Remove white spots from image that is only black and white (no grey)

[Patrik Jahrner]

I have multiple images that are black and white but with small white spots all over the picture. While I can manually remove these spots by just coloring over them with the brush or pencil tool I would like to find a way to remove these spots as automatically as possible since I have quite many of these pictures. I have tried many solutions I have found on the internet none of which have helped me. One big problem I am having is that some spots are bigger than some parts of the subject, like some dots after names for example. Any help would be appreciated. 

Here is what one of the images looks like: 

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Here's one way that can help you get rid of most of the dots (you' may need to some manual removal) by making a layer mask to hide the dots and adding a black layer below that layer. Here's how:

1. Duplicate the image (Ctrl + J on Windows, Command + J on macOS)
2. Apply Gaussian blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to the duplicated layer (try about 8.2 for the Radius, about where the dots start turning grayish)
3. Apply a Threshold adjustment (Image > Adjustments > Threshold...) and set the Threshold Level to about 25 (where most of the details of the image are included in white but not so much that the dots appear as white)
4. With that layer selected, select all (Ctrl + A or Select > All) and Copy
5. Hide the blurred/threshold layer by toggling off the eyeball in the Layers panel
6. Enter Quick Mask Mode (press Q or Select > Edit in Quick Mask Mode)
7. Paste which will paste the selected blurred/threshold layer contents onto the Quick Mask
8. Exit Quick Mask Mode (press Q again or Select > Edit in Quick Mask Mode to toggle it off)
9. Convert the selection to a layer mask (press the Layer Mask icon, 3rd from the left at the bottom of the Layers panel, or go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection)
10. Add a solid black layer below that layer (you can make a new layer and fill it with black or add a Solid Fill Layer that's black by going to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color... or click on the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and select Solid Color... and select black.

[Patrik Jahrner]

This has worked perfectly for me. The only thing I needed to do in the end was to: 

1. Unlock the Background layer by clicking on the lock icon next to it. 

2. Move the layer mask from the duplicate layer we have worked on (Layer 1) to the now unlocked background layer (Layer 0) by clicking and dragging it. 

3. Move the layer with the solid black color (Color Fill 1) under the layer that now has the layer mask on it (Layer 0). 

4. Hide the duplicate layer we have worked on (Layer 1) by clicking on the eyeball icon next to it. 

After these steps the picture now looks like this: 

[Patrik Jahrner]

EDIT*

I don't know how to edit or remove comments but I didn't know that in your answer after you hide the blurred/threshold layer you had to then select the background layer and continue from there. That's why I had to do these extra steps in the end. 

[Myra Ferguson]

I'm so glad that helped! 🙂

Just a note that if you select a Background layer (it's actually a different type of layer than a regular layer), and convert a selection to a layer mask on it, Photoshop will automatically unlock it for you.

Oh, and because you have a lot of images like this to clean up, you could try making an action from the steps.