Something for the weekend - Part 97 - Redacted!

[davescm]

Hi,

Thanks to all that took part in last weekend's bathroom challenge.

We often see requests for help in removing redactions from images. That is something which we do not get involved with and on single layer files cannot be done. However, I thought we might have a bit of fun with it.

So, I give you a phone with an image on screen. Can you show us what is behind the red and causing all the fuss?

The “rules”:

• Anything goes, as long as it meets the forum rules on decency, copyright etc.
• Anyone, and everyone, is welcome to have a go, whether you are a complete beginner or a Photoshop expert.
• There are no prizes apart from the chance to practice, show off, or bring a bit of humour and fun. Don't be shy, join in and have a go!
  
  

To download the image below at 2000 x 2400 pixels with an embedded ICC colour profile (sRGB), hover over the image and click on the circle with the arrows at the top right. Then, when the image opens in its own window, right click and choose “Save Image As/Save Target As” (or similar depending on your browser).

Have fun !

Dave

[Ussnorway]

Translates to 'get a life'

🤔

[hans-g.]

Hi, I did not expect to find it in PS, for me it was happening more often in the DW area. 😉

Hans-Günter

[jane-e]

It's believed to have come from one of the works of Cicero in 45 B.C. when an early typesetter scrambled some of the words from De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum. While it's new to both PS and DW, it's been in all of the desktop publishing applications since the very beginning.

[Dean_Utian]

[davescm]

Haha - we are getting into Trevor's inkblot territory 🙂

Dave

[Trevor.Dennis]

[davescm]

Haha - always a smile with SFTW. Nice to see you here again Trevor 🙂

Dave

[Rafael Aviles]

Brilliant!

[Trevor.Dennis]

[davescm]

Nice one Trevor! Living in the UK, I 'm not sure what that symbol is near the bottom though 🙂

Dave

[davescm]

Seaside retirement ....

Dave

[davescm]

I found the easiest way to fill the background was to copy the photo part to a new layer, straighten it using Edit>Transform>Distort, then use the clone stamp inside Vanishing point. Then after drawing the mice, Edit > Transform> Distort it all again back to the cellphone photo shape.

Dave

[Trevor.Dennis]

Dave I used Perspective Crop to straighten and cut out the iPad in the inkblot image.

[davescm]

A good alternative Trevor.

Dave

[jane-e]

It's good that you let them out, Dave, as they appear to have been trapped behind that ink blot for quite a number of years!

~ Jane

[davescm]

Well, Mickey and Minnie are now in their 90s Jane 🙂

Dave

[jane-e]

The Tardis can't get here fast enough — there's some kind of time warp! Glenn?

 

[davescm]

Nice Jane - and you changed the message at the bottom 🙂

Dave

[jane-e]

Dave, can we guess that you drew the tile in Blender? I like the patterns and colors.

~ Jane

[Ussnorway]

they look like Substance tiles to me... agree they are pretty

[davescm]

Those tiles are straight from Adobe Substance Source, access to which is a big advantage of an Adobe Substance subscription.

Dave

[Trevor.Dennis]

Dave, I was reading your starter post again, and noticed the bit about requests to reveal redacted text and images.  I made me think of the typical content of my Private Message inbox.  Heck, I just had a closer look and realized all these are just from May and April this year!  It think that's eight different users asking the same thing.  I used to reply and explain the realities, and if it was not from a phone or tablet (which are 100% impossible to do anything with) I even had a go, but I don't think I have ever got more than fragments.  That number of requests has still amazed me.

[davescm]

Yes, I get a lot of those Trevor. My answer is that on single layer images it can't be done technically,  and from a legal view this forum is not about trying to unedit documents.

Dave

[Jacob Bugge]

Trevor, Dave,

This reminds me of one of the lost threads in the old Photshop Lounge (As I remember, it was one of the long ones with more than 6,000 posts, and I only ever visited the Lounge when following a link from a friend (mostly Bert (Philippus), but it could also have been Harron (K. Appleman) or John (Kallios) or a few others which you may know), with one of the greatest posts I have ever seen which would have been a great SFTW post.

It suggested the use of the Unblur filter, and the first image showed a very distant photo of the back of a large lorry having reached the end of a road at a road junction with a house behind it on the other side of the other road and a sign to the left (so it was over there) so small that you could only see it as a red dot. The second image showed a large STOP sign and a very detailed view of the lorry and the house and the jaguar walking across the roof.

I am still sorrowing over my failing to save and keep that post.

Have you ever seen it? I believe it was more than 15 years ago; I only found out how to save things, and started doing it, in 2004 (when I realized that threads with latest post older than 2 years died, so I started building an archive, and reposting just to save precious threads).

[jane-e]

Who remembers this thread from 2015? Notably Trevor's "You can always make it up" and Dave's "Can't you just lift the screen and have a look..." !
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop/erase-black-paint-from-a-screen-shot/td-p/7639627

~ Jane