How To Uncover Blacked Out Text: Removing Highlighter Obfuscation From Images
STEPS:
STEP 1. Find an image that has blacked-out text, open it in the Photos app, and tap “Edit” in the top right to open the image editor.
STEP 2. Use the tools at the bottom to remove the highlighter. Depending on how many black strokes are hiding the text, you can reveal the hidden information with two to six adjustments.
STEP 3 . Try these out and see what happens:
- Brilliance: 100%
- Shadows: 100%
- Brightness: 100%
If you still can’t read out what’s there then try adding one or all of these:
- Exposure: 100%
- Highlights: 100%
- Contrast: –100%
STEP 4; Zoom into the highlighted area if necessary to see it better. Although you won’t be able to distinguish everything underneath the black highlighter, you should be able to read enough.
If it’s a phone number, email, password, or address, you’ll have a good chance of reading most of it — if not all of it.
TIPS:
For white highlighter, try Sharpness (100), Brightness (–100), Contrast (–100), and Brilliance (100). Below you can see several different highlighter colors and how the photo editing tools affect them.
How To Uncover Blacked Out Text-Video
Several other variables may make this process easier or more difficult. If the black highlighter isn’t very thick, you might be able to remove it somewhat with just two or three different adjustment tools instead of all six listed above.
Also, the color of the text and the background could make the process more difficult. It’ll be easier to remove the highlighter if you’re dealing with black or dark text with a light background. But if the text is a light color, like yellow, and the background is also light-colored, you could have difficulty viewing what’s underneath the black highlighter.
