Cleaning up lint/specks while preserving the photo, most efficient way to do this?

[Anahamkarah]

This is a photo of neon lights, and it's a rather old photo. There's lint and specks in the shot that keep the black background from being nice and sharp. I'd like to prep this image to go on a black t-shirt. What would be the most efficient way to remove all the black and the specks in the image while preserving those great streaks of blue and the glow of the lights? The only methods I know of end up hacking it to pieces and it looks really choppy and obvious. My photoshop skills are of the more basic, bash-it-with-a-rock caveman-style. This project seems to require a lot more finesse than I currently possess.

Your advice/knowledge is greatly appreciated!

[iDad]

I would extract the star and Big and recreate a new backgound, or even "no background and let it take on the color of the shirt, but not sure if it would be a copyright issue or not

[SicSid]

the most efficient and simple way is .... Since its a black area that you want to make more darker...

1. You can use Image>Adjustment>Level or Ctrl + L
2. Push The Left Slider (the dark one) to the right until it feels right.
3. If that is not enough. You can use the Clone tool to touch up the unwanted spots.

Here You go

[X_Rogue_X]

Hello,

I've separated the sign from the background for you, and filled the background layer with black. There's also a path and mask to allow you to experiment; both were done quickly and could use refinement, if you choose to do so. It's not very noticeable with a dark background, however.

The blue effect of the original photo can be duplicated in a number of ways (painting directly, shadow/glow effects, etc.).

If you're new to PS, I encourage you to make a copy of the file and experiment, especially with the path and mask.

Enjoy!big.psd

[iDad]

That's cool X nice thing to do!

[KRF]

I had a go as well, here is what I cam up with

Attachment 295

[Anahamkarah]

Wow guys! I didn't expect such fast and numerous responses! I appreciate all the work, they all look better than what I was trying to do. I was originally considering the clone stamp, and just stamping out each piece of white lint one by one but I can tell from the quick replies that that obviously wouldn't have been the preferred method!

X_Rogue_X - Wow! Thanks so much for that file! You really cut out the image from the black incredibly neatly! I hope it didn't take you too long. Any tricks you used to pull it out so cleanly or is it just great mouse skills from years of practice?

KRF - Thanks for your time and effort! That looks super clean and sharp!

SicSid - I never thought about using that feature! It looks like it is certainly a fast method to get you quickly started on a project like this one.

With a little tweaking of the file X sent me, I managed to get this:



A little drop shadow was played with on the star itself, just trying to add a little bit of that glow back. Turning off the black background and throwing it on a shirt proved to be very sharp looking!

Thanks again everyone!

[KRF]

Wow guys! I didn't expect such fast and numerous responses! I appreciate all the work, they all look better than what I was trying to do. I was originally considering the clone stamp, and just stamping out each piece of white lint one by one but I can tell from the quick replies that that obviously wouldn't have been the preferred method!

X_Rogue_X - Wow! Thanks so much for that file! You really cut out the image from the black incredibly neatly! I hope it didn't take you too long. Any tricks you used to pull it out so cleanly or is it just great mouse skills from years of practice?

KRF - Thanks for your time and effort! That looks super clean and sharp!

SicSid - I never thought about using that feature! It looks like it is certainly a fast method to get you quickly started on a project like this one.

With a little tweaking of the file X sent me, I managed to get this:

Attachment 296

A little drop shadow was played with on the star itself, just trying to add a little bit of that glow back. Turning off the black background and throwing it on a shirt proved to be very sharp looking!

Thanks again everyone!

Well just add an outer glow, and you'll get what I got

[X_Rogue_X]

X_Rogue_X - Wow! Thanks so much for that file! You really cut out the image from the black incredibly neatly! I hope it didn't take you too long. Any tricks you used to pull it out so cleanly or is it just great mouse skills from years of practice?

Only took a few minutes, no tricks. Since the photo had very high contrast, I was able to just use the Quick Selection tool. I did have to zoom in a couple times and adjust the brush size, particularly where the letters are connected and there is discoloration. Once I had the selection, I simply made the path and mask from it. Prob. five minutes, tops...I wasn't timing it.

I use a tablet 99% of the time, for this I didn't bother, just clicked w/the mouse.

Try it yourself with the original photo, it's easy!