Took a great shot, but zoomed in to find that the photo is out-of-focus? This happens when the subject is moving or you have set incorrect autofocus or camera shake.
Regardless of the reason, you can use popular photo editing tools Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom to fix out-of-focus photos as suggested in this guide.
But let’s understand some reasons why photos appear to be out-of-focus.
Why Are My Photos Out of Focus?
Your photos may be out of focus due to subject movement while capturing, incorrect focus, camera shake, etc.
Before you repair out-of-focus photos, check these common reasons, which could be responsible.
If the camera’s autofocus misreads the subject or if there are multiple subjects at different distances, the camera might focus on the wrong area, resulting in out-of-focus photos.
Zooming in and zooming out on the digital camera manually will impact its focal length, and if the focus is set incorrectly, photos can be out of focus.
If your hands are shaking or are unstable, it will result in out-of-focus pictures.
Capturing the moving subject with a slow shutter speed can result in out-of-focus photos.
Shooting in dim lighting or dark can result in out-of-focus photos.
Dirt or dust on your camera’s lens could make your photos appear out of focus.
Fog, Mist, heat waves, or other such conditions while capturing photos, can affect the clarity of distant subjects, resulting in out-of-focus pictures.
How to Fix Out of Focus Photo?
You can use Adobe Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, and Adobe Lightroom to fix out-of-focus photos during post-processing. These photo editing applications have several tools for this, such as the Shake Reduction Filter and Sharpening tool.
1. How to fix out-of-focus photos in Photoshop
Use the Shake Reduction filter in Adobe Photoshop to fix out-of-focus photos caused by camera movement.
- Open the out-of-focus photoin Adobe Photoshop.
- Go to Filter > Sharpen > Shake Reduction on the top menu bar.
- Photoshop will automatically detect the area where your photos seem out of focus and apply appropriate corrections.
- The corrected images can be previewed in the Shake Reduction dialog box. Once satisfied with the preview, click OK to apply the effect.
2. How to fix out-of-focus photos in Lightroom
Use Sharpening tool in Adobe Lightroom to fix out-of-focus photos as this tool enhances details within a photo and make it sharper. Here’s how to repair out-of-focus photos in Lightroom:
- Launch Adobe Lightroom software on Windows or Mac.
- Go to File > Import Photos and Videos. Browse your images to select focus images and click Import.
- Switch to Develop module at the top-right corner and expand the Detail panel.
Now, adjust various sliders available to get the desired sharpness in the image.
- Amount Slider – Controls the contrast you want to add to the edges.
- Radius Slider – Controls the width of the edge area where the sharpening effect is applied.
- Detail Slider – Enhances the finer details in the image.
- Masking Slider – Controls where sharpening is applied to the image.
Once you are satisfied with the final image, you can save and export it.
| Note – If your image gets corrupted using Adobe Photo Lightroom or any other photo editing tools, use Stellar Repair for Photo to fix it. This professional photo repair software can efficiently repair corrupt photos and damaged file headers caused by sudden interruptions during editing, transfer, and conversion. |
3. How can you repair out-of-focus pictures online for free?
Besides Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, several photo editing software can help fix out-of-focus pictures. Some apps to try are Paint.Net, Paintshop Pro, Affinity Photo, etc.
Moreover, you can fix out-of-focus images using several free online tools and enhance the overall quality of the photos. Some good online programs for fixing out-of-focus photos are Befunky, Deblur AI from VanceAI, IMAGamigo, AKVIS Refocus AI, and Fotor.
Tips to Avoid Taking Out of Focus Photos
Here are some tips to help you avoid capturing out-of-focus photos.
- Mount your digital camera on a sturdy tripod to reduce camera shake.
- Always take a test shot to check the focus.
- Use a faster shutter speed to capture a moving subject.
- For capturing moving subject, use continuous (Canon) or Al-Servo (Nikon) autofocus feature on your digital camera.
- Keep the camera’s ISO setting low to reduce noise and grain.
- Shoot in a well-lit environment or use external lighting sources like flashes or reflectors to get clear images.
Conclusion
Your photos may appear out of focus due to incorrect autofocus or manual focus, camera shake, subject movement or low light conditions. You can easily fix an out of focus photo in Adobe Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, or Adobe Lightroom using the steps shared in this blog. These tools can, however, corrupt your photos or over-process them during the editing stage. Thankfully, there are advanced photo repair tools like Stellar Photo Repair available to fix such corrupt photos. To avoid capturing an out of focus photo, avoid capturing a shaky subject, use a tripod, adjust auto focus and follow other tips mentioned in the article.
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