Making Handwritten Text Readable

[nspwis]

I thought this would be so easy, but I just can't figure it out. Attached is a page from a handwritten cookbook that is about one hundred years old. A friend has volunteered to transcribe the whole book, but she has had cataract surgery recently and needs to work from a printed copy, rather than looking at the pages on screen.
I need to make the handwriting as dark as possible and the background as light as possible. The cookbook has about 100 pages so I need a method that is as quick and easy as possible, as there is a backlog of other projects needing my time.
The original is about 7 in by 8 in -- I will probably print the transcription copies at around 110% to increase legibility.
If you come up with a solution, I would greatly appreciate step by step instructions as I am new to Photoshop and am learning by doing. I have Dan Margulis Photoshop book, Karin Eismann's Restoration and Retouching book, and Ctein's Digital Restoration book and have learned much from each of them -- if there is a particular section in any of these you could point me to for advice, that would also be appreciated.
Actually, this forum has been the most help in the learning process, which is why I am posting this.
I think part of my problem is I don't know what's possible -- maybe I'm expecting more than is realistic.
I'm interested in what someone else comes up with. Thanks much!

[KR1156]

if you like i can try to explain my steps, they're not too hard, but you are new to Photoshop, so not sure if you'll follow.

[Maroon]

I'm no pro, but here's my try anyway. I set the calculations to use predominantly the red channel, did a levels correction, and added a lightening curve set on soft light. It wouldn't be too hard to fix the edges with another lightening layer, but you'd have to brush over it by hand unless all of the pages have pretty much the same dark areas. It would only take a second, but I figured it would add up over a hundred or so images.

[nspwis]

Thanks!
KR1156, I would like you to explain your steps -- I might be able to follow. I've been dabbling with Dan Margulis' techniques with channel mixing -- am still learning.
Maroon -- thanks for the thought on using a lightening layer -- I used "multiply" thinking it would make the script darker, which it did, but it also made the background darker so I didn't gain much. Would you mind explaining how you set the calculations to use predominently the red channel?
I converted the image to LAB and then worked with the L channel, but the background was still pretty grey and the script wasn't as distinct as I was hoping for.
I plan to convert the image to black and white before i print it out, which might make a difference to what can be done to it before making it b/w.
In this case, the final image isn't as important as the legibility issue. At some point, I'm hoping to make a digital flip book of all of the pages, and then they will need to be adjusted differently, but that's in the future. Right now, I just want to get a copy that is clean enough to transcribe.
I appreciate the time and advice. I'm learning a lot, as I expected!

[KR1156]

ok, in the version i did i wanted to darken the text only, and leave the rest of the image untouched.

1.first i sampled the color of the text with eye dropper tool...then go to color range and play with the slider until i picked up all of the text.
2. then went into quickmask mode (press "Q") now you have a channel to fine tune.
3. i think next step i selected all of my new channel, copy and pasted it in...nothing happens yet...next step after pasting is to "fade" paste i think you find it under "edit" ( i use all key commands), any way....choose "overlay" mode....this will bump the contrast up to help separate the text from background.
4. go to my paint brush, set it to "overlay" mode, and paint with black the areas i want to hide, and paint with white over the text, the areas i want to show. after a min of this you should have a nice mask of the text, with the horizontal rules as well....what you can do to get rid of those is switch your beush mode from overlay to normal, and just select a small brush size, and brush out those lines. (if you click on one end, hold down shift and click on the other end, it will draw a straight line over the horizontal lines, and mask them out perfectly.

after i got my mask, press "Q" again to switch out of quick mask mode, and now you have a selection of text only. add a curve adjustment layer, put it in multiply mode, and lower the opacity to your liking to control how dark the text shows up. (too dark and it gets a bit illegible.

sounds like a lot, but it's not too bad. only use this way if you want to boost the TEXT only. there are quicker ways to do it if you don't mind darkening everything else.

[Maroon]

Well, that's not entirely true. I experimented in Calculations, but I ended up basically duping the Red channel twice and adjusting the brightness to match the Green and Blue. It didn't do much for the text contrast, but it did help keep the edges manageable. Another thing that occured to me was that you could use a highpass sharpening layer set to allow a bit of a halo through. It would darken the text and lighten the surounding paper, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to automate that for bath processing. And yes, KR1156, please tell us your method. I'm dying to know how you made the paper so uniform.

EDIT: Always 5 minutes late... That's what I get for never refreshing.

[KR1156]

hey maroon, that;s basically what i did, just keep 1 thing in mind, when you're brushing your mask in overlay mode: do it carefully because the more passes you take at an edge, the more jagged your mask will become, and in this case, with such an extremely delicate edge (thin hand writing) you need to keep it clean so that the reader can actually make out the text (there's also no room to blur the edges either to smooth it out)....if the mask get's jagged, it will be very hard to red. we just want to give the handwriting a little boost, add some weight.....i may have over done it, who knows.

[nspwis]

I got as far as :
"next step i selected all of my new channel, copy and pasted it in"

If you don't mind explaining how you selected the channel and where and how you pasted it, I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

[Kraellin]

i was playing around with this last night and there are quite a few ways to get where you want to go. i'm not posting a particular method here, for the moment, but you might look into the highlights/midtones/shadows tool, hue/sat adjustment layer (for desaturating), contrast/brightness adjustment layers and the possibility of inverting the image to a negative on a new layer and using some blend modes.

you might find that converting this to a black and white would work better. i'm not talking about making it a greyscale image, but rather just desaturating the thing.

[Frank Lopes]

One of the wonderful characteristics of Photoshop is the ability to accomplish the same thing via different routes.

I tried a variation of the workflows that you all have presented here.

I don't remember exactly all the steps, but it was something like this:

From the red channel created a new layer
Used the dodge and burning tools to enhance the paper and darken the ink
Duplicated the layer
Set the new layer to "multiply" (once)
Used the dodge and burning tools to enhance the paper and darken the ink
Duplicated the last layer one more time
Set the new layer to "multiply" (twice)
Used the dodge and burning tools to enhance the paper and darken the ink

[KR1156]

nspwis, what i mean was, after i weant into quick mask mode, i went to my channels palet....do a select all of my temporary quick mask mode (channel) and paste in right back into the same channel. nothing happens here, until you go to "edit" command>shift>F and switch to "overlay mode"

[klassylady25]

Corrected the levels. Duplicated the layer under multiply and then moved the fill until satisfied with results. Brought up the contrast just a bit. There is a ghost around the writting in the one posted. That is seen here. Perhaps a rescan would help for that before you start to restore. Try setting it on a higher resolution that might eliminate that problem.

[KR1156]

here's a better task, or excercise to help your masking skills......turn the pencil script into ink. do not affect any of the paper at all.

[0lBaldy]

May not be super excellent results but it is QUICK.
Filter>Sketch>Photocopy

[klassylady25]

Here's what it says:


It will then require from ¾ hrs to 2 hrs to rise and should be brushed with milk before putting into oven and again when taken out.

Rolls should be much lighter than bread when baked. A loaf of bread should double in size from the time of making out to the time of baking. Bread is considered better when baked in separate loaves, the best size pan being 4 in. deep, 4 wide and 10 to 12 in long. A loaf should bake from ¾ to 1 hour in a hot oven, Rolls from 15 to 20 minutes. When a loaf of bread is thoroughly done it may be held in the hand and soon as taken from the oven and will not burn the hand.

Milk should be boiled when used for bread making in summer.

[nspwis]

Filter>Sketch>Photocopy looks like just what I need -- quick and easy, considering I have more than 100 pages to convert and print. The only problem -- when I tried it, I got a negative -- the writing is white and the background black. There must be a setting that changes it to black on white, but I can't find it. Any advice?
Thanks for all the help on this -- it is appreciated.

[nspwis]

I answered my own question - before using the Sketch>Photocopy filter, I had to make sure the foreground color was set to black and the background to white. I must have had it reversed, the first time I tried it.

[BLR]

A crude, but effective approach is:

1. Image > Adjustments > Levels. Use the white point eyedropper to set the paper color to white. Click OK.

2. Use the magnifying glass tool repeatedly to enlarge the document until the handwriting strokes are wide enough to select.

3. Image > Adjustments > Levels. Use the black point eyedropper to set the handwriting strokes' color to black. Click OK.

4. Adjust the document's magnification so you can read a few words or lines at a time.

This doesn't produce a very nice restoration, but it is useful if your main goal is to read the document.

[warlock]

leveled all the colors only, then black eyedropper and white eyedropper in level.