After Hours

Photos: Getting rid of camera wobble

By // August 8, 2006, 9:24 PM PST // billdetwiler

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  • In the blurry original on the left, it's hard to detect details such as the wood grain of the towel rack, or the towel's nap, that are readily apparent in the sharpened version. The box around the woman's face shows the rectangle selected for the deblurring process. Too small a rectangle lowers the result's quality, but too large takes more time.

    Rob Fergus

  • The deblurring technique alters color somewhat but clarifies many elements of this carving.

    Rob Fergus

  • The deblurring method resolves details in feathers and a darker patch in the dark mask around the bird's eye. However, the processed image also shows artifacts, visual echoes that look somewhat like ripples near sharp edges.

    Rob Fergus

  • These pairs of images show close-ups of elements in original photos on the left, and the path of camera shake on the right. The shake path, called the blur kernel, is then used as the starting point for a process called deconvolution that can reverse some of the blur effects.

    Rob Fergus

  • The deblurring algorithm helps even with relatively complicated images, such as this fountain.

    Rob Fergus

  • The deblurring process can work well with text, which has plenty of high-contrast edges.

    Rob Fergus

  • The deblurring process is complicated when there's motion blur within the image (as in the case of this boy's arm) as well as from the camera.

    Rob Fergus

In the blurry original on the left, it's hard to detect details such as the wood grain of the towel rack, or the towel's nap, that are readily apparent in the sharpened version. The box around the woman's face shows the rectangle selected for the deblurring process. Too small a rectangle lowers the result's quality, but too large takes more time.

Rob Fergus

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By Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop supp...