Eliminating Ruled Lines Using Photoshop

[Robert Kalman]

I have a current dilemma that goes beyond my Photoshopping ability, so I could use some help.

I have a number of portrait projects in which I use a person's handwritten comments to create a diptych. (See example 1). As I've gotten more adept at using this approach, I've learned that it's important to have the subject write their thoughts on an unruled note pad. Early on, however, I used notebooks with ruled lines, which was a mistake. I think the lines are a distraction. (See example 2).

My questions are these:

> Is it possible to Photoshop the ruled lines out?
> If the answer is "yes," can you walk me through how to do this?

Many thanks!

[djdister]

You could manually blot them out using the spot healing brush (http://www.photoshopforphotographers...ing_brush.html) in Photoshop, but I suggest leaving the lines pretty much as they are. You will have problems removing the lines where they touch the handwriting, and if you did remove most of the lines, the handwritten text will look unnaturally uniform in the absence of ruled lines. I will suggest that you could de-emphasize the ruled lines somewhat by making them a lighter grayscale tone using a either a curves or levels adjustment layer, but the handwritten text will also get lighter in tone too.

[Robert Kalman]

and if you did remove most of the lines, the handwritten text will look unnaturally uniform in the absence of ruled lines.

Hmm, that's a really good point. I hadn't considered that.

[Peter De Smidt]

It'd take a little time. Duplicate background layer. (Ctrl + J) Work on duplicate layer. Use a small mid-soft brush with the cloning tool to get rid of the line. (I'm just guessing on the softness of the brush. If you use a small enough one, using a full soft might be okay, and it might blend better.) If needed, such as when working around the letters, zoom way in. (When I make masks with the pen tool, I work at 500%.) If you make a mistake, undo it. (Ctrl + Z) This is tedious but not hard. Once you have it the way you'd like, flatten the file.

You can always get rid of the lines where there's no text completely but leave them elsewhere if desired.

You could also, once you're finished cloning in the top layer, simply lower the opacity of the cloned layer to test. At less than 100% opacity, the lines will be minimized but not removed. Adjust until you like it and flatten.

[IanG]

Why remove the ruled lines. I think they are aesthetically important, they say a lot about the subject. Keep them they are an intrinsically powerful statement.

Ian

[Preston]

Why remove the ruled lines. I think they are aesthetically important, they say a lot about the subject. Keep them they are an intrinsically powerful statement.

Ian

I agree with Ian. In my opinion, the lines aren't distracting.

--P

[Peter Mounier]

I selected an area close to, but beyond the boundaries of the lined note paper. Then I applied a very simple curve layer that lightens the highlights, and darkens the letters. I've attached the curve as a screen capture for you to see, and attached your image with the curve applied to the selected area.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Try this if you have Photoshop: first use the Ruler tool to mark a line from end to end across one line guide then under Image take Rotate and Arbitrary. Hit it. That straightens the image.

If you wish then to remove the rules let me know because there a couple ways to do it easily, even automatically.

I am on my smart phone at the moment which makes it difficult to go into detail.

[Bill Burk]

They're light blue lines. Shoot the notes with Ortho film and the lines will disappear.

Maybe you can take advantage of their color and select the color somehow, but with film it would be easy.

[Robert Kalman]

I selected an area close to, but beyond the boundaries of the lined note paper. Then I applied a very simple curve layer that lightens the highlights, and darkens the letters. I've attached the curve as a screen capture for you to see, and attached your image with the curve applied to the selected area.

I'm not terribly adept at Photoshop, so please be patient with me, Peter. When I pull up the curve layer, my sliders at the bottom of the graph are the reverse of yours in the screen shot. (My black slider is on the left; white on the right). So I'm having a bit of difficulty matching what you're showing me in the screen shot. Also, I'm not clear about where you sampled ("..close to, but beyond the boundaries of the lined note paper.")