Does Aperture have a salt and pepper filter

Question

Does Aperture have a salt and pepper filter

I have scanned around 3000 photos and imported into iPhoto. On enlargement many have dozens of small white spot and tiny hair imperfections. In iPhoto these can be deleted individually by using the retouch tool. Does Aperture (or hidden in iPhoto) support a tool for automatic, mass deletion of these spots? I understand this can be called a salt and pepper filter, or perhaps de-speckle. Notes: the speckles are random so not caused by a scanner setting. The scanner plate was cleaned as well as possible and the photos were cleaned as best as possible given they were pulled from old albums. Re-scanning is not an option. i want to retain as much clarity as possible so do not want a general blur. For simplicity I want to remain using an Apple product rather than an alternate photo-editing tool. Thanks for reading. Vince

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7), iTunes, Apple TV [first gen]

Posted on Apr 6, 2013 2:52 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

léonie

Level 10

194,761 points

Apr 6, 2013 6:13 AM in response to vinceunlimited

No, Aperture does not have Speckle filters. But your white spots and lines are not exactly Speckle noise. For a real Speckle noise (Salt and Pepper) you would have very dark spots as well.

In Aperture you could try to reduce the white spots and lines by applying the smoothing brush selectively to the darker areas, but that will only soften the spots, not remove them completely. Or use the "Repair" tool to remove the spots.

One filter that works well with small, bright spots is the median filter, but that is missing in Aperture. In Photoshop or similar external editors you can use the filter "Expend dark areas" (I am not sure how this filter is called in the english version - my Photoshop has german menus). This will shrink the white spots and white lines by expanding the darker regions. You need to set the radius to half of the size of the spots.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 2

Apr 6, 2013 6:29 AM in response to léonie

Thanks Léonie. I do not want to move to Aperture if it doesn't add the extra features over iPhoto that I want. Vince

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Answer 3

Apr 6, 2013 7:23 AM in response to vinceunlimited

The Retouch/Repair can do this quite well with any spot seen on a homogeneous background. You can size the application circle to most any size, and I think Aperture does this better than even Photoshop. Sometimes Retouch/Clone can also be useful in removing blemishes.

Ernie

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Answer 4

Apr 6, 2013 7:35 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Thanks Ernie. The problem I have is the multitude of flaws. I agree, homogeneous areas are quicker to deal with but multiple white spots in, say, wooded scenes, have to have more individual care directed to them. iPhoto has a good individual spot/line retouch tool. Vince

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Answer 5

Apr 6, 2013 7:39 AM in response to vinceunlimited

Don't think I have ever experienced this much, as my scanner has software that can aid with many imperfections, although I rarely allow it to do so.

Try the Retouch/Repair tool with the circle set large, and see what it may do. I have seen it recognize what is wrong/out of place in some photos.

Ernie

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Answer 6

Apr 6, 2013 8:58 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Ernie, I use this technique successfully on larger, plainer patches, such as a skyscape. On your suggestion I tried a more complex area again and all it did was cause a messy blur. I have read elsewhere that some scanner software can import with defects control but this can be at the cost of detail and sharpness. Cheers, Vince

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