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Fuzzy screen shots


H

hango

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Hi all,

This is my first post and I am relatively new to Photoshop. I am doing a lot of image processing at the moment for documents and often come across images which could do with sharping up. I have uploaded an example where the image looks "fuzzy" and as a consequence prints out that way.

Picture3.jpg

What would be my best option to fix this problem. Thanks.
 
It actually looks like the image you posted is reasonably sharp, but it was saved with a low JPEG "quality" factor. Increase the "quality" setting, or use a program that allows you to do so, and you should be fine.

HTH,

Tom M

PS - As an example, take a look at the image of the text in this Wikipedia article on JPEG and other compression artifacts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_artifact
 
Thanks. I tried to upload a TIFF, but had an upload error for some reason? I guess the image is only as good as the res I am screen dumping in the first place. Therefore I think what I have is the best I can capture, what I am wondering if there is a way to improve on the best screen shot I can capture using Photoshop? Thanks.
 
Resolution is really not a factor with screen grabs because all programs that I know will capture the contents of the screen (or window, or whatever) exactly as displayed. If the image looks sharp on screen, any screen capture program that I know (incl. PrtScrn on PCs) will capture that sharpness. In fact, if you are using an old analog monitor, the screen grab will likely be sharper than what you see on screen.

The problem arises afterwards, when you go to save that information and are tempted to use options which can change the number of pixels, use compression techniques to reduce the file size, or perform other manipulations on the original data captured.


a) What technique or program are you using to perform screen grabs?

b) Why don't you grab an entire screen and do absolutely nothing to the file except save it. Yes, TIF would be best. If the uploader doesn't allow that, zip the TIF and post the zipped file. That almost always works.

Tom
 
Ok thanks Tom, I shall try your suggestions. I am just using Windows PrintScreen button. I have tried some screen shot software but have not received better results so far.
 
Hango, the Windows PrintScreen button only copies the screen to the clipboard. You then have to paste that data into some program. What exactly do you do at this point?

T
 
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I then paste it into my word document and then crop out the bits I don't need.

Here is an example of what I am trying to do (zipped TIFF file). I have "sharpened" the number 4 using a 1px round paint brush, sorry for my lack of experience/knowledge on this and bad explanations.

View attachment Picture3-Zoom.rar
 
hango said:
I then paste it into my word document and then crop out the bits I don't need.

Here is an example of what I am trying to do (zipped TIFF file). I have "sharpened" the number 4 using a 1px round paint brush, sorry for my lack of experience/knowledge on this and bad explanations.

View attachment 31049
Click to expand...

May I Chime in for a Moment?

First, The Text in the Screen Grab You have is Zoomed in to 2300 Percent of the Original Size. This means the Text you are trying to recover is Very Small. Most Photoshopping Humans rarely Examine thing at more than 300% to 400% Percent.
this-is-crazy.jpg
Using the Sharpening Brush would seem quite un-necessary and tedious at Best.

My Suggestion is That You Use the Sharpening Filter in the Filters Menu, and then Subsequently Fade the Filter's Effect after Use in the Edit Menu. Edit> Fade> Last Used Filter, if Necessary?

The other Method is the Use of Levels, found under the Image Menu as Image> Adjust> Levels.

Just run the Middle Slide Adjustment to the Left, and the Left Slider toward the Middle until You Reach a Happy Medium.

----------

After This familiarization with decide what works Best for You? It would be Be to go to the Actions Palette and Record All of your Procedures and Treatments to an Average Image. This will then Store all of the Work You Did into a Script, which can be Used on Additional Files at the Touch of a Single Button.

Once You become familiar with the Actions Palette and Have Saved Your New Action for Future Use, You will never have to Personally attend the Work Portion of Working on the File again.

The Next Process which You will Want to Become familiar is Batch Processing I believe is under the Main File Menu. Understanding the Batch Process will allow You to run that Same Action you created in the Actions Palette on an entire Folder of Images at the same time, eliminating the need for individual attention to each Image. This will Save You Tons of Laborious Work and free You up to do more important things like chatting at the water cooler or on the Internet.

I Hope that Helps?

Take Care,

-Tracy Mapes
 
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re: pasting the data into Word

That's exactly what I suspected you might say. Word has image compression turned on by default (eg, http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/turn-off-picture-compression-HA010355184.aspx ).

Instead of dropping it into Word, use Photoshop.

Open up a new canvas that is a bit larger than your screen (in pixel dimensions). Then, past the output of PrintScreen into that PS document. The compression artifacts will be gone, and you should have absolutely no need to sharpen anything.

The attached image shows the result of the above process when I grabbed part of a Google search page. Notice how nice and sharp everything is.

HTH,

Tom M

PS - Arghhh! I forgot that the forum image uploading software compresses image files, so I had to remove the jpg that I uploaded a minute ago and replace it with a zipped version of the same file so that it won't be corrupted by the forum software. Just open the zip and look at the jpg using PS at 100% (1:1) magnification. You won't see any artifacts.
 

Attachments

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Tracy, thank you for your thoughts, but they are completely off-target. They have nothing to do with the OP's problem and will confuse the OP. He doesn't need sharpening, levels, or actions (as you suggest).

He merely needs not to paste the result of PrintScreen into an application (ie, Word) that, by default applies large amounts of compression to its images.

Tom M
Section Moderator
 
Thanks everyone, I should have mentioned and made clear that I am not an artist, painter, illustrator, etc. These are images for a scientific paper and hence the pedantic query.

I will try dropping into Photoshop first, then play around with the save settings until I get something I am happy with.
 
Hi Hango -

Since we don't know full beginning-to-end details about how you are acquiring and processing your images, it is possible that there are other sources of image corruption besides the JPG compression artifacts arising from using Word as part of your process. The routine in all such cases is that each contributing source of problems has to be traced down and attacked before general, after-the-fact post processing is used. This is analogous to the old maxim in science and engineering that one should always first attack the sources of noise and interfering signals before one just throws the final result through a filter.

If you would let us know a bit more about your overall process, we may be able to help further.

Best regards,

Tom
 
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