Remember to get a "natural" slide scan first. If you use anything like "Digital ICE", "ROC", or any other scan enhancements, you'll lose detail and quality. Better to work with a natural slide scan. Here's how...
In this scanning guide I'll be using Photo Shop. If you don't have this program, you can always use GIMP. GIMP is an open-source digital photo editing program with the same features as Photo Shop. And it's FREE! You can jump to this tutorial, here...
How To Get Better Looking Scans Using Free Editing Software: Step By Step Guide
OK, finally, let's get to it...
Here's My Natural Slide Scan
Natural scan -- no dust removal, no color fix, nothing! Just a simple 4000 DPI slide scan..
Step One: Find The "Spot Heal Brush Tool"
Once your slide scan is open in Photo Shop, look in your Tool menu on your left, and you will see a band-aid. Click that, or press "J". Here it is...
You can find the Spot Heal in the Tool menu, on your left.
Do not confuse it with the "Heal Brush Tool". Pick SPOT Heal Brush tool.
You might also want to change the Diameter of your Brush Tool. If the circle is too big you will change too many pixels. If the circle is too small you will be fixing dust all day. Take a look...
Change the size of your Spot Heal tool. You will find this in your top menu beside the band-aid icon.
Once your Spot Heal Tool is set, zoom into your image. Press CTRL and the + key. Don't zoom in too much, you may not know what's dust or detail.
Step Two: Apply Spot Heal Tool On The Dust / Debris / Scratches
This is very simple. Once you found any dust and debris, simply just "dab" away. Just make sure your diameter is not too big or too small. And simply click away the dust...
Zoom in and find the dust you want to get rid of. Don't zoom in too far, though.
Now just click on the dust. You can also drag the mouse around the dust until it is gone.
Move around your digital image, looking for more dust / debris.
Again, just click on the dust / debris to take it away.
Keep clicking away.
It does not take too long. Photo shop does all the work!
The Final Result: Slide Scan With Dust Removed
Slide Scan before dust removal.
Slide scan after using the Spot Heal Tool in Photo Shop.
You may think, "this is going to take forever!".
Look at it this way -- you're only going to do this once, you may as well do a good job the first time. Yes, it's tempting to use Digital ICE. But it's a short-cut, and it doesn't give you consistent results. I have nothing against Digital ICE, it's great for novices. But you're a pro! So take the time, and get quality slide scans you can give your grandchildren. This is the hardest part, after this the rest is pretty quick.
What's Next? Let's Fix Faded Colours From A Slide Scan
Now that you cleaned up your slide scan from dust and scratches, the next step is to bring back those originals colours. Please check out...
