4 Quick & Easy Ways to Remove Dots from a Scanned Picture

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Easy ways to fix and remove dot patterns on scanned images
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Are you trying to scan a magazine cutout or a photo that has a bumpy texture? If so, you may have noticed dots all over your scan once you've scanned it into your computer, even if you scan it in at a high resolution. Thankfully, with just a bit of photo editing you can reduce or even remove these dots from your images with ease. We'll teach you four methods in this article to remove dots from your scanned images.

Things You Should Know

  • The gaussian blur or dust filters can be used in photo editing software to blur the image just enough to remove the dots but not to muddy the details.
  • Some scanners come with a "descreen" option that allows you to remove the halftone from magazine images while you're scanning them.
  • If your photo has texture, you can scan it in multiple directions and then combine those images into one composite file with no dots.
Method 1
Method 1 of 4:

Gaussian Blur

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  1. The photo editor must have the ability to do more advanced tasks, like creating layers and using filters. Photoshop , GIMP , and the browser-based Photopea will all work for this method.
  2. This will bring up a popup with settings for the gaussian blur filter. [1]
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  3. A good starting point is 3.7, but each image may require a different amount of blur.
    • If you blur too much, the image will blend together and not be clear.
  4. When you're happy with the preview, you can apply the filter.
  5. If you want to sharpen the image, you can use one of the sharpening filters under Filters . If you want more control over your sharpening, use Unsharp Mask or Smart Sharpen , otherwise you can use the simple Sharpen filter.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 4:

Scan in Multiple Directions

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  1. If you are scanning a photo with texture, the lights from the scanner may be highlighting this texture and it may look like dots when you view it in your image editor.
    • By the time you have scanned the photo in each direction, you should have four images.
  2. You'll need to use software that supports layers, such as Photoshop, GIMP, and the browser-based Photopea .
  3. Image rotation is usually found under a menu titled Image .
  4. Copy and paste the images into the same file. Each image should be on a separate layer, so you have 4 layers total. The images should all line up perfectly, so take some time to make sure they're lined up.
  5. The blending mode drop down is right above the layers panel, and usually says "Normal" if you haven't set a blending mode. By changing the blending mode to Lighter Color, the editing software will remove the lighter color differences from the image, which will create a clear, texture-free image when you combine all four scans.
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Method 3
Method 3 of 4:

Dust & Scratches Filter

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  1. The photo editor must have the ability to do more advanced tasks, like creating layers and using filters. Photoshop and the browser-based Photopea will all work for this method.
    • GIMP doesn't have a built-in dust and scratches filter, but there may be third-party plugins you can use if you prefer to use GIMP.
  2. This will bring up a popup with settings for the dust and scratches filter. [2]
  3. Threshold is how different pixels must be to be considered edge pixels, and radius is the number of pixels around edge pixels that will be affected by the filter. A good starting point for the dust and scratches filter is a radius of 5 and a threshold of 25.
  4. When you're happy with the preview, you can apply the filter.
  5. If you want to sharpen the image, you can use one of the sharpening filters under Filters . If you want more control over your sharpening, use Unsharp Mask or Smart Sharpen , otherwise you can use the simple Sharpen filter.
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Method 4
Method 4 of 4:

Descreening

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  1. Some scanners come with the ability to "descreen" an image as you scan it. Not every scanner has this ability, however, so make sure to check your scanner software or documentation to see if it has this feature. [3]
  2. Your image should scan in with no or fewer dots. You should only use descreening with magazine images, as it can cause photos to look blurry.
  3. You may need to combine methods if the scanned image doesn't look how you want it to.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/gaussian-blur.html
      2. ↑ https://creativecloud.adobe.com/learn/photoshop/web/photoshop-remove-dust-scratches
      3. ↑ https://files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd5/cpd53727/source/scanners/source/scanning_software/reference/epson_scan_2/escan2_advanced_document.html

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