Photoshop question

[Purrrfect]

So say I have an image that is a scanned signature on a white background, usually 300dpi resolution. Of course it looks like ass being scanned, so how can I smooth the line edges out in photoshop? Also, I don't think I saw how to do it in ps (I can do it in paint shop pro old version), but I'd like to drop the image down to black and white only.

[Zansho]

So say I have an image that is a scanned signature on a white background, usually 300dpi resolution. Of course it looks like ass being scanned, so how can I smooth the line edges out in photoshop? Also, I don't think I saw how to do it in ps (I can do it in paint shop pro old version), but I'd like to drop the image down to black and white only.

It's most likely your scanner that has produced the "ass" looking scan, and quite frankly, most scanners aren't going to produce the best scan for image work.

what I would do, is if you have a 10MP DSLR, is take an image of the photo - don't use direct flash as the photo will have reflective properties and will reflect the flash back to your camera. If possible, go outside, put it on a white table under sunlit shade, and take a photo using available light.

If you can't do this, you can "smooth out the lines" in photoshop, but it will be a PITA if you have a lot of the lines - use a separate empty layer ontop of the image (NEVER DO IT TO THE ACTUAL IMAGE), and get a healing brush tool (looks like a band aid) and use alt click to sample an area nearby your line that is "normal" and then click where you want to have it smoothed out.

As for changing it to black and white, there is a black and white adjustment layer that you can use in photoshop - it should look like a yin/yang symbol, sorta - just right at the bottom of your layers palette. Click that, and find b/w, and use the sliders to fix the image to b/w to your liking.

[Purrrfect]

Can't do pictures, the images are supplied by customers. They just come in really jagged edges, and then complain that they look bad in the pdfs we make for them to review... Some kind of AA I guess is what I'm trying to do them. We have in the past printed them out, traced over, and rescanned with better equipment but that is a pain, especially with 50 images sometimes...

[Isiolia]

Have you tried treating it like line art? There are plenty of PS tutorials out there for cleaning up scanned pics before coloring. Here's the first one I found on Google http://careyoxler.com/tutorials/scan_tut.htm which may work for you. At the very least, that'll "clean up" the signature and prep it for monotone.

I mean, what you can do if you just have a really crappy scan (and it's not an issue of scaling with dpi or whatnot) is to Gaussian Blur it a bit and then Unsharp Mask. The results will still be crappy, but it'll be blobbier, softer crappiness rather than pixellated.

[Kaisha]

Jagged? You're not scanning it in a strictly black/white mode right?

Got anything non-work related you could scan as an example so we could see how exactly your scanner outputs?


One thing you could try is scanning it even higher, then resize it down to 300dpi, that should force Photoshop to do a bicubic (or whatever the latest use) filter pass on it.

[Zansho]

Jagged? You're not scanning it in a strictly black/white mode right?

Got anything non-work related you could scan as an example so we could see how exactly your scanner outputs?


One thing you could try is scanning it even higher, then resize it down to 300dpi, that should force Photoshop to do a bicubic (or whatever the latest use) filter pass on it.

That could work just fine too - however, even if you scan high and then reduce resolution, you still face the possibility of dealing with the jagged edges.

There could be better solutions, but I'd like to actually SEE the image before suggesting anything further.

[Meresgi]

If you want to cramp up your wrist you could go in with the blur tool and slightly blur all the jaggeds where they are most noticeable, or you could resize the image slightly to they are less noticeable. I'm guessing though they want a specific size picture? Are you scanning the image then blowing it up? I honestly hate when people give me some tiny raster image and want it blown up to cover a football field.

[Shade]

A scanner can scan as either:
Color (full color range)
Greyscale (full black and white range)
Black and white (reduces everything to two color values ONLY, black OR white)

If the people who are sending you images are scanning as the third one, that is where all your jaggies are coming from. 300dpi is completely reasonable, especially for something simple like a signature. Just increase brightness/contrast a little and it should be perfect. My ideal suggestion is to train them to use a scanner properly and use greyscale or color but... good luck with that, I imagine.

[Zansho]

Or, if you prefer, you can tell your bosses that they can outsource/subcontract the jobs to me and I'll be glad to fix them for you - I'm Adobe Photoshop CS4 Certfied, in addition to Illustrator and Lighroom 3.