Windows Tools, Help & Guides

So you have a blurry image and you just wish that you were able to bring back some of the detail and make it less blurry.

In Photoshop (PS) this is a simple process though note it is no miracle cure and wont make your images perfect but will provide a good starting point.

Step 1.

To get started, open your blurry image in PS.

In the right pane under layers, right click your image and select Duplicate Layer… (Ctrl+J).

Step 2.

With the duplicated layer selected,

Go to the toolbar and click, Filter > Other > High Pass (Shift+F10)

Enter in a value of around 4-5px to get started, you may have to experiment with your settings to get the desired result.  When you think you’re good to go, click OK.  Now at this point the image will look destroyed.  Don’t worry.

Step 3.

With the duplicated layer still selected,

Click the Blending Mode drop down menu and select Overlay.

You should already see a good improvement to the quality of the image.

To check the before and after, simply click the eyeball next to the duplicated layer.

Step 4.

You can go even further to make the image less blurry and add an unsharp mask to the mix.

Still with the duplicated layer selected, go to the toolbar and click, Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask …(Shift+F5)

Make sure that Preview is checked and then play around with the values (particularly the Amount) until you get a good result.

And that’s it.  As I said, this is not a perfect way to get your blurry images back but a good building block for further editing.

Got any good tips for sharpening blurry images?  Let us know below in the comments.

Cross posted @ Tinkering with Tech

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