Dust Spotting Large Areas

[Doug Nelson]

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Jakaleena is at it again, this time with a very handy tutorial for removing dust spots from entire areas at once.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Jak,
You need to start getting out of the house more.

DJ

[Ed_L]

Okay Jak. Now you've got something else to do!

Ed

[Jakaleena]

Originally posted by Ed_L
Okay Jak. Now you've got something else to do!

Ed

Oh WOW!

Vroooooooooom! RrrooooooaaaaaRRRRRRRR! Squeeeeeeeellllllll!

Thanks Ed, I always wanted one of those!

[Ed_L]

I thought if we kept showering you with small gifts, you'd keep writing! Keep 'em coming. You've been waking up some of the things I already knew, and taught me a few new things to boot.

Ed

[Jakaleena]

Originally posted by DJ Dubovsky
Jak,
You need to start getting out of the house more.

DJ

I did. Really. Today. I have a HUGE garden out back and I worked in it.

And I have a bunch of lawn that takes 3 days to mow... And a great front porch with a glider and a fountain and some hummingbirds and flowers...

I get out sometimes. Honest.

[Doug Nelson]

3 days?!?

[Stephen M]

Spotting Action

Thanks Jak.

As you say, the offsetting of copied pixels by a small amount can do wonders (as can blend modes). But if there is detail that might be damaged by this move, then these areas may prove more difficult.

I have a old article on this - which is due for some addition/revision, when I find the time. The action is also updated - since I have to resort to using this method in real live work in some rare cases.

So...

I will post the new v5.x or higher action here, since the one with the article is obsolete (ignore the spotting action at my website, this is new & improved).

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/IT_scanningspotting.html

The good thing about working in traditional print (press) is that the halftone screen breaks up the dust and you don't have to remove every minor spot - but when we do scans for others, then we can't afford to let some of these small things slip.

Regards,

Stephen.

[Jakaleena]

Originally posted by Doug Nelson
3 days?!?

Well, not ENTIRE days. I do it in shifts spread over 3 days. I don't have a lawn tractor, just a push mower...

[Stephen M]

Smart Duster

The previous action provides a harsher effect and may sacrifice too much image detail when the spotting situation is not as intense as this action calls for.

In many cases, simple flowing natural shaped feathered selections and dust n scratch filtering and some noise addition may be required to quickly remove small dust in critical areas.

Attached to this new post is my v5.x or higher SmartDuster action - which is designed to remove many small dust artifacts without sacrificing image quality. Often only this step is needed, other times the harsher spotting action is needed in addition - and then some manual retouching to polish things off.

These actions use multiple filtering and layering and can be quite RAM intensive on larger files. There are trade off's in all things. In the print production settings that I have worked - time is often of the essence...but so is quality. When faced with a lot of tedius spotting or many images requiring spotting, you quickly look for ways to speed up the process. Although they can be slow on larger files, it can be slow and painful to do things by hand, even if results are often better. Different settings will have different requirements on the quality of the spotting, but the print process can often hide half of the minor flaws and reduce your workload.

The SmartDuster action can be used in the supplied auto mode, or it can be set to semi auto with a single command...

In the actions palette view the action in list mode and scroll down to the second instance of the Dust & Scratches filter (ignore the first one). At the left of the actions palette next to the check mark for the action step there is a column for a Modal Control. Simply click this empty space and a modal control icon will appear (menu/desktop icon). Now when the action is run, you will be given the option to choose the radius and threshold of the dust spotting process.

Some other tips on the actions -

Directly after running the action, you can choose to undo the last command (flatten) to view and or further modify the correction layers. Commonly I will link the correction layers and create a new linked layer set - then I will use the layer mask of this set to selectivly apply (or remove) the actions edits to the image.

These actions obviously do not work with high bit data and are only for regular bit files of 8 bpc data. They should work as intended with RGB, LAB or CMYK and perhaps even Grayscale mode. Tested on Photoshop 5.5 and 7.0 on Mac and PC.

Best of all, these actions work for batching or droplets - so you can set the action to process a whole folder of images (or open docs etc) and save the work for you...while you make a cup of tea, have lunch, leave early (I like this one) or even run overnight etc. I have the luxury of having two G4's at my disposal - so while I retouch/colour correct/mask on one I can use the other computer for tasks such as playing CD's - er, I mean automated dust spotting.

Usual conditions apply - no warranty given or implied, please provide bug reports or improvement feedback on or off list.

Don't expect magic, some images accept these automated corrections while others can be worse than before the action and you have wasted time and perhaps the original.

Work on backup files until you get a feel for the action or have modified it to suit your tasks etc. If in doubt don't use these compromise methods.

P.S. Perhaps we need a dedicated RETOUCH PRO ACTION ARCHIVE forum or something. Or perhaps a GOODIES folder - as there are other presets which might be useful too (brushes, swatches, styles, textures etc).

Sincerely,

Stephen Marsh.

[Jakaleena]

Perhaps we need a dedicated RETOUCH PRO ACTION ARCHIVE forum or something. Or perhaps a GOODIES folder - as there are other presets which might be useful too (brushes, swatches, styles, textures etc)

I was just thinking that as I glanced over your posts... I can't wait to read what you wrote more closely and try your action. Right now I'm off to do some plowing in the garden so the studying will have to wait till this afternoon...

I really appreciate your additions and help - thanks for taking the time to post such in depth replies.

[Blacknight]

Originally posted by Jakaleena


I did. Really. Today. I have a HUGE garden out back and I worked in it.

And I have a bunch of lawn that takes 3 days to mow... And a great front porch with a glider and a fountain and some hummingbirds and flowers...

I get out sometimes. Honest.

Oh Man...that sounds wonderful! May I drop by and sit in the glider a while? Your porch has a fountain?

[Jakaleena]

Originally posted by Blacknight

Oh Man...that sounds wonderful! May I drop by and sit in the glider a while? Your porch has a fountain?

Of course you may! Too bad I don't still live in Portland...

I just did some plowing, and a rough measurement of the garden and flower beds so that I'd know how much additives to get and they're about 2800 sq. ft. The yard is pretty close to an acre.

The porch runs the entire length of the front of the house. I LOVE a good porch. The fountain is just a small electric one. It's kind of a Spanish style. Sort of terra cotta colored, and the water runs from what looks like a spigot on the back down into a catch bowl. I love hearing it and the wind chimes though. It's very peaceful.

[Doug Nelson]

Dust Spotting Large Areas

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