Remove photopaper texture from old photo

[Skyarcher]

Hi Ro (and Flora),

1 - I am using PC (laptop actually right now, but Win).

2 - Yes, sorry, I haven't upgraded, so I forget there is CS2. I am using CS1. (Could that be the problem?)

3 - I did not find an old version to try and download. Only the 2 new versions, of which I downloaded the RGB one.

4 - Yes, I've downloaded it twice now, in case in corrupted while transferring.

5 - Yes, I can actually click on them, which gives me the error.

Sorry to be a pain.... I do thank you though for any help.

[videosean]

I don't know if this might help or not... I don't get an error in but I've attached a screenshot showing where the FFT files are saved on my system. WinXPSP2.

[Skyarcher]

Okay, I finally got it to work, after uninstalling and reinstalling for the upteenth time, but, it would not work on the image that I am trying to restore.

I was able to open it on a different image.

The one I'm trying to restore is RGB 8, no layers.. not really large file, only 89.1Mb.

Now that I have it working, sort of, any clues as to why it's not working on the one image that I need it to work with? *I consider it.. just my luck *

Thanks!

[Skyarcher]

Originally Posted by videosean

I don't know if this might help or not... I don't get an error in but I've attached a screenshot showing where the FFT files are saved on my system. WinXPSP2.

Thanks.. yes, I had mine the same. Same OS too. Appreciate the try!

[videosean]

Originally Posted by Skyarcher

.. not really large file, only 89.1Mb.

That's not an 89MB jpeg I assume... how about pixel dimensions? Is any side larger than 3072 pixels? If that's the case, http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...265#post112265 that might help - the only problem I ran into but I didn't get an error when the image was apparently larger than the filter likes, just no stars.

[Skyarcher]

Originally Posted by videosean

That's not an 89MB jpeg I assume... how about pixel dimensions? Is any side larger than 3072 pixels? If that's the case, http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...265#post112265 that might help - the only problem I ran into but I didn't get an error when the image was apparently larger than the filter likes, just no stars.

Yes, actually it is a jpeg... but, it's 9639x3230.

Thanks for the link to the other thread, I'll go start reading.

[Kraellin]

skyarcher,

welcome to RP.

your image is too large, as has already been pointed out. there are other plugins that do this as well. i think it's the polaroid dust and scratch removal program, that when used as a plugin, has a limit of about 1024 pixels on any one side. it might even be smaller. so, this isnt uncommon.

also, why would you need to be working on an 89 meg file as an 89 meg file? i know folks are always trying to get the best possible results and resolutions, but ostensibly you're going to print this out at some point and your print just is never going to print at that kind of resolution. inks just cant get it that fine, so why work on such a huge file as a huge file? you could easily cut this in half, or even more, and lose nothing in the print.

i find that about the largest you ever need, at least for home inkjet printing, is about 1024 x 1024 at roughly 200 dpi. this may vary a bit depending on colors and printing choices, but i've never been disappointed in the printing by these choices. now, if you're doing printing on commercial presses or something like that, then that may well be a different story and i'll shut up and go away because i have no idea there. but if only on a home printer, i think you could save yourself a lot of trouble and time due to processing slowness by cutting your file size down.

so, why the large file size?

craig

[Skyarcher]

Hi Craig,

Because it is not my image that I am working on. This is the file that was given to me to try and do what I can to restore. I won't be printing, but sending it back as per instructions. What they do with it, I don't know.

Thank you though for seconding that it is too large for plugin.

[Kraellin]

sky,

ok. thanks

craig

[Cameraken]

Hi SkyArcher

Try this
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...0&page=1&pp=15

Image Analyser will handle larger file sizes than Alex Chirakov FFT. I don’t know what the maximum size is.

Ken

[videosean]

edit: cameraken posted while I was typing... try that one first it could be less work

my suggestion:

Cut up the file into pieces to process individually and then stitch back together if you want to keep the max resolution and use the free plugin. There's bound to be several ways to do it but basically you want to cut them into pieces 100 to 200 pixels smaller than 3072x3072. Adding a grey border helps avoid an artifact of the free fft plugin and I think when I was playing with it I used 200 pixels... so cut it up into pieces of 2872x2872 pixels and then save those pieces.

You end up with 3072 x 3072 files if you add a 200 pixel grey border, save the files, run FFT on each one, save them, then paste into your working project file. It's not impossible... and I'm not one to reduce the size my own files just so I can use a filter if I can find a way to avoid it

http://videosean.gotgeeks.com/i/PS/2872.atn <- I made a file that was 9639 wide x 3230 high. that action will put guides into a file that size at 2872x2872 and then it will copy the first (top, left) sector into a new file and add a 200 pixel grey border. If you want something that would do that. You can go by the guides to copy the rest into new documents - I didn't want to have an action that was going to make 6 new documents.

[rrustic]

Use the FFT filter technique as decribed in the tutorials section.
The attached is the result of my second use of this filter.
Just a bit of blur touchup after application of the filter.

[byRo]

Looks good rrustic, glad to see you got the hang of it.

Rô

[rrustic]

I am extremely new to retouching.
I started just scanning old b&w photos and putting them on disk so folks could view them on their TVs. Then I started to "fix" them up a bit, removing dust and scratches and such. I am now trying to add color. It is great fun!!!!!!.
I was given a pic of a Romanian woman when she was in her teens and it was really heavy with the texture of the paper. This sight has helped me immensely as I found the FFT technique here.
I am sure I will have tons of questions for the terrific people who post here.

[KhaOZ]

The FFT plugin link is no longer available. Does anyone have an alternative?

Thanks!

[KhaOZ]

Sorry to have bumped this old thread for nothing, but I have found it on my own. i'll go ahead and link it for anyone else who googles and finds this thread.

Thanks anyway! Here's the link to the filter. It's at the bottom of this page:

http://www.skeller.ch/ps/fft_action.php

[MrRyan]

FLora and Tzec,

GREAT GREAT posts. I had developed my own technique for doing this, but it only produced about 70% of the results the two of you showed. I'll be sliding this into my workflow, spending less time, with a better result, which of course means, MORE MONEY!
HAha, thanks!
Mr. RyRy

[0lBaldy]

KhaOZ, welcome to RetouchPRO! Nice to have you aboard and hope you enjoy the experience and make many new friends! Enjoy your visits here!

Looks like while I was gathering my links you found what you were after... Sorry I was so late..

FFTs found at:

FFT (Fast Fourier Transformation) Photoshop plugin by Alex V. Chirokov
or
FFT FILTER WITH PHOTOSHOP ACTION (easy to use action)
or
Fourier Transform Plug-in
or
2D FFT/iFFT (Fast Fourier Transform) plugin for Windows

FFT Tutorial is here

(do not forget to add then remove the 50% Gray border as stated in the tutorial above)

[klassylady25]

Originally Posted by Flora

Hi Vespeera

Welcome to RP!

Great help from Dave and Ken!! (if you haven't done it already, you can download the free version od Neat Image here

I had a go at your picture and used a combination of PS Gaussian Blur and Neat Image trying to minimize the texture without smoothing too much and losing too many details.

• I duplicated the Background Layer twice.
• On the first duplicate I run Neat Image (defaul settings).
• On the second duplicate (on top) I run Gaussian Blur, added some noise and adjusted its Opacity. I, then, added a Layer Mask and, with a soft black brush, I painted over eyes, nose and mouth to uncover those sharper features from the underlying 'Neat Image' Layer.
• Merged Visible.
• Created a Levels Adjustment Layer to improve contrast.
• Created a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer (colorize option checked) to give a light tint to the picture.
• Added a little Noise + Soft Gaussian Blur (radius = 0.3-5).
• Created a New empty Layer > Blending Overlay and with a soft black/white Brush (Opacity 10-20%) I painted over areas I wanted to emphisize/highlight.
• I further enhanced the contrast using Unsharp Mask (Amount>20%, Radius>50, Threshold>0).
• I finally sharpened the image using USM.

Hope this helps...

Always incredible work and I always keep your information!

[Debbie Smith]

This method works quite well for me sometimes, particularly if i start with a nice sharp image. (I use elements 4) first, I remove noise using the 'reduce noise' filter. Then I go to the dust and scratches filter and apply quite a low setting (need to experiment for the picture). I then open 'neat image' and that seems to remove the rest of the texture. I get better results that way than using 'neat image' first, although I am still learning and maybe find another method later on that will give better results. I have hidden power tools, but haven't experimented with adjusting individual chanels to reduce texture - will maybe work through one of your suggestions.

[0lBaldy]

Hi Debbie, Welcome to RetouchPRO! Enjoy your time here. Poke around, ask questions, offer help, have fun!

I basically started out doing as you explained, until I discovered FFT, then found that the filter in Image Analyzer was much simpler and faster for paper texture removal. "Image Analyzer", is found here for free

It does a lot of other things but I will just post a sample of the texture removal steps for your perusal

[Debbie Smith]

Thanks, will download that and have a go with it. I've been learning fast since we got a scanner and can start messing about with old photos, but unless you have a go you never learn!

[Debbie Smith]

Ive download Image Analyzer and been playing with it all evening but find it excessively slow. I've spent most of the evening staring at a screen. This is the before and after of what took me about 5 minutes to achieve using Photoshop elements 4 and neat image using the above method. I then corrected levels and applied a very slight s curve using smart curve easy filter. I like working with layers, as it lets me change my mind, I can't see that image analyzer has layer capability, is there a way round this?

[Jessie711]

I have recently downloaded and installed Alex Chirakov's newest FFT/IFFT filter.

Having followed this posting and the excellent instruction it contains I am fairly comfortable using the filter. Also as well as the FFT and IFFT filter the download contains RGB2HSL and HSL2RGB plug-ins. I’m not sure how they work or if I need them any instruction in there use would be greatly appreciated.

[Steve13]

I just ran it through ImageAnalyzer. It took most of the texture out.