Dust removal software using Epson V330

[Mike6567]

I have been scanning some old negatives using an Epson V330. If I use the dust removal setting it removes some of the buttons from the uniforms.
Before, the photo is with a spot to the right of the captain's hat
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x167/mike6567_photos/img293-1.jpg
After I use the Epson dust removal the spot disappears but also several of the uniform buttons
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x167/mike6567_photos/img294-1.jpg
Is there some simple software to enable me to remove the spot and keep the buttons?

[Milo Minderbinder]

A program called "The Gimp" is probably your best bet, but its not simple
GIMP - for Windows (http://www.gimp.org/windows/)

Just download the link named as "installer". You should be able to use that to blend out the spot(s) but I don' think theres an automated option - from memory you have to select each point to fix by hand

I'll repeat though - its not a simple program. Originally written for Unix, it still looks like it belongs elsewhere with multiple floating panes for the command and controls

[Evening Star]

Dust removal software is incompatible with silver based monochrome film (works on the dye based film). As I understand it, the software uses the infrared channel and is confused by reflections from the silver grains, causing solarisation.

Only solution that I know is scan without the dust removal software followed by a session of tedious spot dust removal in your photo editing software, although this video has an interesting alternative if you are using photo editing software with history controls. If anybody has a quick solution, I would be grateful as I have large number of scanned monochrome images awaiting post scanning processing.

[mixture]

Mike6567,

The professional workflow is a wet mount drum scan followed by a largely manual retouching process on anything major left.

Photoshop is a wonderful tool, its algorithms keep on getting better and better, but even the pros don't batch process the fiddly stuff.

Assuming you don't want to outsource the entire workflow, I would strongly suggest you at least outsource the scanning professionally. That will give you a fighting chance at minimising the amount of retouching needed (or at the very least give you the peace of mind that you've got the best possible scans and then you can take your time over the retouching).

[green granite]

I suppose really it depends what you wish to do with the pictures, if it's for inclusion in a book then let the publishers sort it out, if it's just that you want to get them onto your computer so you can use them for posting on the web etc then accept they will never be perfect and either lash out £500 or so on Photoshop or as Milo suggests use Gimp which, as he says, is a bit quirky but is nearly as good as Photoshop for things such as spot healing, and I think you can get a less quirky 'Photoshop' lookalike GUI for it, looking at the photo it would take only a few minutes at the most to remove those few blemishes, and also touch in the 'rope' effect around the captain and first officers feet. Do all the repairs and adjustments before using the sharpening tool if you feel you need it.

[Evening Star]

A program called "The Gimp" is probably your best bet, but its not simple


Ironically, downloaded GIMP a few days ago after discovering that the version of elements on my Mac does not work after installing Lion last week. Only had a brief play so far and it strikes me as one of those 'take time to understand everything' programs.

[green granite]

Only had a brief play so far and it strikes me as one of those 'take time to understand everything' programs.

As does Photoshop of course, ok the basic image adjustments such as brightness, contrast, hue etc are reasonably obvious, but things that cut, blur, sharpen and the use of all the different brush modes less so. The best thing to do is to beg, borrow or steal a copy 'Photoshop for Dummies' and spend some time reading it to give yourself an idea of what all the tools do. (they're more or less the same in GIMP)


Mike6567, I forgot to say that negatives can be, up to a point, de-dusted using a camel hair blow type lens brush, or if you're really brave, gently wiping them with a micro-cloth but try it on an unwanted one first.

[Mike6567]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

For the time being I think I will accept them as they are ( I have a box with a couple of hundred rolls of negatives and slides to get through - a lot are already in albums but I am still looking for interesting ones that may have been forgotten).

I had used the Dust Removal without thinking on this negative and it took some time to work out why they had buttons missing from their uniforms!

[OFSO]

Mike, unlike you I only have one or two photos to touch up at a time, but I have found doing it by hand (usually cloning a nearby bit of the picture in) takes less time in the long run. Yes it is tiring so best not to try and do too much at a time, and save at every stage..

Last job was to remove my wife's ex-husband from a photo of her - strangely enough (!) there isn't any software for doing this automatically, although there should be !

[Mike6567]

I have got rid of the "rope" by the captain and first officer's feet by cleaning the scanner with a duster and then the negative using a lens blow brush.
I then cleaned up the spots above the captain and stewardess by using W7 paint and the eraser facility.
This is now good enough for a simple print.
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x167/mike6567_photos/1948Crew.jpg

[Pelikal]

Mike, I think you have answered the question for yourself. The softare can't possibly know the difference between a button and dust! I've done much pro. retouching, both conventional and digital although perhaps a bit rusty now. What you may try is decreasing the tolerance of the dust/scratch tool so only the fine scratches get removed and leave the buttons alone. There will nearly always be something left to be removed 'by hand', however.

You could try drawing a selection marque around the figures (doesn't need to be terribly accurate) give it a slight feather, invert it and just apply the filter to the selection, thus leaving the figures and buttons intact.

Now if you want to explore layers, there are many possibilities. I should mention something here. With any retouching, make a duplicate of the background layer and work on the duplicate, leaving the original untouched. Ok, so it's a larger file but....

With layers, you can clone from one layer to another. So, you could apply the filter to the entire duplicate image, losing the buttons. What you could then do is clone the buttons from the original layer back to the duplicate. Or you could erase bits of the duplicate allowing the original to show through. Again, you could copy and paste. Select specific areas of the clothing on the background image and copy and paste on the duplicate. Not surprisingly, there are a good number of ways to achieve what you want.

I would probably try messing about with the tolerance of the tool first on a duplicate layer and expect to do a bit of manual work. I used to operate a Crosfield A2 (yes A2!) drum scanner and mount in oil. The oil (a sort of parrafin) filled the scratches but the results could be superb. It took a long time to master mounting in oil. If it went wrong, the results were often really messy. This was only applicable negs/trans.

As an aside, reflective originals would be mounted on the drum with tape. The drums revolved at a very high speed and the last sound you want to hear is a wild FLAP! FLAP! FLAP! as the tape detaches from the drum leaving the original almost in shreds at the bottom of the scanner. Only happened to me once. I had to retrieve what I could of the image. Luckily, it was not an important pic. Just a friggin boring mug-shot of a Council women.

I used my paste-up skills to reassemble the image, re-scan it and then re-touch the image. Quite a test for me. I totally re-designed her right ear but I did whiten her teeth! Nobody noticed.

Sorry Mike, I'm rambling on a bit. It's what I used to do at the printers before I was made redundant. Oh, one final thought. I guess you may know that if you are working on a Jpeg file, you lose quality everytime you save. Personally, I would save the file as a TIFF initially if it isn't already and save Jpeg when the work is done. Sharpening should be the final step also. Best of luck.

[Pelikal]

Mike, that looks like a pretty damn good job to me. Didn't see it before I posted previously. Retouching by its very nature is intricate and time consuming. Sometimes a 'global' tool or filter may work on an image. Other times it's a question of going over the image pixel by pixel. Cheers.

[Pelikal]

Mike6567, just wondered how the scanning/retouching went or is it ongoing? I have a similiar job coming up and it will take me ages. Regards.

[Mike6567]

Not much more done. As I said in post 10 the W7 paint and then eraser facility is good enough to remove obvious spots (to the right of the captain's hat and above the stewardess).
I didn't do enough research before I bought the V330 as it will only do 35mm film and slides.
I have loads of negatives from the 30s still to do (120 format). Apparently the Epson V500 will do these. However will save this project for next winter.