removing / fixing dots from scanned photo

[IAvsCA]

Hello All,

    I tried looking through the forum for this, but the answers I've found don't seem to quite cover my situation, or are for older versions of gimp to which I couldn't get the mentioned plugin.

    I've Scanned an older small photo of my mother for her obituary, and we'd like to re-print it to a larger poster board for the funeral service.  The problem I have is that the scanned photo has a grid of small dots which I'd like to blend out of the picture so they're not so visible on a larger print.

Attached is an example.

    I would be much appreciative if this could be answered sooner rather than later.  

    A point in the right direction should help.

TIA,
Mark

[Ofnuts]

Is it a scan that you did? If these "bubbles" are due to the texture of the print, then  try:

• scan the picture in at least two opposite directions  (ideally in the 4 possible directions). You have to be accurate, make sure that one side of the print is tucked along the edge of the scanner
  
• load all the layers in the same image: File>Open the first, then File>Open as layer| the others
  
• rotate the layers appropriately (90°, 180°, 270°)
  
• align them (but the top layer in Difference and move it around, when it is properly aligned on the one below the picture goes a lot darker)
  
• set all layers to Darken only mode (or all to Lighten only).
  

The idea is that the "bubbles" are due to the side lighting used by the scanner. By scanning in different directions you get shadows on different parts of the bubbles, and Lighten only or Darken only will keep the like-lighted parts, mitigating the bubbles.

[IAvsCA]

Much appreciated. I understand the concept of what you're asking me to do. I'm a bit of a newbie with Gimp even though I've known of it for many years. I'm technical, but don't use it much and will need to learn my way through your process above.

The picture I'm scanning isn't perfectly straight on all sides, so I've been trying to align the 4 layers. Auto align, I can't seem to get to work, and even though I'm able to manually align two layers at a time, I think I'm missing a step in combining all layers for a final product(image).

[Ofnuts]

If you have at least one straight edge you can make 4 scans of the picture putting that edge along the 4 sides of the scanner bed.

Otherwise you can use my ofn-layer-aligner script (after giving the layers a roughly correct orientation).

But all this assumes that the bubbles are really from the paper texture, otherwise some other method must be used.

[Ofnuts]

A similar problem fixed with a similar technique:

http://ebaddeley.com/news/2013/7/9/how-t...olor-paper