The basics

2.17 Dust and scratches
Suitable for Elements – 5.0, 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
Diffi culty level – Basic
One of the hidden enemies of quality
scans is dust. Though the presence
of dust won’t reduce the ability of
the scanner to record highlight and
shadow detail accurately it does
decrease the overall quality of the fi le
because the affected area must be
retouched later in Elements. No matter
how profi cent the retouching is, the
‘rebuilt’ section of the picture that is
created to cover the dust mark will
never be the same as the detail that
existed in the original negative, slide
or print. More important, especially
for the photographer with hundreds
of scans to complete, is the massive
amount of time needed to retouch these
dusty areas.
Some scanner models will include
features designed to remove dust
(and scratches) automatically from
the picture during the scanning
process. This technology when applied
carefully can produce truly amazing
results. One example is the Digital
ICE technology produced by Applied
Science Fiction (www.asf.com). Unlike
post-capture processing where the dust
mark is covered over using samples
ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 5.0 FOR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
Auto dust removal >> Features like ASF’s Digital ICE can
remove dust and scratch marks automatically at the time of
scanning. (a) Before Digital ICE. (b) After Digital ICE.
of other picture detail that surrounds
the area, ICE isolates the marks during
the scanning process and then proceeds to erase the defects from the picture. As the process is
directly linked to the scanning hardware the Digital ICE technology cannot be applied to a dust
affected image after it has been captured.
If you are considering buying a scanner then it is worth considering a make and model that
incorporates the ASF Digital ICE feature. It’s true that the defect detecting and erasing processes
do add to the overall scanning time, but the retouching time saved more than makes up for it.
Book resources at: www.adv-elements.com
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SCANNER AND
CAMERA TECHNIQUES