What tool could I use to get rid of the artefacts?

What tool could I use to get rid of the artefacts (or whatever these impairments are called)?

grafik

It all depends on what created the artefact. This looks like a very close zoom on an edge that has been sharpened. Is it really visible at average viewing distance?

Yes yes, it is absolutely.

The image is a very, very tiny crop of an image done with a smartphone. No zoom, no tele, just the usual wide angle of a Sony Xperia X F5121.

Well, in that case you can’t do much. – If you need such a tiny crop, you have to use a pixel editor and replace what is disturbing you.

1 Like

It’s a bit clumsy for cleaning up edges, but you could try using the ReTouch tool (Repair and Clone) in PhotoLab. Zoom in close, use a small brush size, and paint carefully.

How would one do that? What is a pixel editor?

???

1 Like

I think they mean something like Photoshop, where you’re actually working directly on the pixels that make up the image.

A rough and ready solution I might try in Photoshop would be:

  • Load original image. Select the image layer and duplicate it. Select the new layer and make sure it’s on top of the original.

  • Apply a Gaussian Blur to the new layer (you might need to play with how intense this should be)

  • You should now have a blurrier version of your original image on one layer, the original below it on another.

  • With your blurrier layer still selected, play with the layer Blend and Opacity so that your original sharper image can show through the new layer, but the overall image retains enough of the blur that it reduces the artefact issues you’re having. Blend modes “Screen”, “Overlay” and “Soft Light” might be worth a look.

This is a bit of a ‘fast and imperfect’ option. It should help hide the artefacts but at the cost of introducing a more universal blur. You could address this with masking if you need to, or only apply the above steps to a specific area.

So, what size is the image in pixels? Can you post it here so we can help more?

Topaz used to have a tool called JPEG Repair or something like that. Topaz have wrapped it into one of their current tools. I’m not a big Topaz user but perhaps someone can make a more precise recommendation.

In PhotoLab, HQ noise reduction might help smooth out some of this jpeg noise, but larger blotches will just get smooth edges but the blotch or harsh line will remain.

This is a bit of a ‘fast and imperfect’ option. It should help hide the artefacts but at the cost of introducing a more universal blur. You could address this with masking if you need to, or only apply the above steps to a specific area.

Many thanks for the instruction. I am very sorry, unfortunately I do not use Photoshop. Lightroom is the only photo editor, besides of some smaller other photo programs, I use.

So, what size is the image in pixels? Can you post it here so we can help more?

Excuse me, I can’t. The size is about 750 kb.

Topaz used to have a tool called JPEG Repair or something like that.

Yes, Topaz Photo AI / Gigapixel bring the best results. A tool like JPEG Repair I could not find there. “Remove Noise” in Photo AI works quite well.

In PhotoLab, HQ noise reduction might help smooth out some of this jpeg noise

Where is it, cannot find it here:

This is shown when I try to open the image:

So I assume I have to increase the size it first with another program, if that would work at all. What size is the smallest size PhotoLab can use?

@Dox , can you share your image by attaching it to a post or adding a link to a sharing service like wetransfer?

A750k image is really small and PhotoLab is not meant to handle such files.

1 Like

A750k image is really small and PhotoLab is not meant to handle such files.

Why?

Hope this works, here is a smaller example image:

The blur does not matter. I just want the artefacts to disappear.

Thanks for the file. it’s hopeless at that size. 303x177 pixels is not a lot to work with!

Nevertheless, a pixel editor might help you to paint away what you don’t like.

1 Like