Dust / Scratches without losing sharpness

[jasosmith]

The image attached has some severe Dust and Scratch problems.

I had a crack at it by using the Dust and Scratches filter untill most of the major ones disappeared. I then set the blending mode to Darken.

It hasnt done a bad job - but there a still a lot of visible scratches and I have lost a lot of sharpness.

I could of course use the healing brush / patch tool but It would take a week.

Does anyone have any suggestions for effectively removing the scratches without losing sharpness.

[Kraellin]

hi jaso,

there are basically two methods for removing these sorts of problems, the bulk method like Neat Image, Polaroid D&S, and PSP's digital camera noise removal, or, the manual method, like clone, heal and so on. you've already named the drawbacks on both. the bulk tends to smudge and remove parts you dont want removed and the manual takes a longer time.

i find in images like this that a combination of both works pretty well. you can shorten the work time with bulk, but set it to a lighter setting to not remove as much, and then do some manual. also, instead of 'darkness', try 'luminance' or 'soft light' for the blend mode.

you might also try several layers of the bulk type and blend modes. take your original background layer and dupe it several times. on each layer use a different degree of the bulk work then try blending the different layers and varying the opacities.

myself, i enjoy cloning. i find it relaxing and have a lot more control over the finished product. i can also clone fairly fast any more. i also use the push brush as a clone tool at times. but, i also use the bulk techniques for speed when desired.

your image doesnt appear that difficult, but then i'm not looking at it zoomed in right now.

Craig

Craig

[Doug Nelson]

Dupe the layer, then run D/S on the duped layer, then erase or mask the objectionably blurred areas. Toggle off/on to check progress.

Or just use D/S, take a snapshot, undo, and use the History brush to paint in the dust removal.