sharpen a face without sharpening the background?

[Graham Bernard]

[Patty Loew] “What’s the most efficient way to correct this?”

Hi Patty, just how bad is it? This is every shooter’s nightmare. Is it possible to post a Photo here? I never shoot in Auto anything, and use several tools on site to confirm sharpness. Auto focus indicates that it drifts in and out of focus. Is this so with the footage? I’d mask the area of the face/torso and do two things add a tad of Sharpening and at the same time Blur and drop the Contrast of the background. All this depends just how “challenged” the Subject looks.

This is all at Vegas level. The are other tools including the 3rd party Neat Video I’d reach for and then there is yet another toolset used in AVISynth way above my pay grade.

So, let’s see just how “bad” it is, yes? I’m having to think that you wouldn’t be posting here if you felt it wasn’t a bit salvageable.

* Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Patty Loew]

Hi Paul, thanks so much for your quick reply. The interview was shot by a tribal teen at a workshop last summer and I’m trying to salvage it for an interactive museum exhibit. The b roll is really nice. I’m using Vegas 15. I’m trying an oval cookie cutter filter and can isolate the interview subject with that and play with the sharpen (unless you have a better recommendation). However, I can’t seem to find the old “Sony blur” (the last time I used Vegas was version 11). I see a folder of blurs and some others in Boris After Effects. Do you have any recommendations? I don’t do much advanced compositing anymore, so appreciate this help.

[Graham Bernard]

[Patty Loew] “Hi Paul, thanks so much for your quick reply.”

Who’s Paul? I don’t even look like a “Paul”?

[Patty Loew] ” However, I can’t seem to find the old “Sony blur””

It’s called Gaussian Blur.

Patty, get me a still and I can send you back my recipe – interested?

* Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Patty Loew]

Graham, I am SO embarrassed. I have no idea who “Paul” is or why I channeled him (the only Paul I know is someone I worked with 20 years ago). But feel free to give me a retaliatory pseudonym–I’m just grateful for your help. Here’s the image link: marvinunsharpened.jpg
Patty

[Graham Bernard]

Well, Patty, after 2 hours, I’ve got nothing. Sorry. I hate being beaten. ????

* Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Graham Bernard]

Patty, are you still interested?

Well, not the full picnic, but pretty close. Woke up this morning and after a cuppa coffee I had another go. At least I was able to apply what I wanted to do WITH the plugs that come with VP.

* Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Francois Pénzes]

If I may Graham,

Would you have had better results if your still had been a PNG instead of a JPG?

To Patty

The biggest advantage of PNG over JPEG is that the compression is lossless. And since it can provide an almost perfect pixel-for-pixel representation of the screen, rather than compressing groups of pixels together, you may have better luck.

When you do a screen capture, Vegas gives you 2 save format choices. Could you send the PNG version so that we can all take a crack at it ?

It’s a long shot but hey, if it can improve your footage…

Cheers

PC Win 10 Pro 64-bit 16gb Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz
Cameras: Canon XF305 + Canon XH-A1
Blackmagic HyperDeck Studio Mini
Vegas Pro 14

\’\’When the cutting stops, the editing begins…\’\’

[Graham Bernard]

[Francois Pénzes] “If I may Graham,”

No worries Francois, jump in. This Forum has always been about group effort.

* Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Patty Loew]

Hi Graham and Francois,

Thank you for trying to help with this. I am providing links to 3 pngs (thanks for the tip about png as opposed to jpg)

Patty

Image 1 is original image1_untreated.png

Image 2 is with only the Sharpen filter: image2_sharpenonly.png

Image 3 is using the cookie cutter (oval side) with :122 size and .680 feathering and sharpened to .810 and the background using the Gaussian blur at :50 for both the vertical and horizontal:
image3_sharpenedwithcookiecutter.png

[Graham Bernard]

Here’s my efforts. I used an old approach for my 2-Colour and Black VegasPro Secondary ColorCorrector Plug, to isolate the Subject from the Background.

Treatment OFF (as per Patty):

My Treatment ON:

If you want the VEG to breakdown what I did and adjust-back some of the more flamboyant Saturation, do so.

Track 1 – Background

Track 2 – Subject

* Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge