Friday, October 14, 2011

Photoshop Image Deblurring Demo

Here is a video in which a new Photoshop capability for fixing blurred photos is demonstrated. It is not guaranteed to be in a future version of Photoshop but is quite dramatic. Rainn Wilson (from the television series "The Office") is a guest on stage and is a bit profane at one point. But despite that unnecessary distraction, what is being shown in the video is very exciting. Listen for the sudden gasps and then applause from the audience.



This has obvious applications for genealogists and family historians. I have a bunch of blurry old snapshots made with Instamatic cameras using 110 film from the 1970s and they could use some help. I also have some snapshots made in the 1920s and 1930s by my great grandfather Herr and by my grandmother Jackson that will also benefit if and when this becomes available.

I don't think it will help photos that are simply out-of-focus, but it looks like it will do wonders for photos that were blurred because of shaky hands (like mine).

Note to self:  look up "point spread function" and "blur kernel".