Attached is the before and after using TPAI 1.5.0 under Win10 - the problem white specks present in the black areas of the women’s clothing. Trying to boost noise reduction makes no difference. The problem is isn’t apparent when the background color isn’t black.
Processed
Original:
Is this a scanned image?
Yes, it is. I dusted the scanner’s bed (Epson V600), and the print.
I doubt if noise removal will work on them, if you use any catalog tools such as LR or pixel editors such as Gimp, Affinity Photo or PS they will be able to remove the spots.
The problem is TPAI is enhancing them, IMHO, far beyond the expected result. The problem arises only on a black background.
If push comes to shove, I’d use PhotoLab to repair the spots. The scans were processed through PL 6 for contrast, color, and cropping before going to TPAI.
Yes use PhotoLab to get rid of the spots first. Note that Photo AI has never been trained on scans, only digital images, so it won’t see those spots as anything but details so noise reduction will not clear them.
My point is the TPAI response is out of proportion to the input, and there appears to be no way to dial it back. Whether the JPEG image source is a JPEG file from a scanner or a JPEG file directly from a camera should be immaterial.
100% scale comparison:
Try reducing the Sharpening strength. It looks like Topaz Photo AI is sharpening some white spots which exist in the original image and are standing out significantly against the black background.
You can also change the subject mask to exclude those specific areas from the processing.
Let me know if that helps you get a better result.
TPAI 1.5.0 defaulted to Subject Removing the black skirt, and black suit (using the subtract brush) made little difference. Reducing the strength to 1 was effective, but the specks were still more prominent than in the original image.
Could you share the file so I can take a look?
You can securely submit your image(s) to my Dropbox using the link below. Please be sure to send me a note to let me know you sent something.
Dropbox File Request
I sent the original file, the PL6 DOP, and PL6 output under the name Richard B Emerson
Thanks for sending the files. It looks like Topaz Photo AI is having a lot of difficulty with this kind of image.
I was not able to prevent these specks. You would need a Heal tool to fix these as the AI models are not trained for this kind of issue.
IIRC even the sample I sent you had been tidied up a bit, use PhotoLab 6’s repair tool.
Subsequent to that round of scanning, I was handed a dozen more to work on. This time I let the Epson V600 scanner’s software “remove dust” option work on “dark background, light specks” photos. The results are much cleaner.
Of course, I hope TPAI will, at some point (no pun intended), recognize this situation and manage it appropriately.
Sounds good. We currently train on digital images mostly and this seems like an issue with film and scans so we do not have training that handles such cases yet.
A combination of events brought me to processing scans of old prints from the 60’s through 90’s. As the sample I sent you shows, some of the prints are in serious need of sharpening. If my current camera produced images of similar quality, I’d assume the camera was due for repair or replacement.
Again I’ll suggest Topaz consider supporting recovering or enhancing scanned imagery.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
