How to uncover blacked out text? Is it even possible?
I sent some pictures to a journalist to report something I thought was noteworthy. However, one of those images had my Date of bith on it along with my other personal information. Using markup tools in the Photos app of my iPhone 6, I blacked it out . Then, I took a screenshot sent transferred it my email account, and downloaded the image to my laptop. Then, I sent that image from my desktop to the journalist.
So, let's say this was the edited original picture (it's in JPEG format because when I sent it from my iPhone via iCloud mail to my other email address then downloaded it on to my laptop from that other email address, it downloaded in JPEG, but the screenshot downloaded as a PNG):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BylJxh-1HrrkQUFqWXprbHhNVUU/view?usp=sharing
This is the screenshot (PNG format):https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BylJxh-1HrrkREZWRFdHOUxnTTA/view?usp=sharing
Using whatever technique you want, is there any way possible way to see what is under the blacked out parts in the screenshot, because that was what I actually then sent to the journalist. If yes that how to uncover blackout text in those images? Thank you for your help!
PNG is a bitmap format, thus "blackening out" is a destructive method: what was in the original picture before it was replaced by black pixels is no more in the blackened picture. You can use any fully opaque color (a color without a transparent value) for this process, not just black. This is not the same for other formats that are layered, like PDF, SVG (vector image), PSD (photoshop image), etc. In those formats, "blackening out" will most likely add a black layer that can easily be removed later. PNG doesn't have EXIF metadata like JPEG, but still can embed some king of metadata in the ancillary chunks. You would be wise to check what's contained in those chunks of your picture.
How To Uncover Blacked Out Text For a screenshot, if you used the exact same shade of black for both you are just out of luck. Simply put, both text and pictures are coded the same way for image files, and so if they are set to the same shade, the computer has no way of telling them apart. If they are very slightly different shades, try messing with contrast or setting to black and white then adjusting the choice point for black/white until it pops out.