Also, Picasa includes a nice sub-set of simple editing features BUT it is a woman-program -- it is intrusive, it demands to be in full control of all pictures, all the time. Some people think that's good, but please be aware of that when you think you're only going to take Picasa on a little test ride to try out the photo enhancing bit of it.

 

Using Picasa for photo editing is like getting married so that you'll always someone for boffing You're going to find out very quickly there is a LOT more baggage that comes along with that. You have to FEED Picasa in all ways, all the time, in order to get that 20-minute thrill every so often. By the time the other nookie starts looking good, you are tied by all three legs like a calf at a rodeo.

 

If you want to enhance a few photographers and get back to your life try the online programs like Phixr.com or Pixer.us or even the somewhat lame photoshop.com/express if you absolutely are fixated on Photoshop. They are free, fast and ALL THEY DO is edit photos online, using only your browser.

 

If you want software to make phone-photos look better, try this:

 

http://pho.to/editor/features.php

[dogblower 3]

Please, details would be great.

 

Sorry, been off line a few days.

 

I'm going to assume a basic familiarity with Photoshop here. I'm using v8 by the way but you should be able to find what you need with earlier or later versions with a bit of hunting around.

 

Step 1. Go to Image -> Mode and choose Lab Color

 

Step 2. From your Channels palette, select a

 

Step 3. Go to Filter -> Noise and choose Median. Adjust the settings to take the rough edges off (probably somewhere from 5 to 10 pixels).

 

Step 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the b channel.

 

Step 5. Select the lightness channel.

 

Step 6. Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask. Adjust the sharpness to compensate for the edge you took off in the a and b channels.

 

Step 7. Go to Image -> Mode and choose RGB.

 

You will need to experiment a bit with these settings as they will depend on the size and the graininess of your photo. Obviously there is only so much that can be done if the original is really bad.

 

Good luck.

 

PS the program that joekicker mentions, Pho.to Editor!, works pretty well too.

[som nam na 0]

Thanks guys for the help and advice. Also thanks to Chesire Tom for having a go at fixing the photo. SNN