Expert: Scott Valentine - 9/25/2007

Question
Hello:  I am trying to scan and and import standard lined index cards (3X5) into photoshop.  Written on the index card are various cooking recipes.  Is there a way to easily remove the blue lines and leave the handwritten recipes on the cards.  Or is there a way to grab the handwriting of my grandma off of the index card and leave the lined index card behind.  I want to make a recipe book but the lined index cards are unattractive.  Thanks,  Bruce

Answer
Hi Bruce,

First, I must say that you will have a lot of work in front of you, and your results will depend heavily on how much time you wish to spend. It may be easier to simply type in the recipes and use images of the cards as decoration.

Depending on the color of ink used, you may be able to do some channel operations (ChOps) to remove the blue lines.

If you are not familiar with channels, check the help files and do some web searches. Essentially, the channels are the individual color plates that make up your image; red, green and blue or cyan, magenta, yellow or black. There are others, but that's the basic idea. This lets you 'see' a gray version of an individual color.

So, in the channels panel, select the eye on the blue channel. The lines should be clearly visible; if not, check the other channels or consider converting your image to CMYK and then looking at the cyan channel.

The tools you should know are the clone stamp, smudge/blur, healing brush, marquee, and various selection methods. Describing how to use each of these is beyond the scope of this format, so if you need specifics try a community forum (http://photoshoptechniques.com/forum is a favorite of mine). And don't forget to search online and in the help files for information on these tools.

You can also try your luck at cloning or healing directly on the main image without going to the channels. This may be a little quicker, but may also not look as nice. I'm afraid there may not be an easy path here, at least no automated way I can think of.

If you have other questions, or would like clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

-Scott