Techical Help: After Effects Fixing blurry videos at DVinfo.net

Kostas Rose · February 9th, 2011, 09:11 AM

I have a video with interviews and the shots are blurry (out of focus).
I searched many forums for a solution to clear up the videos as i can, and they write that after effects can do that. I tried in premiere with sharpness filter but it is a little bit crapy.
Can anyone help me how to do that in after effects with steps for novice skills?

thanx in advanced

Steve Nelson · February 9th, 2011, 04:43 PM

Unfortunately if the video was shot out of focus there is no tool that can fix that for you. The sharpness tools in After Effects or Photoshop are designed to bring out edge detail. If you shot something out of focus your stuck with that I'm afraid. That being said, the blur tools can be used to take a video clip with infinite depth of field and create a pseudo shallow depth of field especially if you use masks. Bottom line, if it's in focus you can blur or distort to your heart's content. However, if you shot it out of focus it will remain so forever. Sorry I didn't have better news for you there Kostas.....

Peter Manojlovic · February 9th, 2011, 08:48 PM

If the clips are short, and it fits your edit style, you can always cheat, and go to black and white.
Add a bit of vignette, or scratch and dust, perhaps blow out the whites...

Something that might take the eyes off of the focus issue...
Again, it's a cheat for out of focus shots...

Gregory Gesch · February 10th, 2011, 06:08 PM

Hi Kostas. Depends on the style of your project and how bad the focus is but if you scale the images down and insert them sitting over other appropriate footage or put them in some sort of graphic 'picture frame' the focus may become less noticable?

Kostas Rose · February 11th, 2011, 03:49 AM

thanx for all the advices,
it is interviews of a wedding. Family and friends speaking about the newlyweds with wishes and memories.
The best i can do is to resize it and play with picture in picture.
thanx all again.

February 9th, 2011, 09:11 AM	#1
Kostas Rose New Boot Join Date: May 2010 Location: Greece - Corfu island Posts: 17	Techical Help: After Effects Fixing blurry videos I have a video with interviews and the shots are blurry (out of focus). I searched many forums for a solution to clear up the videos as i can, and they write that after effects can do that. I tried in premiere with sharpness filter but it is a little bit crapy. Can anyone help me how to do that in after effects with steps for novice skills? thanx in advanced

February 9th, 2011, 04:43 PM	#2
Steve Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: May 2009 Location: Monument, CO Posts: 109	Unfortunately if the video was shot out of focus there is no tool that can fix that for you. The sharpness tools in After Effects or Photoshop are designed to bring out edge detail. If you shot something out of focus your stuck with that I'm afraid. That being said, the blur tools can be used to take a video clip with infinite depth of field and create a pseudo shallow depth of field especially if you use masks. Bottom line, if it's in focus you can blur or distort to your heart's content. However, if you shot it out of focus it will remain so forever. Sorry I didn't have better news for you there Kostas.....

February 9th, 2011, 08:48 PM	#3
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	If the clips are short, and it fits your edit style, you can always cheat, and go to black and white. Add a bit of vignette, or scratch and dust, perhaps blow out the whites... Something that might take the eyes off of the focus issue... Again, it's a cheat for out of focus shots...

February 10th, 2011, 06:08 PM	#4
Gregory Gesch Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Brisbane Australia Posts: 114	Hi Kostas. Depends on the style of your project and how bad the focus is but if you scale the images down and insert them sitting over other appropriate footage or put them in some sort of graphic 'picture frame' the focus may become less noticable?

February 11th, 2011, 03:49 AM	#5
Kostas Rose New Boot Join Date: May 2010 Location: Greece - Corfu island Posts: 17	thanx for all the advices, it is interviews of a wedding. Family and friends speaking about the newlyweds with wishes and memories. The best i can do is to resize it and play with picture in picture. thanx all again.