History Main / EnhanceButton

* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in Case 4 of ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' - a "blown-up" photograph still doesn't show the ''faces'' of those in it, as the shadows in the original photo weren't affected by enlarging, but it still becomes vital evidence for another reason.

* Parodied in [[http://www.bugcomic.com/comics/secret-agent-man/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{Bug}}'' comic.

** Parodied again when Bart is going through the school newspaper archives and sees an old picture. He tells Lisa, who is reading over his shoulder, "Zoom in and enhance!" Lisa responds by grabbing the back of Bart's head and pushing his face closer to the screen.

** In one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder'', the tech is able to enhance a decal in a cars window to make out what rental agency it's for. Compare this to an episode a few years earlier, involving an amateur porn tape. The detective notes it's a camera, explaining why the tech is able to zoom in a few times and enhance the vic's tattoo. And averted later on when a power glitch displays a frame from the original video on the tape. It's a birthday party at a restaurant, the tech zooms in--''once''--on the partially obscured logo on the waiter's jacket, to show a blurry image. He runs a filter over it, and gets...a slightly less blurry image. However, it is enough for him to recognize the logo. No, he didn't run it through some database; he simply looked at the logo and remembered what it was for.

* BouletCorp [[http://english.bouletcorp.com/2013/03/20/hi-res/ takes a jab at this]], in contrast with printing labs.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Vengeance Factor", the Enterprise is investigating some mysterious deaths in the scavenger tribes they're attempting to escort to treaty negotiations. In this investigation, a picture of someone with half their face hidden comes up as a clue. Riker asks if they can show the rest of the face; somehow, they ''can'', and do, and the result implicates a character introduced in the episode. This ''would'' put doubt on its use as legitimate evidence since, at most, the computer was making a guess - but of course, the person implicated ''does'' turn out to be the villain.
** Also in "Identity Crisis", when Geordi asked the computer to isolate and enhance a quadrant of footage to show a sliver of a shadow, transfer the scene to the Holodeck, then remove the characters whose shadows were obscuring the remainder of the shadow in question (how it knew which parts of the shadow belonged to whom I don't know), then asked the computer to extrapolate the general 3D volume of the shadow-casting object. Even in a holographic vector-based recording medium, it would be impossible for the computer to accurately describe a 3D volume from the shape of a shadow. Still, the existence of advanced future technology may might this slightly more believable. He still needed to tell the computer to assume a humanoid about his size to have cast the shadow. The result is also just an undifferentiated blob about the size of a person.
*** Specifically he had the computer remove individuals and their shadows, which was easy since there was only one light source, until all that was left was the 'mystery shadow'. He then told the computer to guess as to its position assuming it had the same height as him. All of this is possible, but would take much longer for us, but since this is a science-fiction show increased computer power is hardly beyond plausibility. More to the point, it's acknowledged as guesswork and the result isn't specific. Most applications of this trope actually included adding data that doesn't exist in the original image as if it's stone cold fact.
**** It was never explained how an invisible being managed to cast a shadow.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In the episode "The Vengeance Factor", Riker was able to determine that his [[GirlOfTheWeek main squeeze of the week]] was an ancient assassin by enhancing a picture which had her face obscured by people in front of her, and that only showed her arm.
** Also in "Identity Crisis", when Geordi asked the computer to isolate and enhance a quadrant of footage to show a sliver of a shadow, transfer the scene to the Holodeck, then remove the characters whose shadows were obscuring the remainder of the shadow in question (how it knew which parts of the shadow belonged to whom I don't know), then asked the computer to extrapolate the general 3D volume of the shadowcasting object. Even in a holographic vector-based recording medium, it would be impossible for the computer to accurately describe a 3D volume from the shape of a shadow. Still, the existence of advanced future technology may might this slightly more believable. He still needed to tell the computer to assume a humanoid about his size to have cast the shadow. The result is also just an undifferentiated blob about the size of a person.
*** Specifically he had the computer remove individuals and their shadows, which was easy since there was only one light source, until all that was left was the 'mystery shadow'. He then told the computer to guess as to its position assuming it had the same height as him. All of this is possible, but would take much longer for us, but since this is a science-fiction show increased computer power is hardly beyond plausability. More to the point, it's acknowledged as guesswork and the result isn't specific. Most applications of this trope actually included adding data that doesn't exist in the original image as if it's stone cold fact.
**** It was never explained how an invisible being managed to cast a shadow.
** "Unification Part I" started with a Starfleet admiral enhancing an image showing that Ambassador Spock was on Romulus.

* Played with by the DenzelWashington and Val Kilmer movie ''Deja Vu''. A secret government agency recruits Denzel to help them apprehend a terrorist using an experimental imaging system that uses satellite data to reconstruct every aspect of the bomb site in 3D, capable of zooming in at ground level, going inside structures, even supposedly recreating audio. He is extremely skeptical at first, but then it is revealed that they are actually [[spoiler:folding space-time in order to view past events in real time]].

* Played with in ''Honey, I Blew Up the Kid''. Two lab technicians muse over a very blurred photo of Adam and his stuffed bunny, thinking it's an alien. When Dr. Hendrickson arrives, he presses one button which completely unblurs the photo.

* In the SeanConnery film ''Rising Sun'', Connery and Wesley Snipes play cops investigating a murder at a high-profile Japanese company. They take the security footage for analysis, and the expert shows them that the video has been doctored. She is able to enhance a reflection to reveal someone who has been erased from the video. Granted, it is shown to be somewhat harder than pressing an "enhance" button and she rattles off some techno-babble accompanying each step of the process, but it's still done fairly quickly.

* The ''Cam Jansen'' series is a series of books for kids in which the titular heroine uses her "photographic memory" to solve minor crimes. Although the testimony of a 10-year-old would already be [[ConvictionByContradiction unlikely to convince (or convict) anyone of anything]], in one story, she is able to concentrate enough on a "photograph" of a memory to read the address on a magazine carried by someone walking by, utterly destroying any semblance of believability.

* Used wel in MichaelCrichton's Rising Sun. Right after the death of a supposed murderer whom a security camera had shown in the act, it is discovered that the tape was doctored; a brief part where his face was visible was modified, and that the camera had originally taped someone else committing the crime. However, at first the cops swallow the doctored tape hook, line and sinker. It's only after the Crichton-surrogate brings the tape to an audio-video wizard(an expatriate Japanese woman who immigrated to the US so she would not be ostracized for her deformed hand) that the deception is revealed; as she dismantles the image step-by-step she criticizes the arrogance of the Japanese editors who made the tape; obvious-once-revealed errors such as sloppy airbrushing and extra shadows - "They think we will not be ''careful.'' That we will not be ''Japanese.''" Subverted in that she's unable to identify the killer - but does succeed in reconstructing the face of a witness who happens to have an undoctored copy of the tape.
* A version of this was used to reconstruct events in a party in ''Inferno''. Here a computer was compiling images from multiple security cameras to create a full representation of what was going on in the room. People who were not in the view of the cameras at any given moment were given lower quality images to indicate that this was simply the computer's best guess as to where the person was in between times when a camera could see them.

* Spoofed in, of all places, an episode of ''The Sarah Silverman Show''. Sarah spots a curious detail in the background of a photo she's looking at and, despite being the only person in the room, tells no one in particular to "Enhance to 125 percent." She then leans in close and pulls out a magnifying glass, which action is accompanied by the inexplicable technical sounds you'd expect to hear when this trope happens on CSI. The camera view through the magnifying glass shows exactly what you'd expect to see in the real world -- a blurry blown-up portion of the picture with no extra detail visible. She then calls for another 50% magnification, and pulls out a smaller magnifying glass so she can look at the now horribly blurred picture through both of them, with more beeps and whirrs, and inexplicably decides the blurry image is proof of something the viewer is never quite made aware of.

* In Chapter Eight of the 2012 television series ''The Firm'' Ray McDeere with the help of a "hacker" with a laptop and some stolen hotel security video files enhances a man's reflection in a car window to get a high quality image of the tattoo on the back of his neck. "And if I just enhance this area..."

* Actually more or less done in analog on ''Series/Elementary''. Sherlock takes a remarkable number of photos of his suspect as a very long train passes by, and then prints them and cuts out all the little slivers of face he got until he has a reasonably good idea what his suspect looks like.

* Played for laughs in [[http://www.goats.com/archive/091221.html this Goats strip]]

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUFkb0d1kbU Smashed to pieces]] in the ''Series/RedDwarf'' "Back to Earth" three-parter, where, to gain an address written the back side on a piece of card, Kryten scans a photo, projects it onto a regular TV, ''uncrops'' the photo, and enhances three different reflections: one from the metallic H on Rimmer's skull; one from the reflection from the water droplets on a lamppost on the other side of the street, and a reflection from the window behind the piece of paper. After they get the information they wanted, they realized that they simply could have looked up the address on the card in the phonebook. It uses this trope to such an insane extent that it could almost be seen as a [[ParodiedTrope parody]]. It was in any case a tribute to the example from ''Film/BladeRunner'', like other parts of the episode.

* In ''RizzoliAndIsles'', episode "I'm Your Boogie Man", Maura uses an enhance button apparently sophisticated enough to expand an image caught by a webcam reflected off of a person's eyeball.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUFkb0d1kbU Smashed to pieces]] in the ''Series/RedDwarf'' "Back to Earth" three-parter, where, to gain an address written the back side on a piece of card, Kryten scans a photo, projects it onto a regular TV, uncrops the photo, and enhances three different reflections: one from the metallic H on Rimmer's skull; one from the reflection from the water droplets on a lamppost on the other side of the street, from the reflection from the metallic H on Rimmer's skull; and a reflection from the window behind the piece of paper, from the water droplets from the lamppost, from the reflection from the metallic H on Rimmer's skull. After they get the information they wanted, they realized that they simply could have looked up the address on the card in the phonebook. It uses this trope to such an insane extent that it could almost be seen as a [[ParodiedTrope parody]]. It was in any case a tribute to the example from ''Film/BladeRunner'', like other parts of the episode.
** Repeat; ''Uncrops the photo.'' Repeat repeat repeat; '''Uncrops the photo.''' When Rimmer tells Kryten to "uncrop", the picture expands to include several feet to either side that were not even in the '''''original photograph.'''''

* Every show in the ''LawAndOrder'' franchise has done this.
** Subverted in an episode of ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', where the defendant, played by RobinWilliams, is caught on a security camera and the enhanced image showing his face is presented to the jury as evidence. When it comes time for cross-examination, the defendant (he's representing himself) shows the jury the ''actual'' image that the picture of his face was taken from, and points out that in the original shot he's just a blurry, shadowed figure wearing a baseball cap. He then gets the image enhancement guy to admit that everything done to the image to get a face to show up was essentially glorified educated guessing, leading for the character to point out "I don't care how sophisticated your software is, a guess is not the truth". The jury returns an acquittal.

Without exception, the Enhance Button is a standard feature of the EverythingSensor, which also tends to come bundled with FacialRecognitionSoftware and a MagicalDatabase to help it out. Also compare RewindReplayRepeat, which is used under similar circumstances but is a lot more realistic.

* Made fun of in the ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr. Monk and the Birds and the Bees" has a video tape enhanced, but still too blurry to make out who the people are, to the point that Stottlemeyer suggests that the blurs could be Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Randy then [[CrowningMomentOfFunny tries pointing out the blurs on the screen by circling them with a permanent marker]].

* A really exceptionally implausible example in the short-lived NewUniverse comic ''Spitfire and the Troubleshooters'', where one character uses a special helmet that visualizes computer data, and ends up 'computer enhancing' an image of a villain's face... which was ''generated from a written report''.

** The [[NeedsMoreLove Video Game]] tie-in lets the player do this as well.

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'' has all kinds of crazy image stuff. In the 5th episode, this trope is first subverted by claiming that the pixels are degraded when Booth asks "Can't we just zoom in on it?", due to the low quality of the image. 10 minutes later however, they find a reflection in a door by "repolarizing" to do exactly what they just said they couldn't do!

* The "magic zoom" is used very frequently on ''FXTheSeries''. Ameliorating it is that this is done on video, where multiple frames increases the resolution that can be derived, and the film being analyzed is generally from movie shoots where they have multiple cameras and the film is very high quality. The term "fractal enhancement" is used far too often to justify this.

* In the 2000s ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' revival, a character says it'll take a day to enhance the picture of someone's reflection in a computer mainframe, as seen in CCTV footage. The computer ultimately produces a crystal-clear image of the character who had been implicated of sabotaging the mainframe, but in a variation, the image turns out to have been faked by the Cylons in the first place. Despite the outcome, however, it still contains the fundamental aspects of the trope: that it produced a clear image, and that everyone involved expected this. However, due to the time it took, it can probably be technobabbled away as awesome future video technology.

* There's an early example in ''Call Northside 777'', a film from 1948, in which a reporter proves that a witness lied in a trial eleven years earlier, by blowing up an old photo of the witness and the accused together, so that a minor detail, the date on the newspaper in the hand of a paperboy in the corner of the photo, becomes clear, thus establishing that the witness saw the suspect the DAY BEFORE she made her identification, was therefore lying, and the suspect is therefore innocent.

-> '''Zapp''': [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHjuV7kRpFQ Why's it still blurry?!]]\\

Now there are real techniques that vaguely fit under the category of "image enhancement" that can enable one to see details in a picture that's blurry, grainy, dark, overexposed, and so on; and it is theoretically possible to compile data from several frames of video of a moving object to reduce the blurring (if only slightly). But the Enhance Button simply ''ignores'' the fact that the big blocky pixels you get when you zoom in too close on a picture are ''the only information that the picture actually contains'', and attempting to extract more detail than this is ''fundamentally impossible''. No matter what you do or how you do it, you're merely guessing, if not making stuff up outright.