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Youve seen it over and over.
Well, How-To Geek is calling their bluff.
Read on to see why.
Lets think about cameras for a moment.
In digital cameras, it is a photoelectric sensor.
In film cameras, it is a chemically treated, light sensitive strip of film.
But even with a film camera, only a limited amount of light can be recorded on the film.
Put simply, no camera, no matter how advanced, has an infinite capacity for resolution.
In mathematics, when one part of an equation is defendant on another part, its called a function.
When Y = X+1, Y is a function of X.
Whatever, X is, Y is directly correlated.
Computers operate in a similar manner.
Imagine youre doing algebra homework on your box.
You plug in a series of numbers into your Y = X+1 equation.
First, X = 1, so 1 + 1 = 2.
But what would happen if you pushed the wrong keys, and input the wrong numbers?
Would you still get the correct answer?
The question is, of course, preposterous.
This is the concept of Garbage In, Garbage Out.
In other words, the wrong data will give the wrong answer.
Like our equation, enhanced images are a function of the original image.
Well, were not likely to create one anytime soon.
Simply because we recognize an arrangement of pixels as a face does not mean that its an actual face.
The face part is our perception of that datawe are in fact only looking at data!
To take image data and transform it into better data is an impossibility.
It might create a face that doesnt actually look anything like the person that was actually there.
But all of these images are subject to the same limitations discussed earlier.
They are snapshots in time.
A limited imaging of X-rays is the same as a limited imaging of visible light.
If images could be enhanced, deep space photography would be easy for anyone and everyone to do.
If this was possible, an imageany imagecould conceivably contain all the image data in the universe.
Is Actual Useful Image Enhancement Possible?
Take, for instance, this dark, shadowed image, lightened to show detail within the shadow.
This key in of enhancement is real, and available to anyone with a computer.
The difference is the data is already therewere just looking at it a different way.
Our eyes cant see (depending on your monitor) the detail in the face on the left.
Dont believe everything you see on TV!
