Remove ink in a picture

[Chenoa]

Hi to everybody! It's the first time that I post here. I have to restore a picture and I'm looking for a tutorial to remove ink. Please can u help me?

Thanks

[Leah]

Is the photo black and white or color? (you'd tend to use different techniques in each case...)

[Chenoa]

Originally Posted by Leah

Is the photo black and white or color? (you'd tend to use different techniques in each case...)

The photo is black and white!

[Leah]

As a first step, make sure you have scanned the photograph in colour, and then check out the various channels (Red, Green, Blue). You may find that the ink is not visible at all (or is far less visible to the extent that you can then tidy up quite easily with cloning/healing/dodging/burning/etc.), in one of the channels and if so you can discard the other two to give you an undamaged black and white image.

Failing that, there is a great pdf tutorial from Russell Brown here (that one is aimed at colour photographs, but the same principles apply to black and white where the stain can't be fixed through discarding channels, so long as you are using a colour scan of your bw photo).

Or if none of that helps, try posting an example of the kind of damage you're working on here and someone will probably have a bright idea!

[Chenoa]

Originally Posted by Leah

As a first step, make sure you have scanned the photograph in colour, and then check out the various channels (Red, Green, Blue). You may find that the ink is not visible at all (or is far less visible to the extent that you can then tidy up quite easily with cloning/healing/dodging/burning/etc.), in one of the channels and if so you can discard the other two to give you an undamaged black and white image.

Failing that, there is a great pdf tutorial from Russell Brown here (that one is aimed at colour photographs, but the same principles apply to black and white where the stain can't be fixed through discarding channels, so long as you are using a colour scan of your bw photo).

Or if none of that helps, try posting an example of the kind of damage you're working on here and someone will probably have a bright idea!

Thanks for your help. If I had some problems I'll post the photo. And sorry for my english!

[uwbpet]

Originally Posted by Leah

Is the photo black and white or color? (you'd tend to use different techniques in each case...)

Hi Leah

I have the same problem with red ink writing across each subject in an old B&W. Turning off the green and blue channels eliminates the ink 90%. When you say discard a channel, I assume you mean delete. The green and blue channels are now gone and I have a nice clean B&W. My problem: I cannot figure out how to save it to jpeg. When I try to save, it reverts back to original background and I am back where I started. I am sorely ignorate of channels and I know this is an elementary question but it has me stumped.
I appreciate your help.

[sdubose99]

One way is to select only the channel you want to keep, then change the mode to grayscale, then save to jpeg. I know that will work in Photoshop, not sure about others. Another way is to select the channel you want to keep, select all (ctrl-A), copy, then create a new jpeg document, paste, and save.

Chenoa, your english is just fine!

Scott

[Leah]

uwbpet - if you are in Photoshop then go to the Channels palette and activate the (red) channel you want to keep. Then do Image -> Mode -> Greyscale and it will change the image to a greyscale image of just the channel you have activated (i.e. the red one) (if you do this without switching to the Channels palette and activating a channel first then it will use a combination of all channels to create the greyscale image. If you're not in photoshop then there's almost certainly a way of doing the same thing.

[I know this is the same as Scott told you but I'm trying to give more detail in case it's not obvious]

[uwbpet]

Leah & Scott

The light finally came on. Much thanks to you both. I sorely need to spend time on both channels and blend modes.

Sometimes you have to be obvious with me. I'll admit I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I've got a big heart.

[Chenoa]

I tried to remove the ink in this picture but it's impossible. Someone could help me?

Thanks

[Xaran]

Is this originally a colour picture - if so could you scan it in colour and post it. I doubt anyone would be able to do anything with the black and white version.

Christine

[Chenoa]

Originally Posted by Xaran

Is this originally a colour picture - if so could you scan it in colour and post it. I doubt anyone would be able to do anything with the black and white version.

Christine

The picture is black and white and the problem is this one.

[Leah]

Chenoa - even though it's a black and white picture, can you scan it in colour, please?

(1) That's always always always a good idea if you're planning to do any restoration on a black and white image

(2) If you have any discolouration, take point (1) and multiply by 1000...

[Chenoa]

Originally Posted by Leah

Chenoa - even though it's a black and white picture, can you scan it in colour, please?

(1) That's always always always a good idea if you're planning to do any restoration on a black and white image

(2) If you have any discolouration, take point (1) and multiply by 1000...

Ok I'll do it!

[sdubose99]

It would be 10x better if you have a color version of the picture -- any chance?

Scott

[Chenoa]

Originally Posted by sdubose99

It would be 10x better if you have a color version of the picture -- any chance?

Scott

No, I'm sorry. It is a picture when I was a baby.

[sdubose99]

I'll ask the question a different way. What color is the ink on the original image?

Scott