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Focus pull issue
I have footage with my main subject in soft focus and background with people in it is sharper – is there anyway around this balls up of mine please?
This isn’t something we can revisit as the person we interviewed was random but its important material which we can’t afford to lose – is there a filter that can get me round this problem or is there a sharpening that only sharpens certain areas of the screen?
Thanks in advance
Jay
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6 Replies
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There is no way to focus the foreground. You can try the SHARPEN filter, but that won’t do much. This issue is so unfixable, that even large productions opt for reshoots. Or deal with the issue by covering up with b-roll or cutaways.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
No “Fix it in Post” here, shoot the focus puller.
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I’m a Cubs fan, so I never say “just quit”. Well, *almost* never. 🙂
Things I might try:
Use the sharpen filters you have in your FX plug ins collections on a duplicate track, then use the multipoint masking tool to roto around the subject, leaving the background layer normal or maybe with some slight gaussian blur on it.
Next, while you can’t really sharpen too much, you can make the *perceived* sharpness a little better, by stacking multiple layers of the roto with various blending modes an adjusting the levels with the 3-way color corrector.
Also, smaller pictures will look sharper, so, if you can figure out an excuse to shrink the image down on the screen, that can help.
It may or may not be enough, but you’re in no position to be picky now.
The only other idea is to throw money at it using high end plug-ins, which may not be in your timeline or budget.
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[Mark Suszko] “I’m a Cubs fan, so I never say “just quit”. Well, *almost* never. :-)”
That explains why you’re a Cubs fan!
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Creative Pro Users Group -
We all have our little crosses to bear… meanwhile, let’s see if we can reduce the guy’s problem some. I live for hopeless causes.
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As was mentioned, I would play with the sharpness on a different track etc – your hope there is not to make it good, but less bad. Is it possible to cover this up a bit by distressing it – make it look intentionally off.
If this was an interview with a random person with good information, could you pixelate the person’s face completely, as if they did not give permission for use of their image, or if they were a protected witness?
Probably not the reply you’re looking for, but food for thought.
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