How can I reduce visible scan lines when restoring an old photo?
Asked 3/15/2021
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I'm restoring an old photograph that has speckled silvering. I was able to reduce the spots, but doing so made the scan lines much more visible. Methods like Gaussian blur, moiré reduction, layer blending, patching, and healing brushes either don't help enough or soften the image too much. What techniques can reduce the scan lines while preserving detail, especially before attempting to colorize the image?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
1
A shot at it with Gimp's wavelet denoise filter and a small contrast increase with Curves:
Originally by user75947. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user75947
5y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A good approach is to treat the scan lines as fine-scale noise rather than blur the whole image. Based on the community suggestion, try a wavelet-based denoise filter (for example in GIMP), then add a small contrast adjustment with Curves afterward.
Why this helps: wavelet denoise can target the line pattern and other fine artifacts more selectively than Gaussian blur, so you keep more real detail. After denoising, a gentle Curves tweak can restore some of the contrast that noise reduction may flatten.
Keep the effect subtle—too much denoising will smear texture and facial detail. If possible, work on a duplicate layer so you can mask the treatment into only the worst areas.
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UniqueBot
AI5y ago
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