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Dear Mr. Staddon,
My name is Joshua Ong and I recently joined the Lenspiration Community two days ago. Thank you for adding me to the Community and for sending me some updates. I joined this community in order to ask photography-related questions on the forum. One question I had, in particular, concerned the subject of focus of a recorded picture. Is it possible to change the subject of focus using photo editing software? I have enclosed a picture of a cyclist that was wrongly focused. The cycling enthusiast, not the background, should have been in sharp focus. Please let me know if I can correct this problem. Thank you.
Kind Regards,
Joshua Ong- This topic was modified 54 years, 9 months ago by .
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Although the message was addressed to Mr. Staddon, anyone who can offer assistance regarding my problem is free to reply. Thank you.
Joshua OngHello @joshua_ong,
Nice picture. I well know the feeling of taking a picture and then finding that it was not correctly focused.
There are a few things you could do. I use two post-processors for editing images – GIMP and Avairy. Both are free. (gimp.org) & (Avairy.com) Do you have a program that you use to edit pictures? In both programs (GIMP and Avairy) there is a tool for sharpening a picture. By using this tool you can sharpen the cyclist. However I’m not sure of any easy way to blur the background in either of these programs.
I hope this helps! If you have any other questions please feel free to reply to this message. 🙂Welcome @joshua_ong! And thanks for posting!
Sadly, no, it is not possible to change the focus of a picture after it’s taken. At least, it’s not possible right now with regular DSLR cameras. This technology is being developed and I think that it will be commonplace in the future eventually.
For now, we just have to do our best to get the focus right in-camera. Sharpening software after the fact will never fix an out-of-focus picture.
Learning to get the focus right in-camera is very much a skill to be learned! Google “how to take sharp pictures” and you’ll be sure to get a lot of great articles on it. Also consider taking the Foundations of Photography course. I talk about focus specifically in Lesson 2.7, Taking Control of Focusing, and Lesson 3.4, When Pictures Are Not Sharp.
Though limited to static subjects, it is possible to shoot that subject in such a way that you can change the focus in post-processing. Here’s an article on duplicating the Lytro camera effect with your DSLR, and here’s an article on how to do focus stacking to increase the depth of field.
Sweet picture, by the way! Too bad it wasn’t in focus. 🙁 Where was it taken?
Thank you very much Joseph for recommending the two photo editing softwares. I do not have any photo editing software except for ArcSoft Media Impression and Photoshop Express Android App that is on a tablet. I’ve enclosed an edited picture of the same cyclist. I guess that’s the best I could do to get the cyclist in focus. The picture was taken south of Perth, Australia. I do have a question regarding Adobe Lightroom Photoshop. How much does this software cost?
Kind Regards,
JoshuaP.S.: I actually don’t use a DSLR camera. The one I use is in between of a compact and an SLR; it’s a July 2005 Panasonic DMC-FZ30. It has lasted for at least eight years since its first operation in 2007.
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Hey that’s neat, Photoshop on a tablet. Have you used Photoshop Express Android App much? Is it free?
I wholeheartedly recommend Lightroom because it streamlines the entire post-processing. Drawing from the Foundations Course Lesson 5.2, Benefits of Adobe Lightroom, these are some of the technical reasons why I use Lightroom (beyond the ease factor):
• Organize and edit in the same program
• Works seamlessly with Photoshop
• Eliminates complete dependence on Photoshop
• Multiple methods for sorting and filtering pictures
• Stores metadata and editing information in sidecar files instead of a duplicate file
• Uses sliders for making controlled and flexible adjustments
• Provides a wide array of local adjustment tools in addition to its powerful global adjustment tools
• Supports RAW processingBut that doesn’t answer your question about price. 🙂 There are three options for using Lightroom:
1. 30 day free trial. Use this to see if you really want to buy. All the features are included in the trial. https://creative.adobe.com/products/download/lightroom?promoid=KSKAY
2. Buy the stand alone software. This is what I used for along time and works well if you don’t think you’ll be doing a lot of photography for a long time. Here’s the prices: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lightroom+software&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alightroom+software
3. Buy a subscription. For if you’re going to go into photography more seriously. The Photography Plan is amazingly cheap for allowing you to have both Lightroom and Photoshop. This is nice because you don’t have to pay to upgrade. It stays updated. http://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.htmlIt’s so awesome to see an Australian delegation here on the forums!
- This reply was modified 54 years, 9 months ago by .
I hardly use the Photoshop Express Android App. I downloaded it for free from the Google Play Store. Thank you for the three options regarding Lightroom. By the way, are you on the IBLP’s Family Connections Trip?
Regards,
JoshuaNo, I’m not on the Family Connections Trip, actually. Sometimes I wish I was! I’m just doing some travel of my own right now, with MissionTalk and for the CAPTURE Workshops. Doing photography for MissionTalk can be a lot of fun, because it has an orphanage ministry in Tijuana Mexico. I’ve been traveling to different orphanages with another photographer to take pictures of the kids for promotional material in the future. Maybe one of these days doing photography for MissionTalk will become part of Shoot to Serve!
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