BEST software for FIXING BLURRED / OUT OF FOCUS portraits

[@glyndewis]

Just to add this was a single shot grabbed during a workshop to sgow a different set up ... had it been a photo shoot naturally I woyuld have taken more shots BUT I didn't want to take up attendee shooting time.

[@brucewilliamsstudio4932]

Topaz rocks!

[@warrengh5647]

These results are why yours and other KZbin videos are so important as they save people a lot of frustration and cost. Thank you again Glyn.

[@glyndewis]

Thanks so much Warren

[@barbarianatgate2000]

I've become a big fan of the new Topaz AI programs. This past Autumn, I did a family portrait session that was scheduled for 3:30 in the afternoon at a local park. Because of the time and how we'd planned to shoot, I wasn't particularly worried about lighting. But because of some issues, they didn't show up until almost 5:00. In order to get the shots they wanted, I had to crank up the ISO. Once I started editing, the noise was going to ruin the images. Topaz AI worked miracles not only in terms of noise, but the sharpening was impressive as well. Really saved the session, and I can't recommend them enough.

[@dunnymonster]

Your result didn't surprise me. I've been using both Topaz AI Sharpen & Topaz AI denoise for almost 4 years now and it's very impressive software. Likewise its rescued a few photos where I screwed up. Obviously no software can correct severely out of focus errors and subject/camera motion but it still amazes me how well Topaz works.

[@glyndewis]

Yeah so incredibly useful for those unfortunate times when focus isn’t on

[@thomaslevine405]

Topaz is amazing for sharpening. I have some old photographs I almost threw away and they were rescued by Topaz.

[@lannyls]

This is amazing. I’m so excited about how it’s going to help me. I did a photographic trip 20 years ago where I shot in rural Asia for 6 months without knowing that one of my rangefinder bodies was out of calibration, plus my main 35mm star lens was back-focusing badly at certain apertures too. Only arriving 6 months later at a big city pro lab did I see the issue, I was devastated at all the amazing photos with a focus just off like yours above. Now, I see that I could well rescue a fair few. And even more so with today’s new Lightroom tech as well for exposure tweaks too. Now, back to my film scanner!!! Thanks so much for sharing. Very excited!!

[@john.b4170]

Thanks for showing an honest comparison

[@Yvesphotoandfilm]

Yes! I've been a Topaz fan for a long time now. I agree, one never hopes to have to use them, but is great that there is a good option out there. I really liked the idea of masking out eyes or any other areas of interest back in PS. Saved it so I don't forget about it.

[@margaretwood1255]

Thanks very much., New subscriber here. I"m sold-your videos get straight to the point, no cheesy intros, and short enough to keep my interest. I'll be checking out many more, specifically the AI videos and how to do clean cutouts, hair, etc.

[@glyndewis]

Very kind of you to say that Margaret ... thank you

[@margaretwood1255]

@@glyndewis Just a suggestion from a not so much newby but not pro person. Are you able to show details of exactly what you are doing? Or does that just take more time? EX: you said in one of your videos you are placing your subject on a grey layer. I had to google how to do that. Also, in another video you added a red mask layer. I paused the video again to google how to do that. It's not always easy to find the right video, as you know. Just a suggestion ; some of us have not used your methods ............. yet . But I will

[@DavePruett]

I've been learning from your videos from your very early days on KZbin and you never fail to deliver.

[@davidpearson2039]

Having used Topaz DeNoise for a couple of years I recently upgraded to Topaz PhotoAI (but also got Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI and Gigapixel AI as separate apps too). I have to say that I am impressed with its capabilities. I've not compared it to other apps so can't comment on caprison but it works for me. Of course, getting the focus right in the camera is still the aim.

[@glyndewis]

100% with you there David

[@yinoveryang4246]

All three should (and photo AI) clearly all be collected together in the same software. the fact they're not, I'm afraid is a function of Topaz trying to leech more money out of their customers, who already paid for licences. In addition the interfaces, while appearing professional-looking on the surface, are actually pretty terrible. The underlying technology though, it's great.

[@bobburk3]

I had never thought about sharpening selectively by using layer masks. This is brilliant. I just tried it on an image and the result is amazing. By doing this, you can eliminate where Topaz gets a little carried away and just sharpen the areas that need sharpening and leave the background soft if that's what you want. Selective sharpening. I love the idea.

[@seikibrian8641]

I also use layer masks for selective blurring. If a background isn't soft enough -- if I had to use too small of an aperture for exposure control, for example -- I'll add gaussian blur to a duplicate layer, and then use selective masking to make the subject pop. I don't even have the full Photoshop or Lightroom; I do that in PS Elements.

[@norbertalexy8803]

Yes Robert, but you can also selectively sharpen WITHIN Sharpen AI. - Regards Norbert

[@ladylincoln6691]

Thank you Glyn! I trust your review on this more than I would any other.

[@Bullybeef972]

Awesome! I was about to trash one of the only beautiful but blurred photo I took during an event and you saved me! Keep it up mate :)

[@glyndewis]

Glad this has helped ... cheers 👍🏻

[@shamrockisland]

Love it.

[@glyndewis]

Thank you

[@garymmarich4265]

Thank you for the comparison, well done and easy to see the difference in the AI software. I use Topaz and the fist image I used it on was a real eye open. I focused on a trumpet players hand playing the trumpet. This cause the face to be out of focus, ran it through Topaz Sharpen and it came out very sharp.

[@glyndewis]

That’s amazing to hear Gary … such clever technology that can really help when needed

[@account-pending-deletion]

I had some free time to mess around with the Topaz free trial after seeing this video. I threw in some out-of-focus concert shots I got a little while ago and was actually really impressed by how well it fixed them. Insanely useful.

[@glyndewis]

Yeah really clever stuff

[@andresfelipe619]

Definitely want to try this on some old photos I've taken. Thanks for the review!

[@glyndewis]

You're welcome

[@raylynch8419]

Fantastic video. Very well presented and easy to follow. I found the information to be very helpful and interesting, and I really learned a lot. Thank you Glyn for making this available. 👍🏻

[@VagifZeynalov]

Great review! Thanks! What will you next step, how to keep it in Lightroom? Will it be possible to convert back to DNG, or out is not really necessary?

[@glyndewis]

Thank you so much; VERY kind

[@doathing6397]

Wow, this is a great comparison. Thank you for doing this!

[@glyndewis]

👍🏻

[@GusMcCrae01]

Excellent, very informative software review.

[@glyndewis]

Thank you Jerry

[@eriamjr]

I use Topaz Sharpen AI as the standard stage-1 sharpening tool for all my digital images. For the most part, I use it mostly not to rescue poorly shot images (though I have my fair share of those!), but to compensate for the inherent limitations of my lenses at whatever f stop I’ve used them. I do the first stage of processing (colour temperature etc) in Lightroom with the LR sharpening turned off, then export images to PS and use Sharpen AI (as a plug-in) as the first stage of PS processing. I’m rarely dissatisfied with the result. I’ve also occasionally used Sharpen AI to rescue substandard (blurry) images, in one case improving a blurred tele shot of a forest canopy to a standard suitable for reproduction in an art-quality book. The software can’t work miracles, but it comes close at times.

[@Vintech64]

This was the most useful software recommendation ever...

[@glensilva5082]

Thanks for the advice. Glen Silva

[@stuffnuns]

I have used Topaz Denoise for years, and it saved my butt many times for my old camera in lower light situations. I got their SharpenAI for an urgent situation. I was amazed. I hope not to have to use it again for a long time, BUT, it’s good to know it’s there if an out of focus gem presents itself. And the masking tip is the way to do it, for the app does sharpen everything in the pic.

[@garethdavies2815]

great video for when you would love 1 of those shots that you would love & just missed slight focus....Thanks for the video & your time to share.

[@lorraine8074]

Agree - Topaz sharpen and clarity are both in my tool box, clarity for artistic reasons and sharpen for those ‘ooops!” moments we all wish didn’t happen!

[@glyndewis]

Absolutely Lorraine … so good to have it there for ‘those’ times 😃

[@picturesqueimagery5784]

great video and I already had the Topaz - it's amazing even if you have a great photo - set everything to 1 and run it anyway. Super sharp photos every time. Great tool addition and it's great software.

[@glyndewis]

Sure is 👍

[@frank1crayon]

I agree! I bought Topaz Sharpen AI a couple of weeks ago and wasn't really sure if I got the best of the bunch. I'm feeling better. I think it's an insurance policy against having missed focus on the shot with the best pose in the session. Cheers!

[@glyndewis]

Absolutely Frank … very useful having it there … just in case

[@RE7Hazuki]

Topaz has saved numerous shots for me. their noise reduction and upscaling plugins are also great.

[@ramim.5856]

But defocus is a lie or maybe just for faces!

[@danielaargandonalowe9764]

Thank you so much Glynn, I always use Topaz De Noise, even more than the new AI stuff, De NOise, makes 4 options and what's great, it has a mask you can use either on hide or show all and paint what you need! Long topaz user here, and I see this is one of the best of all the compared apps. There is also the new DxO for denoising and sharpening, but nothing to do in the results with Topaz. Thanks for sharing! Best from Uruguay , and be happy my friend.

[@terrymorganphotography]

I was not surprised when the "winner" of your comparison test was Topaz AI Sharpen. I invested in this piece of AI software a while ago when I was attempting to "rescue" a couple of shots deemed to be "not as sharp as it should be" at a Camera Club meeting. As you say, it is not a universal go-to, and so it's more important to rely on trying to get things right at Stage 1 rather assuming that it is a cure-all. I am also relieved of course that you didn't find success with other available software, which might have tempted me to invest in even more "rescue-ware". Thanks again for another great and informative video. T

[@glyndewis]

Thanks so much for looking in Terry

[@Raysnature]

I shoot wildlife and a little bit of event stuff. I'm amazed and delighted with how Topaz performs - most of the time. I'm using Photo AI mostly now and it's improved a lot with the last couple of upgrades. However I do find with all the Topaz stuff, it's a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it's outstanding, at others I can get better results just faffing around in PS. The really annoying thing is there doesn't seem to be much consistency in when it works or not, at least not that I can find. Still it's a great tool and I wouldn't be without it.

[@jtinoco9859]

It s good to know that each product has its limitations depending on the picture and degree of blur. I once tried Topaz but it didn’t give me the results I wanted, however, these AI software really do amazing things. Thank you again!

[@glyndewis]

Yeah its definitely a case of each having their uses for certain kinds of pictures as opposed to a ‘one does it all’ scenario

[@maze400]

I have and use Topaz and I never thought of adding a Black mask to apply selectively. Great idea....

[@wawanbalik]

Glyn and most other comments are all for Topaz. After about 1.5 years of using the Topaz suite of apps, I gave up because of the random artefacts the modules started creating. Sticking to manual sharpening in PS for now. Thanks for the comparison Glyn

[@LauraStark-m4z]

New to all of this and had a 4pm shoot in harsh lighting having to learn all of this on the fly...really appreciate your video. Being self taught isn't easy and can be super frustrating.

[@cambodialegacystudio1505]

Thank you SOOO MUCH for sharing this amazing software! I appreciate that!😁

[@glyndewis]

👍🏻

[@TorBergen]

Thanks for the comparison Glyn 👌🏻. I use Topaz Photo AI on my bird photography and it does an amazing job. Sometimes it can be hard to nail the focus between branches or in flight so this software has saved me several times 😇.

[@glyndewis]

Cheers Tor and yeah you may have seen I tried photographing a Bird in flight recently … geez … not easy 🤣

[@greatgigs1]

Impressive stuff Glyn I'm going to check now if my image from the workshop is in focus!! .....

[@martinbreslow1401]

Topaz's newest product is Photo AI which includes features of Sharpen AI, Denoise AI, and Gigapixel AI (upsizer w face features).

[@glyndewis]

Nice one ... I"ll check it out ... thanks Martin

[@Hsukhaybir]

Do you find it better than using each topaz software alone ? I’ve read somewhere that it’s better to us these individual S D G alone

[@martinbreslow1401]

@@Hsukhaybir Photo AI is being updated more frequently but mainly for procedural options. I don't have an opinion about Sharpen and Denoise vs Photo.

[@adejones2340]

Hi Glyn, love your video and glad you managed to get this portrait the justice it deserves, lesson learned there is to get several shots. I'm pretty new to PS though and found that some AI sites are pretty good but I found this formula pretty good to get the same results Desaturate Convert to Smart Object Change to Overlay Select High Pass Add a Layer Mask and Invert it Select Brush, White, and paint in sharpness I've also discovered that your can sharpen using blur, this is new to me but haven't tried it yet.

[@joetaylorphoto]

Great real world test Glyn. I’ll definitely consider this next time I run into difficulty.

[@glyndewis]

Cheers Joe

[@rgarlinyc]

Yes indeed - Topaz won the crown here with that photo. I have all three of the apps you mention (uh... like most everyone I guess😀) and I've found if ON1 doesn't fix my photo then Topaz will - and vice versa. Thanks for these insights Glyn!

[@glyndewis]

Cheers for that and yeah … each will work better on different images so it’s a good excuse to have them all 😃

[@peterjackhandy]

My two-pennorth, having been using topaz photo ai from launch, is that the weekly upgrades & improvements are now making his a very useful bit of kit & topaz seem to listening pretty carefully to users' responces & requests. I, for one, have been hoping for a freehand masking brush & here it comes 😎. Something that might help someone - When sharpening the subject only (the only way I use sharpening), if you are going to recover faces, try removing the mask from the faces so they don't sharpen: I find that, often, I get some very odd effects when using both algorhythms & face recovery often works magic on a blurry physog.

[@Peter_Cetera]

I´m using Topaz and I´m very happy with it!

[@UntamedAustin]

That was pretty amazing what Topaz did. They are running and ad on Instagram about their upscaling product which is also very impressive. I don't know when I would use it though. I would use the Topaz Sharpening on photos I took with my contrast detect Panasonic Lumix. I usually shoot JPG + Raw... but wonder why I bother with the JPG at all since it is not really great for culling either. Sometimes I just like to get something back to someone fast. But I do not do it for money.... more for fun.

[@erik1836]

I have never used the other programs you mentioned as I have been using Topaz's almost miraculous suite of programs to "help" along my images for years now! Whether you are talking DeNoise, Sharpen, Gigapixel or the new Topaz Photo AI - the results usually are phenomenal - and no - I am not making any money either - but wouldn't mind! I still find that the individual DeNoise, Sharpen and Gigapixel can lend one greater control over certain parameters than the Photo AI - but it's getting harder and harder to tell which is better, and Dave Kelly feels that in some respects Photo AI is now their equal if not better. They are also really nice at Topaz and jump on any problems you have with both feet and aren't afraid to help those of us who are not as skilled as are you and Dave when it comes to either Photoshop or Photography.

[@SimonFrames]

Great, this video came out as ordered. Just had some blurry pictures of my daughter playing and wondered how to fix best. Cheers mate 🙌🏻

[@glyndewis]

Glad it helped 👍

[@indrajitadvani3742]

Thank you Glyn. An experiment that was rigorously conducted. Topaz, at least on this occasion, would seem to have won hands down.

[@xuaculopez8371]

thanks mate

[@DR-fy7qy]

I will be more careful about discarding my favorite but blurry images from now on. Thanks for this softwares review.

[@glyndewis]

👍🏻

[@andikunar7183]

Excellent, thanks a lot!!!

[@glyndewis]

No worries!

[@tareklarbi7168]

Great helpful video, Thank you 🙏

[@3COI]

I've been looking through reviews of Luminar's Supersharp AI. I notice middle ALWAYS looks bad, but low and high do a good job, so it's kind of disheartening that you ignored the high setting in your test. But I do agree that, based on the settings you showed, Topaz is the best option.

[@PaulHoward]

I use Topaz Photo (which includes Sharpen) and it blows me away. While I also try to get the focus right to start with, I use this a LOT in photo restoration. It is truly amazing what it will do with archival and historical photos.

[@glyndewis]

Hmmm ... will have to try it on some old photos too 👍

[@rogeriolemos7331]

Great video, as usually. I solved a similar problem, sometime ago, and at the time, by recomendation of a friend, i used the Remini app and it solved my issue. The con is that it´s only available on phone. Nevertheless, Topaz seems a better solution. Cheers... and thank you!

[@marcgosselin945]

that is quite impressive!

[@glyndewis]

👍

[@sfrancfrancnrm8640]

Tks for info

[@glyndewis]

No problem 👍

[@londonken]

This could not have been timed better for me. I have just had the same situation. Many thanks.

[@glyndewis]

That’s great to hear Ken

[@donna3986]

I just used Topaz Photo AI to sharpen a very old family photo that was a bit blurry. It did a phenomenal job!

[@murbella7]

I haven't used the products you did here but I have always had great success with NIK Sharpener.

[@veselinvasilev9362]

Thank you!

[@roninmantis7584]

You have discovered my secret for bad focus. Well done on putting together the video.

[@hovetchov]

Thank you A LOT! for that

[@vs3228]

Remini software also does a great job of fixing blurred pictures. I have been using it for some time now and most of the time it gives me satisfactory results.

[@danieleppelsheimer9273]

Thank You so much Any ideas of sharping Color negatives from The ‘60s

[@mariodrechsler2618]

Thank you very much for this! It seems an ideal additional software for my DXO photolab 6, which I like best for photo editing.

[@Cotictimmy]

Impressed!

[@vismktg]

Amazing indeed

[@billyeast6819]

Topaz all!

[@glyndewis]

👍

[@salimy_photography]

I use everyday for my wildlife...it's amazing love it

[@AXNJXN1]

Agreed! I've been with Luminar Neo (Skylum) since its inception; and they have miraculously failed in improving this critical realm for photography. It's low to mediocre, at best. However, I took the same chance and tried Topaz Sharpen AI and was blown away. They've got this down pat for sure!

[@marthayahoogillespie9567]

Love Topaz!

[@glyndewis]

👍

[@colinmelhuish1254]

Topaz is awesome. Use all the time.

[@slannne]

Excellent

[@glyndewis]

👍

[@georg-manfredheinlein3136]

Great 👍

[@glyndewis]

😉

[@lior2538]

Wow!

[@ekgphotographyuk]

Literally just had an email in my inbox advertising some AI sharpening software and I thought I wonder if it's any good and as if by magic I had an email notification to say you had just uploaded a video on the very subject - spooky but awesome - don't need to look any further now 🙂

[@glyndewis]

Nice one 😃

[@johnwatson8192]

Thanks for this. I don't have Lightroom or similar products as I cannot justify the expense for the few photos I take; can Topaz be used as a stand alone product?

[@paullanoue5228]

I use several sharpening and noise programs. They don’t all work the same for every image as you stated in the video. But if I could have only one it would be Topaz.

[@glyndewis]

Yeah with you there

[@johnhagen31]

I have Sharpen AI - excellent software!

[@glyndewis]

👍🏻

[@fusion-music]

Over confident mistmistakes - yep, been there and very annoyed with self. Topaz is my go-to, because in nature, things are fast and it's easy to get blue or out of focus. However, I've found Topaz de-noise makes a better job of sharpening than "Sharpen." As you say, it depends on the image. I always use layers and would have only sharpened the eyes in your image, as you did. Odd artifacts get into images after processing, so it pays to carefully check the whole image. Thanks for the comparison.

[@pittyman]

Mi'm doing it manually in PH with masks and blending. Maybe I will try the third app.

[@feraudyh]

And there's Remini, which works with a different method to this, has amazing results for portraits, but it can invent detail that wasn't there in the first place, like change the colour of the spectacle frames (according to one review I saw).

[@abhijeetchoudhury1828]

Skin texture is lost with Remini

[@onefortexas2379]

I use the old Sony a6000 camera with a kit lens and don't want to buy a new one, but I also use Topaz. With this setup, I have sold pictures to magazines and featured in Flicker Explore.

[@glyndewis]

Superb

[@simonpayne7994]

Topaz Sharpen AI is excellent. On most slightly blurred or low res upscaled images it works really well. Now and again, on a few photos for which there was really no hope left, it did miracles. It general, if sharpness is the only issue, Topaz can turn the resulting image off a $200 lens into into the result you would get off a $2000 lens.

[@glyndewis]

👍🏻

[@garysibio4195]

You mentioned trying the face enhancement option in Luminar Neo. The reason it looked so different is because that option swaps out the eyes in your image for someone else's eyes.

[@glyndewis]

Face ‘enhancement’ swaps out eyes? What the? Ah well…results were bad on the other options used anyway 💁‍♂️

[@renerudzinski1703]

Such a horrible idea Luminar came up with... :)

[@anthonycrothers_Photography]

That’s insane mate! Bit of a game changer, but as you say, nice to have, but hope you never have to use! Great video, thanks for sharing buddy 👍👍👍

[@glyndewis]

Incredibly technology hey mate 😃

[@tatocadiz]

It is not a good idea to take a single photo of a subject. Wonderful contribution. Thank you

[@bambanx]

Thanks you, do you know a plugin or software to convert images to paints ? Thanks a lot for the video

[@EmilPozarphoto]

Focus-magic

[@glyndewis]

😃

[@randpresley1666]

The moral of the story here is never to screw up a photoshoot in the first place! However, I still use Topaz DeNoise and Sharpen AI to ensure a quality perspective. Thanks for the insight Glyn.

[@glyndewis]

Just to add this was a single shot grabbed during a workshop to sgow a different set up ... had it been a photo shoot naturally I woyuld have taken more shots BUT I didn't want to take up attendee shooting time.

[@flaviafu3703]

I've been using Nero Image Upscaler to upscale my AI art and I'm really impressed with the results. It's free and it's easy to use.

[@paulburwood8231]

I could well be wrong, but it seems Topaz Photo AI has combined a couple of their other modules into one all singing all dancing editing plug-in, which deals with noise, blur and up scaling.

[@glyndewis]

Nice one … will check it out

[@GeertDelmulle]

I concur. Last year I shot 2 weddings (being an amateur) and I used Photo AI to great satisfaction. Works really great, especially in bulk. Then again, this use case is a single (make-or-break) portrait: Sharpen AI is more specialised IMO. PS: really disappointed in Luminar NEO, though. Then again: the topaz products are very tough to beat - I love ’m! :-)

[@Viralofpuritania]

Sort of. I've found that I can get better results with one (or more) of the separate ones (I use all three, Sharpen, Denoise and Gigapixel). Especially when doing serious upscaling or dealing with poor source images I find Photo AI to give a more painterly look. And I don't think that's strange considering Photo AI's model is 3.4GB and just Gigapixel's is 7GB, with Denoise and Sharpen adding another 7GB to the scales. But Photo AI is a nice one stop shop, good for many common edits.

[@nevilenobody606]

That's pretty impressive. Did you try bringing the tip of the nose a bit more into focus (ie a bit more DOF?)

[@timrosenthal46]

That was great thank you. I could get some use from software like this. I use speedlights in my soft boxes for studio work and don't have a modelling light and occasionally get soft images which is frustrating.

[@glyndewis]

Glad it was useful Tim

[@ivan.siqueira]

You must to try Remini. Please do a video about this. Hugs from BR. :)

[@francescaferrario3157]

what printer and sheets do u use? many thanks in advance

[@PhreddCrintt]

I have their entire Suite Glyn. Highly recommended.

[@glyndewis]

Cheers Mike