Scratches

[Doug Nelson]

Post your favorite scratch-removal tips here.

Here's mine (for Photoshop):

Apply 'dust and scratches' filter until they're all gone. Bump up the threshold just enough so they're still gone, but barely. Then use the history brush to paint back in areas of fine detail that have been softened.

A variant on this is to make a duplicate layer, apply the same filtration as above (some prefer gaussian blur) and then erase softened sections exposing the layer beneith. This has the advantage of being able to turn the filtered layer on and off so you can obviously see the deteriorated areas.

A variant of this variant is to do the erasures via a layer mask so you can always change your mind later.

[Ed_L]

Wow! Funny you should post on that subject. I just replied to a post by Cheri, telling her what I did after reading her comments on my submission. Different from what you described, but it was a shot in the dark for me

Ed

[DJ Dubovsky]

This is a great one I learned from K. Eismann's book. For non detailed areas such as skys or walls etc. Loosely select the area and feather selection. Then copy selection via layer (control-J or command-J) If the specks are dark choose lighten from the layer blend modes and if the specks are light choose darken in the layer blend modes. Then choose the move tool and with the direction arrows inch the selection a couple pixels to the side and a couple up or down. The specks disappear. This one just blew my mind at how well it worked.
DJ

[Doug Nelson]

Ed:

I've used the technique you described. It works well in many situations, especially areas of high texture. A variant is to use the clone tool set to darken (or lighten for dark spots).