Photoshopping out Number Plates.

STi Nut

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
Messages
988
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Car(s)
2008 Toyota Yaris 1.3L 5 Door Auto
Hey all,

Now that I am starting to get into my photography I ask the people that I take the pics of there cars if they don?t mind me sharing them on the internet. Most of them simply ask to get rid of there number plates. I am no Photoshop expert but know how to sortta use it and am happy to give stuff a try. Every attempt I make I am not that happy with as it looks fair bad.

I want to know what is the best way of getting rid of a numberplate.

Thanks in advance.
 
Use the original plate color and just blank it out.

I hate when people take awesome photos of cars, then put a giant black box over the plate.
 
I use paint shop pro. I usually just use the 'retouch' tool to smudge the plate until it can't be read.

Like This:
689pcu9.jpg



Totally removing the plate is more difficult. A friend of mine totally removed the number plate in this pic. He used Photo Shoppe.
61n6g6b.jpg


^I don't know how to do that myself.
 
Its not too hard. Its just a matter of smudging the body around the number plate :)
 
Well i personly hate it when you get a awesome pic but just has a black square over the number plate. thats why i want it to look nice and clean. this is one pick that i am trying to play with, it is a low res version of it but you get the idea.

36smbg
 
Here is my method in photoshop:

a) Use the polygonal lasso around the borders of the license plate so that you are selection the rectangular bit where the numbers are. This is to keep the airbrush strokes from painting over the car.

b) Use brush, on the top left, there are brush presets, choose Airbrush. Now use the Ink dropper tool and pick a color from one corner of the license plate and airbrush out the numbers.

c) Repeat process at all corners and make it look smooth so that there are not jagged edges at the corners. You can use the keys I and B to switch between brush and ink dropped mode.


Like so.
http://alokharidas.googlepages.com/sa.swf
 
Last edited:
I do this:

amdb9.jpg


jagxjs.jpg


First, draw a shape around the numbers of the number plate (but don't go outside) with the polygon selection tool, then fill it with the gradient of the colours from the licence plate from side to side, then just a little more touch up with a brush to lighten/darken it up so the transition is smooth.
 
Last edited:
See that is nice but that is harder to do on the image that i posted above. you got no shadow on the number plate, i got a slight shadow thats my problem...
 
wow they are really good ice.

i hate it when someone puts black box over it, and smudging it makes me really want to know what it is.

but i have an idea for people who don't want number plates on their photos... BUY A SCREWDRIVER! :mrgreen:
 
Sti Nut, have you checked the swf file i posted? Thats a video capture of how I do it.



check how much time it took me :p
Meh, it was a guesstimate anyway, took as long as yours. :p And if there's a gradient to it, like in my aston pic, your quick solution won't work completely. ;)

Oh, and i prefer the alt+click for the eyedropper. It also works as the source for cloning and healing tool.
 
Just a hint... when you're using the eyedropper, it's often best to take a 3x3 sample, or 5x5 sample... will give a more accurate representation of the overall colour than a 1x1 sample.
 
Cause you just did a solid fill, not a gradient. :p

Thats why I have steps 2 and 3, to repeat the process around the different edges so that the gradients are taken care of.

Just a hint... when you're using the eyedropper, it's often best to take a 3x3 sample, or 5x5 sample... will give a more accurate representation of the overall colour than a 1x1 sample.

How does that work?
 
but i have an idea for people who don't want number plates on their photos... BUY A SCREWDRIVER! :mrgreen:
Yeah I've never understood what the big deal about them is. I mean it's not like someone who sees my car in person can't write the number down and look up stuff later. The plate number is out in the open all the time so it's hardly private information. But I guess some people like to be paranoid.
 
ok thats for all the help guys, tell me what you think of these 2, and i will be posting all my pics up when i get time to do all the number plates.

Both GT3's, RS had a black plate and the notmal GT3 was the same as Before
http://img137.imageshack.**/img137/8125/dsc0094my2.jpg

http://img218.imageshack.**/img218/2410/dsc0139vm1.jpg
 
Top