1. A method of removing defects from an image, comprising: obtaining an image; identifying potential defects in the image based on edge sharpness; determining measures of strength for the different potential defects; calculating local properties for different positions within the image; identifying image defects by evaluating the measures of strength for the potential defects in view of the local properties of the image in an immediate vicinity of said potential defects; and replacing image data corresponding to the image defects based on image data surrounding the image defects.