[filmscanners] RE: How to clean negatives - fix with PS

["John Rossi" <cjrossi1942@attbi.com>]

Vadik -
If you are using Photoshop, I have read and tried the following with good
results:
Make all your image adjustments first (not sharpening).  Create a copy of
the adjusted layer and work with this copy.  Select
Filter/Noise/Dust&Scratches, adjust the radius until you see the dust spots
and scratches just disappear, adjust threshold to the highest level that
does not make the spots and scratches reappear.  The big spots may have to
be Clone Stamped or Healing Brushed away on the background layer.
Create a black layer mask on the layer you have used the dust and scratch
filter on, which will hide the effects of the this filter.
Switch the foreground color to white, select an appropriate size brush tool
(play around with the hardness etc.)  paint over the spots and scratches
which will let the dust and scratch filtered areas show through the mask . .
. . the spots should disappear.
I find that one can use a rather high level of the dust and scratch filter
because only small areas will be visible (spots invisible) through the layer
mask and will not be noticeable.  You need to be careful not to effect
highlights you want to retain in the final product.  I usually make the
corrections at around 200% magnification.  Oh yes, if you have large blank
areas that need dust removal you can select the area using the lasso tool
and use the paint bucket to fill with white which will quickly let the
filtered area show through the mask.  The last step in the process is to
flatten the layers and sharpen if desired.
I am new to this business and am in the part of the learning curve that is
about as steep as a laundry chute.  What I mention above has been pulled
from several sources and seems to work well for me.  There are many ways to
get rid of dust and scratch marks.  The best way to start, as mentioned
before in this thread, it to make sure your negative/slide is as clean as
possible.   Thanks,  John Rossi




-----Original Message-----
From: filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of mark@grafphoto.com
Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2002 5:54 PM
To: cjrossi1942@attbi.com
Subject: [filmscanners] Re: How to clean negatives

You might want to try a ZeroStat anti-static gun if the blower and brush
don't seem to be helping.  I have been using one on slides for years and it
seems to help on those where the dust particles just don't want to go away!
You can always do a software cleanup afterwards (like the Polaroid filter
mentioned) - but the quickest way is to use as many cleaning tools prior to
scanning.

Mark

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