# photo resolution-help me solve a crime. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496 "2009-08-15T05:03:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/41 "2009-08-16T13:01:58Z")
The resolution is the standard max size for a free Photobucket account. I second the call to post it somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/42 "2009-08-16T15:46:10Z")
I’d be happy to take another look if you want to email the best copy of the pic directly to me, as said, photobucket _may_ have killed some info. My email’s in my profile. ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/43 "2009-08-16T21:11:51Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I’d be happy to take another look if you want to email the best copy of the pic directly to me, as said, photobucket _may_ have killed some info. My email’s in my profile. Thanks! I have sent a copy to you. I really appreciate the time all of you have taken on this. This is the same car that has been reported leaving at least 4 other burglaries in the area; or at least the same description that has been given. No one has gotten a tag yet and this is the only picture. The police are working on it; however they have other priorities. If I can help them I would like to. It is a florida tag, and that is an orange in the middle. There is no letter/number convention as far as I know. Thanks again for everyones help and even for the teasing. A good laugh always helps any situation. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/44 "2009-08-16T22:18:33Z")
While the CSI-style “enhance” is complete BS, it does look to me like there should be enough information available there to figure it out, especially since we already have a very good idea of what the “enhanced” image should actually look like. If I were to take a stab at the problem, I’d start by getting a representative sample of images of Florida license plates, so I could tell what all of the characters look like. I’d then divide the image up into six segments corresponding to where the six characters should be, and for each character in the image run a template match against all of the original letters. Realistically, I’d probably keep the 1-3 best matches for each character, and cross-check that against a database with makes, models, and colors of cars for particular license plates (I don’t know if this is publicly available, but the police can probably do it). All that said, that would be a lot of work, and the police unfortunately do need to prioritize. They probably can’t justify doing all that for a burglary. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/45 "2009-08-16T22:21:21Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > **keturah** , I tried enlarging it by about a factor of 4 using [Easy Thumbnails](http://www.tucows.com/article/808) (Freeware, easy to use) using the Lanczos3 algorithm. I’ve had good luck in the past making enlargements using without the result getting all pixelated. It just doesn’t look like there’s enough information there. It might give you a decent enlarged picture of the man there. Enlarging photos using resampling filters like that might make them easier on the eye, but it is in fact rendering the image a less accurate copy of the real-world object than before. You can’t put back detail that is no longer there. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/46 "2009-08-16T22:26:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > All that said, that would be a lot of work, and the police unfortunately do need to prioritize. They probably can’t justify doing all that for a burglary. Yeah, but for a post on the Dope? Pull out all the stops! ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/47 "2009-08-16T22:38:10Z")
> [@keturah](#): > > This is the same car that has been reported leaving at least 4 other burglaries in the area; or at least the same description that has been given. No one has gotten a tag yet and this is the only picture. The local press might show some passing interest. There’s also the possibility of making wanted posters. ---
**Author:** ![ruritanian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@ruritanian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruritanian)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/48 "2009-08-16T22:40:56Z")
FWIW: someone running Linux could try to enlarge the picture using [this](http://sourceforge.net/projects/imageenlarger/files/) (preferably using the original file). The program is fairly effective at enhancing the size and/or resolution of a picture - at least in terms of subjective perception. I’d give it a shot myself, but currently I don’t have a Linux machine. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/49 "2009-08-16T23:20:47Z")
Try contacting some amateur astronomers/astronomy forums. Anybody who does modern astrophotography is big time into digital photo manipulation. If they know what the tag is supposed to look like, florida, orange/oranges?/state outline and the first letter, they can probably fix the image up quite well. And it will help if they get the highest quality image to boot. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/50 "2009-08-16T23:33:22Z")
Can you send me the best picture you have? And possibly ones other than what you posted? Check my profile for my email address. ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/51 "2009-08-16T23:39:57Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The resolution is the standard max size for a free Photobucket account. I second the call to post it somewhere else. I also posted it to flickr if anyone wants to give it a go. I don’t know if this one is any higher resolution or not. [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/2472/3827527395_02284605db_z.jpg "keturah11") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/41536213@N07/?saved=1) ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/52 "2009-08-16T23:45:43Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Can you send me the best picture you have? And possibly ones other than what you posted? > > Check my profile for my email address. Sent! Thank you for taking a look. I wish I had others–this is the only photo. The neighbor did not want to attract too much attention, so she just took a quick one. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/53 "2009-08-16T23:58:21Z")
flickr won’t seem to let me download anything bigger than a 1024 x 768 version of the file - even though the attributes appear to be saying the file was a lot bigger (3264 x 2668) - if we can get hold of the latter-sized image, or even just the cropped number plate at that resolution, there might be some readable detail there. Trying to enhance the pixellated low-res version is not only impossible, it’s potentially misleading - you might end up with digit-like shapes that owe more to the nature of the enhancement algorithm than reality. When astronomers, law enforcement agencies, etc enhance images in the real world (i.e. not on CSI), they usually have either: -A series of images of the same object. but with some lateral translation so that details smaller than a pixel happen to fall differently across pixel boundaries on each frame or A single image that was captured at high resolution, but where the fine detail is confounded by some measurable (and to some extent, reversible) distortion - for example, in an image taken from a moving vehicle, points may appear as streaks, or in an image taken without proper focus, points may become circles. But in an image where detail is lost within a single pixel, it’s not coming back, no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/54 "2009-08-17T00:05:45Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > flickr won’t seem to let me download anything bigger than a 1024 x 768 version of the file - even though the attributes appear to be saying the file was a lot bigger (3264 x 2668) - if we can get hold of the latter-sized image, or even just the cropped number plate at that resolution, there might be some readable detail there. > > Trying to enhance the pixellated low-res version is not only impossible, it’s potentially misleading - you might end up with digit-like shapes that owe more to the nature of the enhancement algorithm than reality. > > When astronomers, law enforcement agencies, etc enhance images in the real world (i.e. not on CSI), they usually have either: > -A series of images of the same object. but with some lateral translation so that details smaller than a pixel happen to fall differently across pixel boundaries on each frame > > or > > A single image that was captured at high resolution, but where the fine detail is confounded by some measurable (and to some extent, reversible) distortion - for example, in an image taken from a moving vehicle, points may appear as streaks, or in an image taken without proper focus, points may become circles. > > But in an image where detail is lost within a single pixel, it’s not coming back, no matter what. I emailed you the orginal that I pulled from my neighbors camera, if you wouldn’t mind messing with it. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/55 "2009-08-17T00:33:27Z")
Why didn’t your neighbor call 911 while the incident was occurring? Contrary to popular misconception, most black men who enter structures by forcibly defeating the door’s locking mechanism _are not_ Ivy League professors. ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/56 "2009-08-17T00:42:21Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Why didn’t your neighbor call 911 while the incident was occurring? Contrary to popular misconception, most black men who enter structures by forcibly defeating the door’s locking mechanism _are not_ Ivy League professors. She was on the phone with 911 when she took the picture, she was wanting to help as much as she could while she waited for the police to arrive, so she took a picture. Interestingly enough, this photo was taken after these guys left my house and stopped several houses down to smash and grab in another house. ---
**Author:** ![Sometimes\_Sober\_Sometimes\_Not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sometimes\_Sober\_Sometimes\_Not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sometimes_Sober_Sometimes_Not)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/57 "2009-08-17T00:42:52Z")
I blew the pic up with a standard photoshop. I hope this helps. [![](https://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) ](https://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/58 "2009-08-17T00:55:09Z")
> [@keturah](#): > > She was on the phone with 911 when she took the picture, she was wanting to help as much as she could while she waited for the police to arrive, so she took a picture. Interestingly enough, this photo was taken after these guys left my house and stopped several houses down to smash and grab in another house. Yeah, I figured it was something like that. Kudos to her for having the mental wherewithal to grab the digicam. Sorry it wasn’t me across the street from your house. I would have been out there with the 12 gauge. ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/59 "2009-08-17T01:08:58Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Yeah, I figured it was something like that. Kudos to her for having the mental wherewithal to grab the digicam. Sorry it wasn’t me across the street from your house. I would have been out there with the 12 gauge. We could’ve used you there! I have to give the girl credit, she is young (17), just graduated from high school and is getting ready to move out and go to school. As I said, this sort of robbery has been going on in the area. They do not spend more than a few minutes in the houses, even the alarm companies can’t respond quickly enough (mine didn’t). ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496/60 "2009-08-17T15:31:10Z")
All is not lost, even without the tag. Look at the left-rear of the window. There’s a small white sticker there - could be for apartments, a school, or something local, perhaps. Also, there appears to be a tissue box or some white container on the back deck. That shiny thing in between them could be a car seat bar flipped up; it seems to be forward of the seat back just a little. If this is an ongoing problem in the area, I would spend some time driving around looking for these fools. The devil is in the details, so see if you can spot them while out & about. I’m not saying take a week off from work, but you would be surprised how often cruising your local gas station or fast food joints will turn up guys like this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-resolution-help-me-solve-a-crime/506496.md?page=4)