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Author Topic: A friend needs to see a licence plate  (Read 2285 times)

Offline jcarter

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« on: January 11, 2011, 07:27:38 PM »
Ive a police friend, who wants to see a license number from a surveillance video, without spending the money that these companies charge police depts to do this. I said I would try with Photoshop, but I just cant seem to get to see the actual numbers, too darn fuzzy, tried all the filters and enhancements.
Anybody have any experience with this and know how to do it with PS or PSE?
Its fun for me to learn how to do new stuff, and I could be a help to them for free.
Thanks,
Jane
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Offline Texas Mac Man

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2011, 07:40:21 PM »
Have you tried greatly increasing the resolution (pixels/inch) & then the contrast? Is the pic color or B&W?
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Offline jcarter

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2011, 08:07:19 PM »
Tis b+w, and Ive tried both.
Its not much to start with, but I will give it more work tomorrow, he will be sending me more images.
I just fell on the icy road and my elbow is messed up, but I can still type, I HATE winter!
Jane
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2011, 07:52:32 AM »
First, hope your ellbone heals quickly and completely! Ouch!!!

As for the image from the video...
Those are notoriously grainy/fuzzy. We depend on our brain's amazing ability to "connect the dots." Literally! In a video, we see several consecutive images that our brain combines into what we "think" we see. Sometimes we actually do see some details that may be impossible to see in any one frame! But it requires a brain or a specialized program to combine the "dots" (actually, the pixels) in a unique way. It's basically a way animals can see danger coming and why many predators remain as motionless as possible. wink.gif

So, a single frame of video may not have enough pixels in that particular area to allow you to 'read' those numbers. You simply cannot create pixels that aren't there. "Sharpening" basically just adds contrast between bright(er) and darker(er) edges, when those edges can be 'seen' by the software.

You might try using several adjacent frames, each in it's own layer, and 'play' with the Opacity of the layers. That might let the missing pixels in one frame fill in from another one. dntknw.gif

There's a reason the video company charges for "clear" pictures. And it's not all just greed. wink.gif
« Last Edit: January 12, 2011, 07:53:50 AM by Xairbusdriver »
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Offline jcarter

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2011, 08:00:54 AM »
He is sending me more today, I will see what I can do, its fun to try someting new like this.

Im OK this morning, thank goodness, we have a dirt road and it hardly ever gets plowed and it turns to ice.
My elbow is OK, and my head is so hard that it wouldnt hurt anyway.

Big strange T-storm at 0400 this morning, and we saw a strange flash near the wires and off went our power.
Its back on now, and everything seems fine.
We got off darn lucky here on Cape Cod, only about 3 inches then it turned to sleet and rain. What a mess inland is, they got hammered.
Jane
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2011, 09:54:44 AM »
QUOTE
My elbow is OK, and my head is so hard that it wouldnt hurt anyway
Great! But, I have to ask...if your head hit the road...is the road damaged?! wacko.gif scram.gif

That's what would have happened if my head hits anything! blush-anim-cl.gif laughhard.gif

Thunder, which comes from lightening, can occur with rain or snow. It's the transfer of electrons by the falling particles that creates the differential between two areas. The 'particles can be rain, snow or golf balls. But there also needs to be some thermal lifting and that is less likely in most Winter storms. The only lifting in Winter storms is usually the cold air moving under warmer air and thus lifting it. But this kind of lifting is usually very wide-spread, not like the thermal activity in a cumulonimbus.

Of course, the 'flash' you saw could have simply been a transformer shorting out/exploding. That is usually not conducive to continued electrical service to people on that circuit! eek2.gif

...or it might just have been one of those traffic cameras!!! laughhard.gif
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Offline jcarter

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2011, 10:16:47 AM »
Poor road, my head is like rock.

Interesting that my brother is across the harbor from us and he saw the flash too, he is about 2 miles away in a straight line, but 2.4 by road.
No traffic cameras here, not enuf traffic.

Check this out!
Storm video and picture
http://www.jcdouglass.net/storm5/storm-eye.jpg
http://www.jcdouglass.net/storm5/the-eye-amazing.mov
Jane
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Offline dboh

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2011, 01:50:01 PM »
I think you'd get better results with the Unsharp Mask. Start with these settings (for b/w photos):

Amount: 200
Radius: 1.5
Threshold: 3

You may want to increase the resolution before using this filter, mostly to smooth edges. If it's not sharp enough, keep increasing the Amount value to see if that helps. You can preview as you adjust settings to see if you're on the right track.
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Offline jcarter

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2011, 01:56:01 PM »
Thank you, I tried unsharp mask, but I might give it another run on one of the other pictures he sent.
I think they got the robbers anyway, so he isnt really in need of it now, though it would be good to have even more proof.
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Offline kimmer

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #9 on: January 12, 2011, 07:43:51 PM »
I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt when you fell, Jane.

QUOTE(jcarter @ Jan 11 2011, 05:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Ive a police friend, who wants to see a license number from a surveillance video, without spending the money that these companies charge police depts to do this. I said I would try with Photoshop, but I just cant seem to get to see the actual numbers, too darn fuzzy, tried all the filters and enhancements.
Anybody have any experience with this and know how to do it with PS or PSE?
Its fun for me to learn how to do new stuff, and I could be a help to them for free.
Thanks,
Jane

Regarding the license plate ... I realize I'm being nosy, but you did bring it up and so I'm wondering about a lot of things:
  1. What about the chain of custody for this evidence?
  2. Are you a "friend of the court", or certified to handle evidence in a criminal case?
  3. If not, what civil rights might have been violated in giving you access to this evidence?
  4. Would you be asked to testify in court?
  5. Is it possible that the evidence could wind up as inadmissible, thus rendering other evidence inadmissible; and possibly lead to all charges being dropped and the alleged robber going scott free?
In Oregon it would be a major problem letting a "citizen" do this work; and if it became public knowledge that you even had a copy of the photo from the police department, it would likely result in all charges being dropped. I'm really curious how MA differs.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2011, 07:44:20 PM by kimmer »
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Offline jcarter

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A friend needs to see a licence plate
« Reply #10 on: January 13, 2011, 07:24:28 AM »
None of the above. This is all private and its not in MA or Oregon.

They got the robbers, and my 'help' didnt work, and they got them in an entirely different way.
It was just an off the record thing. A friend helping a friend, nothing official. Lets drop it.
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