Removing Magic Marker Scribbles

[Steve Railey]

All,

Attached is a school class photo, with crease damage and blue marker scribbling. Apparently, the sister of one of the girls, front row center right, got angry, and I suspect the boy to the far left was involved. Oh well.

In any case, I'm using Photoshop 7. The red channel appears most damaged, blue channel the best. I've removed the red / green channels and that gives me a good b/w pix, but I need color. I've also tried replacing the red channel with blue, but the resulting color mix is far off and I can't correct it. I'm working through a recommended tutorial right now, but if anyone has any suggestions they would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Steve

[Balky]

This is a 7 min restoration which is by far not finished...

I used APPLY IMMAGE command in IMAGE MENU

IEdited RED (mainly) and Green channels with the color information from Blue channel

After this is done, you can do more editing by hand coloring or play more with APPLY IMage command


You can also use HUE STURATION command alternatively to above... Desaturate CYAN -100 and LIGHTEN +100 = same effect basically

:-)

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Steve, had a quick play with your image. I've not tried to fix the creases and other faults, just the magic marker problem. I got the best results by creating a new layer, set to colour mode, then paint in colour, sampled from good areas in the original. Then lightened some of the faces, by creating a new layer set to soft light mode, 50% grey fill, then paint in lightness with a white paintbrush set to about 10%. Total time taken about 20 mins. A bit crude, but it gives you a way to start.

[Steve Railey]

Balky / Gary,

You've given me some excellent paths to reconstruct this photo. I had hit that mental "brick wall" with those markings but with your help I think I can finally move forward.

Many thanks, Steve

[jimHere]

Here's one with a Selective Color layer, and some localized curves...

[Flora]

Hi Steve and everybody,

I've been trying on and off to fix this picture .... (well, the scribbling)

I didn't fix any crack, scratch, etc.

I mainly concentrated on removing/minimizing the scribble, trying to keep as much of the original colour as possible .

• Duplicated the Background Layer and run Neat Image to minimize the compression 'blocks'.
• Working on the Channels, I duplicated the Green Channel > Green Copy
• Working on the Green Copy, I used Apply Image :
  TIP:when working on a single Channel, press the ~ key to view the corrections made directly on the composite image.
  

  Source = Red Channel
  Target = GreenCopy
  Blending = Lighten
  Opacity = 100%

• Working on the Red Channel, I used the Lasso to loosely select and feather the 'scribbles'
• With the selection still active, back to the Green Copy, I run Levels to 'balance' the selection so that it blended in better with the rest.
• With the selection still active, working on the Red Channel, I run Apply Image again:
  

  Source = Green Copy
  Target = Red Channel
  Blending = Lighten
  Opacity = 100% (to be adjusted)

• Used Selective Colors to adjust the colours.
• With a very soft Black/white Brush (Opacity 10-20%) I carefully worked directly on the individual Channels to further balance the colours.
• Deselected.
• Created 'my' usual variety of empty Layers ( Blendings: Lighten, Darken, Overlay and Normal), to correct, emphasize selected parts of the picture.
• Used USM to enhance Contrast and to lightly sharpen the image.

[Pam]

Wow! Flora, that is an absolutely amazing, stunning result. Great work.

[Gary Richardson]

Flora, wonderful job as always. One question, what is apply image?

[Flora]

Pam, Gary,

thank you so much for your great feedback!

Gary,

The Adobe definition of the Apply Image Tool:

The Apply Image command lets you blend one image's layer and channel (the source) with a layer and channel of the active image (the destination).

It's a very powerful Tool (small brother of 'Calculations') which allows the interaction between Layers and Channels of 'Source' and 'Target' with the option of many different blending modes ....

I use it very often, particularly when working on pictures with partial colouring problems.... meaning one or two channels are damaged...
It can be found under: Image > Apply Image.

[Gary Richardson]

Flora, thanks for the information. I've only been using PS for years, imagine what I'd be able to do if I ever opened my eyes and looked at what tools are available. Thanks once again. Must go and find out what other tools I don't know I've got.

[Flora]