Smoothing pixelated images?

[mgracee]

I have an image scanned from an old newspaper. The original newspaper image was made with dots, so the scanned image is 'blotchy'. Does anyone know what tools I can use smooth the image and bring it back into a crisp photograph?

Thanks

[Sfifer]

You could always experiment with Gradient Blur. But even then, its going to slightly blur the image.

[Sfifer]

Not sure if spam... or just super sarcastic response.

[mgracee]

Thanks Sfifer,

I dont really want to blur the image, as it is not that clear in the first place. Any other options?

[BoltBait]

I'm on my iPhone, so I can't try it, but...

Duplicate the image layer.

Blur the top layer by radius 1

Change the top layer's blend mode to "darken".

[mero]

I selectively blur and sharpen specific areas usually. I usually do a higher blur on the large undetailed areas(ex. forehead) and a lesser blur on the parts that I want to be sharper. I then go over specific edges and a few areas with the sharpen tool.

Here is a fairly quick job:

http://i54.tinypic.com/m8medk.png

Edited August 10, 2011 by mero

[pdnnoob]

If you run frosted glass at 1 minimum and maximum distance, it reduces the dots noticeably without blurring the image too much. You can still see traces of the dots afterwards if you look very closely, but you have to be looking for them

[mgracee]

Thanks very much everyone for all your suggestions! I'll go away and try to clean up the image with those tips.

Thanks!

[mgracee]

Thanks BoltBait. What should I do after your suggestions to the top layer? Merge them or what?

[BoltBait]

Sure, you can do Image > Flatten if you are happy with how it looks.

[mgracee]

Thanks!