Removing Spot Scratches in Your Treasured Photos ? 5 Minute Digital Fix

Probably one of the most common problems you will be faced with in doing any type of digital photo restoration work will be to do with spot scratches on your old photos.

When we first look at those old black and white or early colour photos they often have small scratch marks and spots on them from being stored incorrectly.

These small spot scratches are easily perceived by your eye when you are looking at the photo, detracting from the overall subject matter.

Here is a very easy quick fix using Adobe Photoshop's History Brush tool.

Our example "before" image on our web-site has numerous small spot scratches on the old sepia toned photograph.

The basic removal method described here can quickly and effortlessly bring those scratched photos back to (almost) their former glory using the History Brush Tool found in Photoshop.

This basic technique works extremely well for those types of images that have spot scratches in areas of the photo that do not contain a lot of detail.

As you can see in our example image on the web-site, the spots tend to be primarily on the background of the photo, making it ideal for this correction method.

Step ? 1

Having opened up the image in Photoshop we will first apply the Dust and Scratches filter by selecting Filter->Noise->Dust & Scratches ...

Set the Threshold to between 1 and 4 (I generally start with 1) and then increase the Radius until you see the spot scratches disappear.

Our example image on the web-site finally made the largest spot scratch on the left hand side of the photo disappear at a Threshold of 3 and Radius of 10.

All well and good but our image is now totally blurred!! Not really what we wanted to see is it?

This is where the History Brush tool comes into play.

Step ? 2

Open up the History Palette by selecting Window->History if you cannot see the window already open.

We are going to create a "Snapshot" of the current state of the image in question by clicking on what looks like a little image of a camera at the bottom of the History Palette window (see the red arrow on the web-site image).

After clicking you will notice that the History Palette now shows an extra image icon called "Snapshot 1".

This is a snapshot of the image that includes the effect of apply the Dust & Scratches Filter in Step 1.

Now click on the little square box to the left of Snapshot 1.

You will see a little "brush" icon appear which is now telling us that the "Snapshot 1" image will be used as our "source" when we paint with the History Brush.

Remember ... this snapshot image actually has none of the spot scratches on it because we made them disappear by applying the Dust & Scratches filter in Step 1.

Step ? 3

Make the original (un-touched) history snapshot active by clicking on it (in the case of our example image this is "Restore-Before-Image.jpg").

Select the History Brush from the main toolbar (this has the same icon as the little "brush" icon that appeared in the History Palette window).

We are now ready to "paint away" those spot scratches!!

Step ? 4

I'm going to zoom in on the largest scratch on the left hand side of the photo to show you how we use the History Brush.

We selected the History Brush in Step 3.

Select an appropriate brush size and soft edges.

We now need to decide how to apply the brush to the scratches in question.

You will notice that the scratches in our example image are "lighter" than the surrounding image.

Step ? 5

We need to paint "darker" pixels and as such we set the History Brush Mode: to "Darken" (Top Menu Bar option when you have the History Brush as the active tool).

This has the effect of "telling the History Brush" to only replace pixels on the original image with pixels from our snapshot if the snapshot pixel is darker.

Start to paint over the scratches and see what happens.

The scratches start to miraculously disappear as you paint over them.

They are being replaced with the underlying snapshot image pixels you created in Step 1.

The benefit of using this techniques is that you have complete control over which parts of the original image you "paint over" so as not to blur important details of the image had you just applied a Dust & Scratches filter to the whole image.

Now what if your scratches are darker than the surrounding image, I hear you ask?

Easy!! ... just use a History Brush Mode: of "Lighten" instead of "Darken".

You can experiment with all of the History Brush options - Mode, Opacity and Flow until you get the desired result.

The resulting "After" image has had all of the spot scratches removed easily without compromising on the photographic detail of the image.

And there you have it!!Less than five minutes of digital image manipulation to remove those unwanted spot scratches.

If you find the steps taking are a little hard to understand in this text based article, you can click on the link at the end of this article to see the same method explained on our website with the aid of example graphical images.

© Gary Wilkinson 2005 - All Rights Reserved

You can see this removal method complete with example images at Basic removal of Spot Scratches in Photos

Feel free to re-print this article provided that all hyperlinks and author biography are retained as-is.

Gary Wilkinson is a photographer, photographic restorer and the owner of a photographic retail business.

He is also the publisher of the http://www.restoring-photos-made-easy.com website, where other methods of correcting common photographic restoration problems are discussed.

RELATED ARTICLES

---

The Well-Dressed Photographer - Winter
Some of the best images can be captured during the winter months, so don't let the cold stop you. For the best photography experience, wear clothing that will keep you comfortable and safe.

---

How to Shoot Video of Your Kids Sports Team So That Anyone Else Will Watch It!
Break out that video camera, there is a game this weekend!1. You bought a video camera2. You want to shoot sports of your kid3. Here is how to do it right!

---

Underwater Digital Cameras
Underwater photography's is primarily focused towards entertaining and informing the people and the users themselves about what is happening in the world of under water with the aid of photography. The advent of digital cameras has opened up new horizons for such ventures. These digital cameras are not only handy and sleek but also they offer a spectral range of features that helps the underwater photographers in their work a lot. In this discussion these special features of underwater digital cameras are necessarily been revealed and done justice to!

---

Hyperfocal Focusing: What Is It And Why Should You Use It?
When should you use hyperfocal focusing? Well, sometimes when shooting a landscape, you want everything sharp from the front to the back of the scene. Setting a small aperture such as f/16, f/22 or even f/32 can help, but if you really want to maximize depth of field, hyperfocal focusing is the technique you need to use.

---

Megapixel Cameras: How Many Megapixels Do You Need?
Knowing which megapixel camera to buy can be intimidating. There are literally hundreds of models of digital cameras out on the market today. How can you know how many megapixels you'll need?

---

The Photography Portfolio: Building Your Reputation
If you have hopes of becoming a professional photographer, or even just of trying to get your work published in a public forum, you will need to create a photography portfolio. So what's so important about a photography portfolio anyway?

---

How to Buy a Digital Camera
Are you buying your first digital camera? Well, you must be confused by the bewildering range of models out there. How do you know which model will suit your needs? To make things worse, digital cameras do not come cheap. Choosing a bad camera will easily cost you a few hundred dollars.

---

Black & White Photography
Photography is a diversified field of creating a spectral variety of art. It is a specialization that deals with different experimentations with colors, however it is also a fact that only shades of black and white can also do wonders in this zone of creative art. With the advent of the digital camera the scope of this wonderful business has opened up new horizons for the users and photographers who seek to explore new lands and trod the ground of innovative creation and thus it can be aptly said that black & white can become more creativity with the boon of digital photography and digital camera. This discussion is primarily aimed at exploring the incipient information regarding the blessing of the digital camera in black & white photography so that the novice as well as the expert photographers can become richer in knowledge!

---

Wedding Photography: How to Become a Successful Wedding Photographer
Once in while I receive e-mails or phone calls from aspiring or beginner wedding photographers asking me for advise on how to become successful in the wedding field. My first question is always what their motivation is to become a wedding photographer. Some will reply that they heard from somebody that it is easy money, or that they got a cool camera that takes great photos or that they would like to make some money on the side etc.While it is true that wedding photography can be a very profitable business achieving success in the wedding industry is not just a matter of getting a camera and start shooting. Wedding photography involves artistic talent, human sense, complete mastery of photographic techniques, business knowledge, and a strong desire to learn and deliver the best to the wedding couple.

---

Is Digital Photography Expensive?
Being such a fascinating device as the digital camera, this technological masterpiece is of course a precious and priced possession. And acquiring it also means that one time achievement feeling. Thus a person must also be very careful and at the time quite a little knowledgeable in order to make a good purchase and not lose a good bargain in the maze of soaring prices and mist of exaggerated cost myths. This discussion is again focused to pierce that mist and unravel that myth to reveal the truths and facts regarding the actual and economic cost of a digital camera!

---

Guidelines for Printing Great Photos at Home
So you have this great digital camera and you've taken lots of great photos. Now what? Well you could go to a store and have them print your images for you, but isn't that what you did with film? The point of all this great digital technology is that you can print your own photos at home without having to pay someone else to do it. Here are some tips to help you get started:

---

A Guide to Disposable Digital Cameras
Disposable Cameras (also called single-use cameras) first came on the market as film cameras. You would take the entire camera back where you bought it and they would crack it open, take out the film and process it, resulting in photos that were virtually indistinguishable from photos taken with a more conventional camera. Now, following the trends in conventional cameras, there is a choice between using film or digital disposable cameras.

---

Memories That Get Lost
How many people have pictures in a shoe box? In a drawer? Inside a book? Sitting in the garage?

---

Imperfect Photos And How You Can Fix Them
So your picture came out less then perfect. Blemishes or wrinkles, red eyes and wrong color balance - you can fix it all without having to learn or pay for Adobe Photoshop. Try these tools instead.

---

Photography Business: Taking Baby Photos - for Professionals & Families
Babies make the best and the worst subjects to photograph. They are the best for two reasons, people are more tolerant at looking at baby photos, as well as the fact that babies are not aware their image is being captured, and therefore they do not tend to put on the "camera face" so typically used by elder children and adults. They are the worst subjects because their behaviour is unpredictable. Because their behaviour is uncensored, they show their emotions, and can just as easily cry as gurgle happily into the camera.

---

Elephants in the Sky and Four Poems
Elephants in the Sky

---

What Should You Look for in a New Camera?
These parameters are discussed at 2 levels: -Based on degree of functional use of available features -Based on the type of photography you want to attempt -->Based on degree of functional use of available featuresA person who is happy with his or her camera model usually responds with the following words of praise. 'Incredible ease of use''User-friendly controls''Intelligently and thoughtfully designed''Excellent value for money''Light and compact'These are the kind of terms that you will come across from camera owners who are satisfied with their camera models. These superlatives sum up what people usually look for or could look for at an overall level in their camera. It is a broad evaluation based on design elements, size and affordability.Before you make a decision to purchase you should explore a little further and study the type of features available to you. Unless you make the attempt to understand the features at your disposal, there is the risk of being stuck with a model that does not suit your particular requirements. Let's take a look at what features you should look for, as well as the features that you should be wary of when you choose a camera system.-->Features to Look For1. The lens is by far the most important device in your camera. The quality of the lens ensures the sharpness of your image. The camera lens is described by length (given in mm), known as the focal length of the lens. 50mm is the standard focal length in a lens. A lens of shorter length is known as a wide-angle lens and is used usually by landscape photographers. A lens with focal length greater than 50mm is called a telephoto lens and is especially useful to professional photographers in capturing distant images.There are also cameras with a zoom lens. A zoom lens can offer various focal lengths, so you have a lens capable of many focal lengths. Simple put, when you use a zoom lens you can make your subject bigger or smaller within the frame. For instance, a wide-angle zoom can cover a range of focal lengths below 50mm, or a telephoto zoom gives you a range of higher order focal lengths. Some superior zoom lenses can take you from wide angle to standard and through to telephoto ranges. The power of the zoom lens is defined by the extent of magnification from a lower focal length to a higher end and is given as 2x, 3x and so on. Some lens tips: --A 50mm or 100mm lens is considered adequate for most non-professional hobby users. The professionals usually go for telephoto lenses of 200mm or more. A lens with higher focal length costs a lot more. Most beginners don't need to invest in a telephoto lens.--Check if your camera is compatible with the range of lenses that the manufacturer of your model has on offer. Most manufacturers have hundreds of lens options on offer and your requirement for lenses varies as you progress in photography. Your camera has to be compatible with lenses of higher focal length and speed. If you are planning to upgrade your camera by buying another model from the same manufacturer, check for compatibility with older accessories so that you can put to use some of the lenses already available with you and save yourself an additional expense. 2. Depth-of-field preview buttonA depth-of-field preview button is a necessity if you want to achieve better focus. It allows you to identify the area that will be in focus in your photograph. This area is referred to as the 'depth of field'. When you adjust the focus in your camera the preview button is a useful tool that can help you vary the focus and depth of field in different shots. 3. Image sensor resolution In digital cameras, there is no film in use but this is instead replaced by a device called the image sensor. The image sensor renders colors, is sensitive to light and is the device that captures images in small pixels on its surface. Image resolution is a measure of the sharpness or level of detail in photographic images. Image resolution is expressed as a number and is measured in mega pixels. High-end professional use cameras have an image sensor resolution of around 12 mega pixels and the most advanced professional models go up to almost 14 mega pixels. At the mid range you have camera models with resolution ranging from 2 - 6 mega pixels. To deliver large format prints of superior quality, you should go for models with resolution greater than 3 mega pixels. At the lower end, you have models of 1 mega pixel or less and the sharpness of the photograph is slightly inferior compared to cameras with higher values of image sensor resolution. Lower pixel models are best suited for small format prints. 4. If you have the facility for Auto-bracketing it can be a very useful tool. Auto-bracketing enables the camera to automatically take 3 exposures or in some cameras 5 exposures of the same shot by varying the Exposure Value (EV) to lighten or darken an image. Each of the images will be slightly differently exposed and this is a great tool to ensure that you capture the moment perfectly. You can bank on at least one being a properly exposed picture. This tool comes in handy especially for professional photographers.5. If tonal quality of the photograph is your top priority when you choose a camera then it is best that you go for a digital camera. Photographic prints of scenes captured on a digital camera have a level of tonal quality that is far superior to best quality traditional prints. 6. There are sophisticated camera models available today that can capture movement and audio-visual images. If you want to go beyond static images and capture the first steps of a child or activities during family get-togethers, then you should look for a camera with these advanced capabilities. It will create a better experience when you go down memory lane. The Kodak Easyshare LS753 Zoom Digital Camera is one such model that offers audio-visual capability.

---

A Guide to Underwater Camera Cases
If you are buying a new underwater camera or video camera, you will need an underwater camera case. And this case needs to be watertight, airtight, dustproof, crush resistant and designed to keep your valuable equipment safe from all the elements. It may also be rustproof, pest-proof, and chemical resistant to oils, fuels and solvents. It may have flame retardant included and be molded with a UV stabilizer, making it ultraviolet resistant. (This will prevent the plastic from becoming brittle if left in the sun for extended periods of time.)

---

Photography Has No Gender
Women photographers are fortunate. Unlike other titles, photographer has no gender. Women photographers don't have to force stilted language like "flight attendant" instead of "stewardess," or "letter carrier" instead of "mailman." "Photographer" doesn't have the historical male/female titles such as "author" and "authoress," or "actor" vs. "actress." Women photographers may not even have to battle the associated gender that "doctors" or "nurses" do. Did you know that bank tellers always were men up until WWII because it was thought that women couldn't handle money?

---

Making Money With Digital Photography And Live Events
A few years ago I became interested in digital photography, mainly for web publishing and personal reasons. You know, how nice is it now to NOT have to deal with film, scanning pictures, and the costs of developing all of those "not great" photos that you didn't know were so bad until you paid to have them developed!

---

Photography site map      Photography Information New Homes Photos Ridgefield Washington Photos - Phuket Thailand