Computerized methods and systems remove background information from digitally encoded images. A digitally encoded image is retrieved and converted to greyscale if it is encoded as a color image. The greyscale image is divided into a first set of subsections. The first set of subsections is processed to individually remove any background portions from each subsection of the first set of subsections. The greyscale image may also be divided into a second set of subsections and the second set of subsections is processed to individually remove any background portions from each subsection of the second set of subsections containing contours. The first set of subsections and second set of subsections may be merged to create a new version of the image, and the new version of the image is stored to digital storage.