Image Process - Advice

[Tipton Harrier]

Guys

The help you provide is invaluable. So can the community provide me with the most efficient way to "tidy" up the example I have added here. The particular techniques I would like to master are as follows:-

1. Efficient removal of all odd "specks" (I cannot fathom out how to just select those bits efficiently)
   
2. Efficient (re)colouring of the "erroneous" gaps/specks e.g. within individual letters without having to do each and every one.
   
3. Additive & Subtractive selection
   
4. Sharpening of "text"
   

Background (to project & my PdN experience !)

1. I have thousands of cuttings to tidy like this
   
2. The images can end up being simply black & white
   
3. I am familiar with the simple tool sets & associated variable(s) (magic wand, global/contiguous etc)
   
4. Ideally I would like a simple step by step process described to set me on my way.
   

Any offers of help

The Harrier

[skullbonz]

Like this???

Edited October 10, 2012 by skullbonz

[HELEN]

^Great job. I think that's what Tipton meant.

[Tipton Harrier]

Thank you but just what sequence did you use to arrive at that finished product?

[pdnnoob]

I got pretty close to skullbonz's result in 2 steps:

1. Run median (Effects>Noise>Median) at 1 radius and 25 percentile

2. Use the brightness/contrast adjustment at 60 contrast. Adjust the brightness as needed.

[nitenurse79]

I got the same as pdnnoob. I set the Contrast at 60 & brightness to 10 and got a decent outcome from that.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Efficient removal of all odd "specks" (I cannot fathom out how to just select those bits efficiently)

Start with Effects | Noise | Reduce Noise, as mentioned Effects | Noise | Median will also do the job in some circumstances.

Efficient (re)colouring of the "erroneous" gaps/specks e.g. within individual letters without having to do each and every one.

Use the Magic Wand tool in combination with the Shift key. This combination selects all the pixels in the layer that match the source pixel + Tolerance.

Additive & Subtractive selection

Additive: Hold down the Ctrl key when making a subsequent selection. This key toggles the selection mode to Additive - allowing you to chain multiple selections together.

Subtractive: Hold down the Alt key when making subsequent selections. This key toggles the selection mode to Subtractive, allowing you to remove overlapping parts of selections.

Sharpening of "text"

Easiest way is to remove the background color and process the text on a transparent layer. The Alphaspace plugin is great for this. Text might be sharpened by running Effects | Photo | Sharpen or a plugin like AA's Assistant over the text layer. Duplicating the layer and setting the upper layer blend mode to Multiply.