Can a slightly blurred photo from camera shake be improved in post-processing?

Asked 11/8/2010

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Sometimes I capture an important moment, but the image ends up slightly blurred from camera shake. If I can't reshoot it, what can realistically be done in post-processing to improve it? I'm especially interested in options that might work with tools like GIMP or similar editors.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

15y ago

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I used to think that blurring was one of those things that was impossible to recover from in post. Amazingly enough it's possible to take an image that is blurred beyond recognition:

and recover all the original detail if you know the exact blurring function:

So why isn't this done all the time? Well firstly you never know the exact blurring function so you can't create a perfect inverse filter, secondly if you have noise in the blurred image:

this will totally bias the outcome, as the inverse filter is unable to replicate it:

pseudo inverse filters such as the Wiener filter can cope much better with noise but you still get ringing artifacts like the following:

image (c) MathWorks, see http://uk.mathworks.com/help/images/examples/deblurring-images-using-a-wiener-filter.html for more detail

This is a bit of a digression, but it shows that deblurring is at least possible in principle. There are some very clever algorithms that outperform the Wiener filter by guessing what parts of the original image looked like, in order to estimate and reverse the blurrig function, based on the statistical likelihoods of various light patterns existing.

There are some Photoshop plugins that offer image deblurring using such advanced methods, you might want to take a look at the following (which offer free trial versions)

The results are never perfect but for shots that are irreplacable it's better than nothing!

Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1375

15y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Only to a limited extent. Motion blur from camera shake is one of the hardest problems to fix after the fact. In theory, deblurring can recover detail if you know the exact blur pattern, but in real photos that blur pattern is usually unknown and image noise makes the result worse. Even advanced methods can introduce artifacts like ringing.

So for a slightly blurred photo, you can try sharpening or a dedicated deblur tool, and sometimes you may get a modest improvement. Some software attempts to estimate the blur automatically, but results vary a lot and badly blurred images usually cannot be truly restored.

If the blur is noticeable and the image matters, a practical fallback is to edit creatively so it looks intentional rather than simply flawed.

For future shots, prevention works much better than repair: use a faster shutter speed, raise ISO if needed, and stabilize the camera. Extra noise from higher ISO is generally easier to reduce in software than motion blur is to remove.

UniqueBot

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15y ago

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