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Photoshop Help On Removing Dust/Scratches.

BO__einG From Canada, joined Apr 2000, 2760 posts, RR: 20
Posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2005 times:

Hey guys.

I'm having some hard time processing my pictures from a Raw scan to a completed upload ready file.
What happens is that because I scan negatives, I get dust ALL the time.
I REALLY REALLY HATE DUST! In fact I spit on it and wish it never existed in this world.
Every one of my scans come out with some to lots of dust. Even after I air blown them and brushed them off. Sometimes the bristles of my brush scratch the negative making it bad when scanning showing scratch marks on the picture.

My question is, How can I effectively and Quickly get rid of Dust while working an image in Photoshop?
Is there any actions I can implement so that it would somehow highlight or put a lasso automatically to dust areas and clone it out with surrounding areas?
Each time I work on an image in photoshop, I have to use the clone tool/stamp and click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click out the areas of dust and scratches. My fingers are getting sore nowadays! Sad
If there is any technique that could get rid of dust and scratches with a single click or action I would be greatly appreciated. It would not only save time by 90% but my hands wouldnt hurt so much.
I am using Photoshop 6.0 but I am sure that many features of 6.0 are still with the newer 7.0 version.
Thank you.

Bo

Expanding my global domination one spotter at a time..

12 replies: All unread, jump to last

Ckw From UK - England, joined Aug 2010, 545 posts, RR: 17
Reply 1, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 1971 times:

In PS 6 Under Filter-Noise there is a "dust & scratch remover" which might be of some help ... but this is a pretty crude tool, and may well eliminate detail. It works best on flat areas of colour, so might be useful for sky.

But really you need to try and attack this problem at source. From my memory of Canadian winters, static electricity becomes a real problem making simple blower brushes all but ineffective. To counter this, my darkroom used to have an anti-static gun - blast the neg with the gun, then use a strong blower (never a brush which just makes things worse).

That was 20 years ago - I'm sure there must be even better antistatic devices around these days.

Cheers,

Colin

Colin K. Work, Pixstel

Photopilot From Cuba, joined Jul 2002, 2441 posts, RR: 20
Reply 2, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 1943 times:

Hi Bo:

Colin is absolutely right when he says to attack the problem at source. A Canadian winter has drier air than the Sahara desert. The relative humidity is much too low to effectively blow dust off a neg.

Here's what I would do.

1) make sure you have a good electrical ground on your scanner.
2) If necessary, use a very small aligator clip to attach a small wire directly to the negative (on the edge) then to a pipe or good electrical ground. This will eliminate the static charge.
3) Use a good anti-static gun on the neg.
4) Very lightly dampen a tissue, etc with a good negative cleaning solution or film cleaner and use this dampened tissue to clean the neg.
5) Get a bottle of Edwal's No Scratch solution. This is available from most good camera stores. Find a store that still deals with darkroom supplies and chemicals. Edwals No Scratch is a liquid that you can use on the neg before you scan it to eliminate minor scratches. It works wonders on a neg for conventional printing, so it should work fine for scanning. This is especially true for scratches on the base side of the film, not the emulsion side.
6) Try a small humidifier in the room where your scanner is. Bring the relative humidity up to 40% if possible. This will help.

Hope this helps you out some. Good luck

Steve

Mirage From Portugal, joined May 1999, 3120 posts, RR: 16
Reply 3, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 1926 times:

Bo, guess how this photo:

Turned out to this:

?

I did the same as you, use clone tool and click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click

The result was not perfect but given the rarity it was accepted.

Luis
P.S. photo by Pedro Aragão

Photopilot From Cuba, joined Jul 2002, 2441 posts, RR: 20
Reply 4, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 1918 times:

Luis

Nice work with the clone tool, but I believe that Bo was trying very hard to get away from the drudgery of....

click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.

Please suggest something constructive towards Bo's original request.

Steve

Mirage From Portugal, joined May 1999, 3120 posts, RR: 16
Reply 5, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 1920 times:

Steve, I can't, I don't know other way.

Unless the original negative is clean, so bottom line is:

NEGATIVES ARE HOLY !!!

(I keep saying this every time I go to the photo lab to develop a film)

Luis

BO__einG From Canada, joined Apr 2000, 2760 posts, RR: 20
Reply 6, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1896 times:

Hahaha Steve and Luis.
Its so true whenever we work with negatives.
But thank you Colin, Steve, and Luis for the advice and some mild humour.
This whole anti static thing sounds very interesting as the air is definetly very dry up here in the NOrth. (Even My skin is starting to chap up)
I bought myself a nice Air Purifier which should help reduce the amount of dust in my room and I placed it right beside my scanner.
Now I wont have to blow on my negatives so much thus reducing migrains.

I also have a photo solution called Photoflo. It is similar to that No Scratch solution as it helps to eliminate dust, residue, and some scratches.
But I do not plan on dipping every strip of negative into that solution each time I scan.

In photoshop I think I may have found a way to somewhat reduce the clickity click strain on my hand. I could use the magic wand (adjusting the sensitivity) and click on the sky. Most times it will form a nice lasso around dust and scratches. I could then invert my selection and then apply the Anti Scratch and dust function in the filters menu. This I believe could help but I dont expect to use it all the time as what you guys have said; Dust and Scratches at most times do more harm than good in terms of overall quality. That is why I normally avoid using this and use the conventional click tactic.

So how long did it take you to turn that dust bowl of a picture into a real photo Luis? 30 mins, 45 mins?
Then there are the digital guys like Colin where Dust and scratches are like an unknown term to such D60 users like him. Smile

I have also stopped using my regular blow-brush and switched to using a finer more softer brush to prevent any scratchings. People are going to look at me weird when they see me in the cosmetic department buying women's facial brushes for makeup.

Overall guys, Thanks for the advices and I will take the static thing into consideration.

Oh Look, there is snow outside!
thats a rare treat nowadays.

Bo Big grin

Expanding my global domination one spotter at a time..

Ckw From UK - England, joined Aug 2010, 545 posts, RR: 17
Reply 7, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1886 times:

Bo - gotta admit that I really appreciate my freedom from clone-click since I went digital - but, hey, I've paid my dues!

Another thought though ... how are you storing your negs? Unless made of special plastics, many storage systems will make the static problem worse. I find the paper and glassine (kind of a translucent paper, like wax paper) files are better than the plastic sleeves supplied by photo labs.

Cheers,

Colin

Colin K. Work, Pixstel

Serge From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 1989 posts, RR: 3
Reply 8, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1872 times:

I'm basically in the same boat as Bo now that I have a negative scanner- *zoom, click click click scroll click click scroll click click click.....*

I'm going to try and follow Steve's advice... But had one question, would those static cling glove/cloth's do any good? Or just make things worse?

...Serge

BO__einG From Canada, joined Apr 2000, 2760 posts, RR: 20
Reply 9, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1867 times:

All of my negatives are in plastic sleeves given by the lab. Colin, for this special paper you said, is it those "glassine (kind of a translucent paper, like wax paper)" used in photo albums to store developed prints?

I think there are some around but they probably are kinda pricy.
I also had another thought, I can use those big white sponge balls used for mascara removal to help brush away dirt. I think it should do the trick but I have not considered buying it yet as right now I have 3 rolls of slide film to use on my upcoming spotting trips to my local airport. Provia 100F, Sensia 100, and K64.

Hey Serge, what scanner do you have now ?

bo

Expanding my global domination one spotter at a time..

Serge From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 1989 posts, RR: 3
Reply 10, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 1864 times:

Bo-

I have a Primefilm 1800AFL batch scanner (can feed a whole roll of uncut negatives through and it will scan and save all of them). I know a lot of people have been disappointed with Primefilm/Microtek scanners but so far I don't have any major complaints. It sucks it doesn't work with vuescan and only has 1800 optical DPI- but oh well- I'll eventually move up to something like a Nikon Coolscan.

regards,
Serge

Serge From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 1989 posts, RR: 3
Reply 11, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 1861 times:

Heres an example of a Kodak Gold 100 scan from the 1800AFL:

http://nukez.com/fokkerF28_swalczak_v2.jpg

Smile/happy/getting dizzy

Ckw From UK - England, joined Aug 2010, 545 posts, RR: 17
Reply 12, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 1857 times:

Bo - the glassine stuff is like the divider pages in wedding albums. The ones I use aren't expensive at all, as they have their downside (you can't properly see the neg through them or contact print through them). They're readily available in the UK - trade name is Kenro. I've also bought them in Canada, but can't recall if it's the same name over there.

Cheers,

Colin

Colin K. Work, Pixstel

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