removing watermarks?

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hay

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...i just downloaded Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and ImageReady 7.0, could anyone give me some advice on how to remove watermarks in these programs? i have had a look in the help section, but it only has stuff on how to add watermarks :rolleyes:
so if anyone has any ideas, it would be really helpful :bow:
THANKS!:wave:
 
I'm pretty sure the watermarks they refer to in the help section are digital things that are part of the file and not actual marks on the picture, so any information on watermarks probably won't be of much use to you.

Removing watermarks generally means repainting the picture in some way or another. Sometimes it's as easy as selecting the watermarked area (using the lasso tool - I usually set it to polygonal lasso tool so I can more easy control the area I select) and changing the brightness and contrast. Normally I like to select the area and paste it in a new layer first so if I mess up I can delete the layer instead of having to restart the entire picture. Seperate layers are also good as you can use a soft-edged eraser to erase the edges of your selection and better blend it with the layer below.

The most loved tools for repairing images are probably the heal and clone tools (the little icons that look like a stamp and a bandaid, respectively). Choose one of these, hold down the alt key and click your mouse on an area of the image to copy that's similar in color and texture to the watermarked area, then paint over the area with the watermark. The clone tool will copy the selected area exactly, whereas the heal tool will attempt to match the brightness and color of selected area will the area being painted over.

Another trick I'm fond of is copying multiple areas of the picture and pasting them over the watermarked area. As I'm doing this, I'll flip and rotate pieces, erase areas to make them blend together, making a seamless collage to cover the watermark without resorting to pasting the same thing over and over again (which sometimes results in an obvious pattern that's almost as annoying as the original watermark).


Umm... those are just a few of the things I do. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Photoshop and, if necessary, I'd be glad to post a couple screen shots and images-in-progress. I'm not the best at explaining these things, but I'll try!
 
thanks, i will have a go at de-watermarking with those things you said. :hug:
 
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Eidolon Bird's advice is very good. Just keep practicing. Your first efforts will probably not be very smooth-looking...mine sure weren't! But keep at it, and you'll get the hang of it. :hug:

Some are easier to remove than others. LFI and Getty Images are good ones to practice on.

Good luck!
 
Hay,

Are you talking about those squidgy little marks that are a result of the lossiness of the JPEG format, and that generally turn up around the eyes, and where to highly contrasting colors meet (like black and white)?

There is a plugin available at Xero Graphics that can help repair some of these. Unfortunately, their plugins are packaged nine to a zip file for download, and I can't remember which one it was in. If you want to try it, I guess you may have to download them all. Sorry about that.:(

The plugin I'm speaking of is called "Improver", and it can be definitely be helpful. The action of the plugin is not perfect (what is?) but it's helped me to salvage a couple of pretty bad pics. The other Xero plugins are pretty cool, too.

Good luck.
 
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thanks echo0001 :wave:
I wasn't talking about those squidgy mark things, but i will download that plugin and see if it helps,
I was talking about the watermarks on pictures from like Getty Images and Showbiz Ireland. They can sometimes ruin a really nice picture. :grumpy:
Thanks for the advice!! :hug:
 
Oh. Those things.:mad: Hate those things.

And you're welcome, even though I probably didn't give you much help.
I don't know if improver will help on those at all; it is good for damaged images that you'd like to try to salvage, though. Maybe you can use it for other things...

:wave:
 
Wow. Thanks for starting this thread... I've learnt quite abit... Erm... I hope you won't mind me using your thread to ask your question... How do i create screen shots of an mpeg or dvd movie? I know how to take screen shots but i somehow or rather am unable to take screen shots of mpeg or dvd movies... Help please?
 
If you're using Windows media player, press Ctrl+I to take a screenshot. If you have Power DVD, there's a little button on the control panel that looks like a camera. Those are the only two programs I'm really familiar with though.
 
I used to have Power DVD, but there never was a camera button on the panel... Weird...

And the windows media player... it doesn't work with dvds... But hey, thanks anyway! :)
 
Can anyone explain to me how to blur the edges of a picture in photoshop or image ready 7.0? also how do i change the background of the of the picture?
i tried using the help files but it changed and ruined the whole picture :(
 
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