Richard S. Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Hi, I had an image consisting of 2 layers - a layer of white handwritten text, and a black background layer. Somewhere along the line I accidentally flattened the image and lost my original. I now need to extract just the white text. Can someone advise me how to either get just the white text onto a new layer, OR, change the black background into specific RGB values. I can't just type the text onto a new layer as it is handmade text, and not a font. I have tried to select the handwritten text and put it onto a new layer, but the text appears very jagged and is unusable. Any help appreciated. Thank you. Quote High-End Photographic Prints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smadell Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 The fact that this is black and white makes it a lot simpler. Here's the steps I would take (see picture below, also) 1) Invert the image - now text is black on white 2) Erase White Paper (from the Filters menu) - now text is black on a transparent background 3) Invert again - now text is white on a transparent background 4) Put a Black layer below the text Old Bruce 1 Quote Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lepr Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Richard S. said: I had an image consisting of 2 layers - a layer of white handwritten text, and a black background layer. Somewhere along the line I accidentally flattened the image and lost my original. I now need to extract just the white text. Can someone advise me how to either get just the white text onto a new layer, OR, change the black background into specific RGB values. I can't just type the text onto a new layer as it is handmade text, and not a font. Simplest solution is to place the image over a new background layer and set the image's blend mode to Screen. Alternatively, invert the image so that it becomes black text on a white background then use the Erase White Paper filter to give you black text with a transparent background, so invert again to get white text on a transparent background. (Edit: @smadell beat me to it) There are other solutions. Edited November 9, 2020 by anon2 Old Bruce 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard S. Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Thank you both - I just tried both of your solutions and both worked perfectly. Thank You! Quote High-End Photographic Prints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smadell Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 You're very welcome. I actually like the simplicity and elegance of using the Screen blend mode. The only potential issue is that it doesn't actually isolate the text; it merely blends away the black background. But it certainly is the more "elegant" of the two solutions! Quote Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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