Can multiple long-distance photos be combined to reduce atmospheric distortion?
Asked 10/18/2016
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2 answers
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If I photograph a very distant stationary subject over several kilometers, atmospheric turbulence can distort different parts of each frame. Is there a practical way to shoot many images and combine only the least-distorted portions into one sharper, less distorted result? I’m asking about stationary subjects, not moving ones.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
2
The technique you are asking about was mentioned in one of the answers to that question, lucky imaging. This technique is used in astrophotography to resolve objects that otherwise are unresolvable by any single image, to cancel out atmospheric effects.
In principle a similar technique could be used for terrestrial subjects. However, it's only applicable for stationary subjects. Moving people, animals, cars, etc., cannot be better resolved with this method.
Originally by user11924. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11924
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—this is possible in principle, and related techniques are used in practice. One relevant method is lucky imaging, common in astrophotography, where many frames are captured and the sharpest moments are combined to reduce atmospheric distortion.
For terrestrial scenes, similar ideas can work best when the subject is stationary. If parts of the scene are moving—people, cars, animals—those areas generally won’t benefit the same way.
More broadly, this falls under image restoration. This is an active research area, including methods for known distortion and blind restoration when the distortion is unknown. Multiple-image and video-based approaches can improve results, but success depends on how severe and variable the distortion is.
So the short answer is: yes, it is a real thing, especially for static subjects, but it is technically difficult and not guaranteed to fully remove atmospheric effects.
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