photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Sony Forums Challenges | all galleries >> Challenge 121: White / technically flawed (hosted by Katherine Kenison) >> Challenge 121: Exhibition > edit image
previous | next
June 9, 2006 Carmen

Looking Out,
Looking On
by Carmen

Overlooking the ruins of the WTC site

I found this to be a very moving scene and still like the picture even though it turned out blurry.

I had taken the 717 in to have the holo-focus feature fixed shortly before I left for New York.
Unbeknownst to me, whatever they did while it was in the repair shop (aside from not fixing the holo-focus problem) caused the camera to take mostly fuzzy shots during the whole trip - especially on any subject at a distance.

It's in the shop again, but I'm not sure I can ever rely on it again. Having said that, it has been a fantastic camera and I've certainly gotten my money out of it. I'm a little surprised that I didn't manage to kill it a long time ago.

added:
Here's what the people are looking at, and where the reflection of the flag is coming from: http://www.pbase.com/image/62711023


other sizes: small medium original auto
comment | share
Carmen02-Jul-2006 23:37
Well, blow me down. Thanks, Franky! Challenge 121 turns out to be a timely topic for me...
To answer your question, yes I did try to improve it in Photoshop. I adjusted levels and sharpened (and it did help some). Here's a link to the unedited (except for size) original: http://www.pbase.com/corvidae/image/62823327 As you can see the "fix-it" results that I got were quite contrasty; a bit of a "the cure is as bad as the disease".
I did try Focus Magic, and I have to say that the improvement is noticeable. It will never be perfect, but thank you! - there are definitely some other pictures that I took that I will wipe the tears off of and try and rescue from the trash bin.
Here's the Focus Magic altered shot (I did add sharpening on top of that; it made a slight, additional improvement):http://www.pbase.com/corvidae/image/62824367
For good measure, here's the one with the straight FM filter (no sharpening): http://www.pbase.com/corvidae/image/62824363
Franky2005 02-Jul-2006 19:41
Carmen, very nice shot,except of the blur of course. Did you try to improve it in post processing? There is still a lot you could do I think, with software like Focus Magic (I am not related to them, but you could try the demo).
Katherine Stanback's Photos30-Jun-2006 09:07
Great capture! Many of the people seem to be looking up and to the right - I wonder what they're looking at? I really like the vague reflections of buildings and the american flag that can be seen in the windows.