Image editing - Removing effects

ZrByte · 20-03-2006, 23:30

Ok, heres a little backstory first. My Girlfriend went to one of those 'model for a day' things in manchester a while back. I think we've all heard of this sort of thing before. They offer a free photoshoot, get the girls moderatley drunk and try to conn them into paying around ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£300 for a portfolio by showing them some nice pictures, tempting them with what they could do with all the other pictures from the day. My girlfriend wasnt falling for it so she took her single picture they give you and left it at that. She absolutley loves this picture but she actually preffered it before it had been edited to add effects and such to it.
Basicly what I want to know is, Is it possible to remove the effects that have been applied to an image without knowing what effects have been applied? Isit even possible if you do know?

I have the original edited JPG and two files with no extention one is called desktop DB and the other is desktop DF (I dont know if they are relevent).

I wasnt sure if this was even possible until I noticed that when I put the image on my PDA, when viewed in the IPAQ image viewer, the thumbnail is shown in its original true colour. When you click on the image and load it full screen it changes to the edited image. This, however, was enough to make me realise the original data must still be there, must'nt it??

I would prefer not to post the original image here but if anybody thinks they may be able to do it but wouldnt be able to advise me about how to do it I may be willing to share it.

Thanks in advance everyone.

**Derek** · 21-03-2006, 07:50

I think the desktop DB and DF files are things Mac OS adds and aren't really relevant to the original JPG.

I'm not sure about the main file though.

Halcyon · 21-03-2006, 08:15

I doubt you can get it back to it's true image as the effects would have been added in something like photoshop using the first image.
It would have then been saved as a jpeg and that basically flattens all your layers and effects into one image.
This is then just an image and can not have any of the layers taken out as they are now all part of the same image.

ZrByte · 21-03-2006, 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halcyon

I doubt you can get it back to it's true image as the effects would have been added in something like photoshop using the first image.
It would have then been saved as a jpeg and that basically flattens all your layers and effects into one image.
This is then just an image and can not have any of the layers taken out as they are now all part of the same image.

Wich is exactly what I thought until the IPAQ displayed the image in its original colour in the thumbnail view.
If it had displayed it in an odd colouring or anything else I would have just put it down to an anomoly, however, It shows everything in the image in its original colour. Only problem ofcourse is this only works in the thumbnail view and is hardly practical for viewing.
Interestingly I have made a few variations of this image in photoshop (Greyscale etc) these show up in the thumbnail exactly as they appear in full, they also appear the correct way up wheras the original pictures thumbnail is rotated on its side.
Granted it still probably isnt possible to do anything about this, I was just interested to see.

r1ch · 21-03-2006, 08:25

It really depends on exactly what the effects are - some are reversable and some aren't. The reason that you're seeing the original image in the thumbnail is that photoshop stores the thumbnail seperately in the file and doesn't always update it when the image changes. (This has caused many people problems in the past when they've cropped an image or blurred it out to remove something that they didn't want public and then put the file on the web with the original thumbnail in there!) The thumbnail is stored at a much lower resolution but could help someone recreate the original image - at least it gives something to aim at. If only the colours have been shifted then it may be possible to get pretty close to the original image. If you want me to take a look and let you know what I think then drop me a PM.

ZrByte · 21-03-2006, 08:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by r1ch

It really depends on exactly what the effects are - some are reversable and some aren't. The reason that you're seeing the original image in the thumbnail is that photoshop stores the thumbnail seperately in the file and doesn't always update it when the image changes. (This has caused many people problems in the past when they've cropped an image or blurred it out to remove something that they didn't want public and then put the file on the web with the original thumbnail in there!) The thumbnail is stored at a much lower resolution but could help someone recreate the original image - at least it gives something to aim at. If only the colours have been shifted then it may be possible to get pretty close to the original image. If you want me to take a look and let you know what I think then drop me a PM.

Basicly there are the following effects from what I can tell....
All the colour has been removed appart from cyan (maybe just standard blue, im not sure). I cant actually tell how this effect has been done, but I do know there is no colour appart from hints of blue (Her skin appears white with very faint blue).
There is also a very powerful lighting effect shinning towards her face wich I have been able to remove on my own.

r1ch · 21-03-2006, 08:39

Hmm, ok - you might be able to get a decent result by scaling the thumbnail up to the size of the main image and combining the greyscale info from the modified image with the hue info from the thumbnail.

BTW - I just read up some more... it was likely the camera that inserted the thumbnail into the EXIF data rather than photoshop.

ZrByte · 21-03-2006, 08:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by r1ch

Hmm, ok - you might be able to get a decent result by scaling the thumbnail up to the size of the main image and combining the greyscale info from the modified image with the hue info from the thumbnail.

BTW - I just read up some more... it was likely the camera that inserted the thumbnail into the EXIF data rather than photoshop.

Thats another problem though. The thumbnail displays correctly on the PC, for some reason its only on the PDA that the thumbnail shows its original colour.
How exactly would I open the thumbnail sepperate from the image? I am a bit of a novice with photoshop and similar as you can tell.

r1ch · 21-03-2006, 08:55

Do you have photoshop? Does the preview in the file browser in there show the unmodified image? Otherwise an EXIF browser like http://home.pacbell.net/michal_k/exif_v.html might do the trick

**Chris** · 21-03-2006, 08:55

Why not post the pics here and see if someone can do something clever with them? We have a few talented Photoshop jockeys around here.

ZrByte · 21-03-2006, 08:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris T

Why not post the pics here and see if someone can do something clever with them? We have a few talented Photoshop jockeys around here.

I would like to chris, and even though I trust you I fear that she would kill me if she found out

Thanks for the link r1ch, Have to goto work now but will have a look when I get back.

**Maggy J** · 21-03-2006, 10:31

Hmmm! Me thinks it must be a veeerrrrry interesting photo.

ZrByte · 21-03-2006, 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by r1ch

Do you have photoshop? Does the preview in the file browser in there show the unmodified image? Otherwise an EXIF browser like http://home.pacbell.net/michal_k/exif_v.html might do the trick

I do have photoshop. Unfortunatley photoshop seesm to generate its own thumbnail and as such it shows it correctly.
That program works a treat for viewing the thumbnail, Any ideas about how to extract the thumbnail so I can try your idea from earlier?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Hmmm! Me thinks it must be a veeerrrrry interesting photo.

Not as interesting as you would think actually, It's just that she is very self-conscious and also has a rather bleak view of the internet. I really do think I would wake up without a leg (Or worse

) If did post it and she found out.

TheBlueRaja · 21-03-2006, 13:47

Create a ZIP File and password protect it then post it. PM the password onto whoever offers to fix it!

r1ch · 21-03-2006, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZrByte

That program works a treat for viewing the thumbnail, Any ideas about how to extract the thumbnail so I can try your idea from earlier?

If the program doesn't have an option to save out the thumbnail then you can copy it to the clipboard by giving the window focus and pressing ALT-PrintScreen. Paste as new image in photoshop should then give you a copy of the window. You're probably best off using bicubic resizing to get it to match the original... dunno how well it'll work but good luck.