Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

[Joe W.]

Greetings!

After buying my car last July, I carefully removed the rubber boot from
around the gas tank filler and felt around for one of our most coveted possessions,
the tank sticker. To my amazement, it was still there. I was again careful to remove
and got 90% of it out. It was quite soft and dirty.

Unfortunately, it was very dusty and difficult to read.
Using a soft camera brush, I dusted much of the grime off.
Only, the area I wish was legible, wasn't. The top center to right,
where the dealer code and zone are located. So, I scanned it into my G4 Mac and have
been dinking around with it in Photoshop trying to make heads or tails out of it with little luck.

Does anyone know of the right tools to use in Photoshop to clear up and make this more legible?

Thanks.

[Ray G.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Hello;

How about the "genius bar" at an Apple store?

They have helped me w/ computer questions.

Hope this helps.

Ray

[Russ U.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

I am not a Photoshop expert, but I have used it a bit to make scans more legible. The bottom line is this - Photoshop cannot improve legibility all that much.

Your best shot is this:

1. Start with a very high quality scan. Very high resolution. And save in TIFF mode - Not Jpeg. Jpeg uses compression, TIFF doesn't. TIFF files can be huge, and time consuming to manipulate with a G4, however.

2. Crop the photo to reduce the size. But always keep the photo in TIFF. compression is your enemy here.

3. Play around with Photoshop. Contrast and brightness probably are the main tool to use to get a better read on the scan. But you can also use the sharpen tool, and some of the other tools to change the image somewhat. Sometimes one of the different tools a can add a bit of legibility.

4. If you are still having problems, post a high quality of scan of tank sticker on the web, and then ask people for help. Techies love this sort of stuff - they get to show off their tech skills while helping another person. Maybe you can also post something on the Photoshop forum at adobe.com.

5. I can try to help as well, but I only rate a C+ with Photoshop. But you would need to email me the scan or post the scan to the web.

Hope this helps,

Russ

[Jack H.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

I'm not a Mac user (I prefer products where free market competition sharpens the cost curve versus 'unique' products with manufacturers who attempt to fully control the distribution channel), but Photoshop has been widely used for a long time. What feature/functions you have depend on which version of the application you're running.

But, look for the 'Filter' menu and first start with Noise, Dust & Scratches. You can change the definition of what 'dust' is (so many pixels) and watch the resulting image change as widen the size definition. Then, back to the Filter menu, there should be a 'Sharpen' selection to make your image more crisp...

But, there's only so much you can do with Photoshop and you can't re-focus the picture or add resolution that was isn't there to start with!

[Joe W.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Hello,
It appears I have been using the correct tools - Filter, Noise, Dust & Scratches,
Sharpen. However, you hit the nail on the head - being unable to re-focus
the picture or add resolution that was isn't there to start with.

I'll keep plugging away. I'm getting close.
Curious.... Were there both a typed and hand written number in these boxes? I'm finding what appears to be both.

Thanks.

[Jack H.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Also, consider Image, Adjust and Hue/Saturation. Turning up the saturation can help bring out things and you compensate for too much saturation by turning down the lightness...

[Joe W.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Thank you Russ.
I will print off and re-scan and save to the TIFF mode.

[Russ U.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Thank you Russ.
I will print off and re-scan and save to the TIFF mode.

Print off??? I guess I am a bit confused. You want to scan the original tank sticker in TIFF if possible. Scanning a hardcopy picture of the sticker won't work very well.

Russ

[Joe W.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Russ,
I understand your confusion. For the last 10 months, I've searched high and
low for my tank sticker. I put it in a safe place, So safe, it's anybody's guess.
I tried to attached a copy but it wouldn't load up.

A suggestion from the forum was to save as a TIFF and not a JPEG.
So maybe I will have better luck. If anyone is up for a challange, by all
means, drop me an e-mail at rudyweise@comcast.net and I will send it to you
in any format and maybe come up with a good result.

Thank you.

Joe (Rudy) Weise

[Patrick H.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Russ,
I understand your confusion. For the last 10 months, I've searched high and low for my tank sticker. I put it in a safe place, So safe, it's anybody's guess.
I tried to attached a copy but it wouldn't load up.

Thank you.

Joe (Rudy) Weise

Joe,

Some of the pics I have show that you were storing it in a notebook:

[Joe W.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

I agree Patrick. I have searched high and low for that pad of
paper and never found it. All of the one's I have in and around my
desk and bench have a black header and not the red one I had at the time
I originally scanned it. I'm almost positive it was in between the back pages of
that pad of paper. Just add it to my list of Corvette debacles. It's right up there
with cleaning off the greenish coloration on the RWL from the side wall of the
Wide Track Oval spare tire.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

I agree Patrick. I have searched high and low for that pad of
paper and never found it. All of the one's I have in and around my
desk and bench have a black header and not the red one I had at the time
I originally scanned it. I'm almost positive it was in between the back pages of
that pad of paper. Just add it to my list of Corvette debacles. It's right up there
with cleaning off the greenish coloration on the RWL from the side wall of the
Wide Track Oval spare tire.

The last time I saw the sticker was in your basement on your "old configuration" workbench when you were cleaning the sticker. Prior to that you showed it to me in your garage.

Patrick

[Alan S.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Joe,
I'll share my debacle with you to help ease your pain. You're not the only one.
I remember throwing away my 71's CEC solenoid and bracket IN the seat shim bag.
When I started my restoration many years later I had no trash container of any kind in my garage. I had to carry all trash outside to another garage which gave me time to think what I was doing.
Regards,
Alan

[Joe W.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

Greetings!

After finding my original scan, I did a "save as" and saved my tank sticker
as a TIFF without compression. After several hours of using the various tools
in Photoshop, I found what appears to be both typed and hand written
numbers in both the zone and dealer codes. Very confusing.
Was this normal?

I was able to narrow it down to the following:

Zone: 31
Dealer: 036

Zone: 44
Dealer: 580

Can someone help me identify these?

Thanks.

Joe

[John H.]

Re: Any Mac users out there? Need Photoshop help reading my tank sticker

I was able to narrow it down to the following:

Zone: 31
Dealer: 036

Zone: 44
Dealer: 580

Can someone help me identify these?

Thanks.

Joe

Have you tried the "Dealer Codes" button at the top of the page?