Photo problem after scanning: When I scan in a large photo (bigger than 4X3) I get white "lint" dots all over the photo. Blurring take a lot but not all the dots off. Is there...

slmc1949

When I scan in a large photo (bigger than 4X3) I get white "lint" dots all over the photo. Blurring take a lot but not all the dots off. Is there something I am doing wrong in the scan. These are high quality professional pictures taken for an anniversary

snowbear

Make sure the originals and the scanner glass are clean.

slmc1949

Tanks Snowbear. I use a commercial TV monitor cleaner and special blue cloth

snowbear

Then it may be something in the print, itself. Also, there may be a "dust removal" setting in the scanner software that you can tune.

Designerfin Loc: Utah, USA

You would probably do well to use either the cloning tool in PS or similar in whatever editor you use. There may even be a special tool/effect in your app to remove dust specs. If your prints are not smooth glossy ones the paper texture may be showing in the scans. Good luck.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

There are dust and scratch removal tools in Photoshop, repair brushes, etc. Photos printed on matte paper are harder to scan than photos on glossy paper. The indents on the matte paper scatter light in odd directions, and make cleaning up a bear. One suggestion: sometimes, it helps to put the photo on the scanning plate on a slant of about 15 degrees. This helps to avoid moiré patterns. I learned this doing some work for a stamp cataloging company.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

RMM wrote:

Photos printed on matte paper are harder to scan than photos on glossy paper. The indents on the matte paper scatter light in odd directions, and make cleaning up a bear. One suggestion: sometimes, it helps to put the photo on the scanning plate on a slant of about 15 degrees. This helps to avoid moiré patterns. I learned this doing some work for a stamp cataloging company.

Thanks for this information - I'm scanning hundreds of old family photos and many are b&w on matte - will keep your suggestion handy.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

slmc1949 wrote:

When I scan in a large photo (bigger than 4X3) I get white "lint" dots all over the photo. Blurring take a lot but not all the dots off. Is there something I am doing wrong in the scan. These are high quality professional pictures taken for an anniversary

It sounds like a scanner problem. It would be better to get a good scan rather than correct the dots after it is scanned. I'd try scanning an assortment of subjects and sizes. Also, scan with nothing on the glass and see what happens.

rebride

First time I scanned I had to do it all again. Reminded me of film days. Had to dig out the compressed air, brush, cleaner.
Each individual print got the brush/air treatment right before scanning. Kept close eye on the scanner glass.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

ecobin wrote:

quote=RMM Photos printed on matte paper are harde... (show quote)

One trick I found, which happened with some glossy photos, works when you get an unwanted color tone (usually blue) from reflections. Sometimes, an old photo doesn't want to lay perfectly flat, and while you can press down on the cover, you may not want to if the photo is in a fragile condition.

In Photoshop, use the eyedropper to pick up what the correct color should be, then switch to the brush tool, set it for color mode, and set opacity around 25-50 percent and use a large brush to paint over the discolored area. You may have to take several samples and paint over multiple areas, as they may not all have the same tone. If you're going to do that kind of touching up, you should duplicate the layer and work on that. You can switch it on and off to compare to the original, and it's easy to get rid of your mistakes.

georgevedwards Loc: Essex, Maryland.

I think the same can be done with the rubber stamp tool in Photoshop. I takes part of the surrounding area of the photo and grafts it over the spot to be removed. This gives the same texture as in the photo and won't have that painted over look where the brush tool will leave the same color but smooth, not with the texture of the surrounding area. The rubber stamp or clone tool I use all the time, it can even do extensive reconstruction of severly damaged photos, like cracks were the white paper shows through, or stains, etc. I think it is one of most valuable tools in Photoshop. It does things the healing brush can't. One trick is to use the "soft" setting for the brush, little or usually no "hardness" on the slider. It is particularly effective if used with a pressure sensitive graphics tablet and stylus instead of mouse, with the size and opacity set to react to the pressure in the settings. You can lifte whole parts of one photo and transfer it to a different photo also.

RMM wrote:

quote=ecobin quote=RMM Photos printed on matte p... (show quote)

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

Many old photos were printed on what was called a "silk" surface paper, which is extremely difficult to copy because of tiny reflections from the surface.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

georgevedwards wrote:

I think the same can be done with the rubber stamp... (show quote)

I did not say to use the brush to paint out the affected area, which you would do in Normal mode. I said to change the mode to Color. This applies color without altering the variety of light and dark tones. The Clone tool does not work well in this situation if there is any variety of texture. I agree that the clone tool can be the tool of choice when repairing tears and other damage where the original image is gone, or has stains on it.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

slmc1949 wrote:

When I scan in a large photo (bigger than 4X3) I get white "lint" dots all over the photo. Blurring take a lot but not all the dots off. Is there something I am doing wrong in the scan. These are high quality professional pictures taken for an anniversary

For one you should not be scanning professional photos, I am surprised that the pros here that have read this thread have not mentioned that, but sometimes the texture of the photograph itself can present problems when scanning.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Blurryeyed wrote:

quote=slmc1949 When I scan in a large photo (bigg... (show quote)

Point well taken, but he hasn't said how old these are. They might be family archival photos over 100 years old, and tracing back to whoever MIGHT own copyright could be nearly impossible. Assuming copyright hasn't expired. I didn't even notice that phrase until you brought it to everyone's attention.