Remove "fog" in pictures

[nejmeg]

Hi,

I went on a trip a few weeks ago. During the trip I noticed some kind of dirt on the camera lens after already taken several hundred photos. The photos are better after cleaning it off but there is a kind of "fog" appearing in the pictures I had already taken.

 

Is there any way to rid of this fog effect?

 

Since the dirt was concentrated to the center of the lens the fog appears there.

 

Example pictures:

 

http://oi65.tinypic.com/f0aoh0.jpg

 

http://oi65.tinypic.com/svooet.jpg

[Ego Eram Reputo]

<Moved original post to paint.net Discussion & Questions>

 

Very difficult. Certainly nothing automated springs to mind. The fact that you have several hundred of them might mean that you be better to accept the bulk of the images as they are. You might achieve a passable improvement on a handful, but it's going to be time intensive.

 

How much time are you willing to invest?

[Red ochre]

Yes, looks tricky.
Might be worth experimenting with TR's Dodge and Burn tool set on contrast... just a guess, haven't tried it for that.

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/32126-trs-dodge-and-burn-blur-and-sharpensept-3-2015/

Other than that it means selecting and copying the affected area to a new layer then adjusting brightness, contrast, sharpness and saturation. Then feathering the edges before merging back down.
It will be difficult to get a smooth 'join' with the unaltered parts and very laborious.

Good luck!

[nejmeg]

I dont really have that much time to put into doing anything about the pictures really.

 

I was mostly hoping there would be a more or less "automatic" solution.

 

 

There are no other photo editing softwares that could do it? Or should I turn to a different forum for that issue?

[Ishi]

I suggest you do a Google search on Photoshop's healing brush tool.

[racerx]

Healing brush is just a variation on the clone stamp, it won't help here. Not much can be done short of re-shooting with a good clean lens and make sure not to shoot into sun. Inspect your lens very carefully, it may have fungus on the inside elements.

 

At best you can make the shots a little more pleasant by adjusting colors and contrast. I like BoltBait's Combined Adjustments plugin. http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/32048-boltbaits-plugin-pack-for-pdn-v406-updated-august-9-2015/

Edited November 16, 2015 by racerx

[Guest]

You can try one of the following suggestions:

- In a new layer, play around with very soft brushes in the 40-60 pixel size range

- Or, Make a circular selection surrounding the foggy part and copy it to a new layer. Use soft eraser (~50 size) to remove the pixels not being foggy/washed out. Play with color toning, Levels and Layer blend modes until the washed out area is adjusted for the better. http://postimg.org/image/4hv93kve7/ for reference

 

The Blend Modes Plus plug-in might help you out: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/16607-blendmodes-plus-v235-32410/

 

Afterwards you'll probably need to tweak the dynamic range in the defogged area (Levels tool).

 

 

Alternatively:

- Get hold of Adobe Lightroom 6 or Lightroom CC to use the Dehaze tool (the latter has the latest version of that tool: http://www.donsmithblog.com/2015/10/21/lightroom-dehaze-filter-now-a-localized-adjustment/ To use it in v. 6, see how to add an older Dehaze plugin: https://cutthruthefog.wordpress.com/lightroom-6-dehaze/). You might be able to fix the foggy area: ignore that rest of the image is affected in Lightroom, save a new copy, open it in Paint.net, select the dehazed area and add it to the original image and softly erase the edges/seams. ??

 

- Look for online dehazing/defogging tutorials ?

Edited November 16, 2015 by quickpost