Hi, Jen.
With my images I prefer to leave the original and, when they are hard to read, do a transcription after the original.
However, if you want to clean up the original image you can do it with the same basic tools you would use for the image of a person. In the example below (a snippet of the baptism of my 3X great grandfather) I’ve partially completed an enhancement using only one tool: the clone tool. I did three things with it: (1) cleaned it up by cloning the cleanest parts and replacing the dirty parts; and (2) in the cases of “McFarlane” and “Kinloch” and “bapt’d” cloning parts of those names from cleaner examples of the same names (in the same hand) from other entries on the same page, and (3) removing portions of the entries above and below my ancestor’s entry which could confuse his entry.
Of course I would always keep the original as well as the enhanced version for two reasons: (1) the enhanced version is no longer an image of the original; and I might accidentally factually alter the image in my enhancement, mistaking damage/dirt for detail or vice versa.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Peter
