diff --git a/image.go b/image.go
index e1a45be..e06d3d6 100644
--- a/image.go
+++ b/image.go
@@ -146,7 +146,14 @@ func (r *renderer) decodeImage(dict reader.Dict, raw []byte, resources reader.Di
 	if out == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
-	r.applyTransparency(out, dict, resources)
+	if !r.applyTransparency(out, dict, resources) {
+		// A mask was named and could not be read, so how much of this image
+		// shows is unknown. Drawing it whole is the worst of the three
+		// answers: it is how a scanned page's high-resolution ink layer, which
+		// is meant to show through a stencil, ends up painted over the page as
+		// a solid dark rectangle.
+		return nil
+	}
 	return out
 }
 
@@ -374,23 +381,30 @@ func (r *renderer) decodeInverts(dict reader.Dict) bool {
 // applyTransparency reads whichever of the two ways a PDF says which parts of
 // an image are see-through: a soft mask of its own, or a range of colours to
 // treat as absent.
-func (r *renderer) applyTransparency(s *sampled, dict reader.Dict, resources reader.Dict) {
+// It reports whether the image may be drawn. A mask that is NAMED and cannot be
+// READ means how much of the image shows is unknown, and an image drawn whole
+// when most of it was meant to be invisible is worse than one not drawn: that
+// is exactly how a scanned page goes wrong. Such a page is a low-resolution
+// colour background with a high-resolution bitonal ink layer over it, and the
+// ink layer is a dark rectangle masked by a JBIG2 stencil. Without the stencil
+// it is a dark rectangle over the whole page.
+func (r *renderer) applyTransparency(s *sampled, dict reader.Dict, resources reader.Dict) bool {
 	if stream, ok := reader.ToStream(resolve(r.doc, dict.Get("SMask"))); ok {
-		r.applySoftMask(s, stream, resources)
-		return
+		return r.applySoftMask(s, stream, resources)
 	}
 	maskEntry := resolve(r.doc, dict.Get("Mask"))
 	if stream, ok := reader.ToStream(maskEntry); ok {
-		r.applyStencilMask(s, stream, resources)
+		return r.applyStencilMask(s, stream, resources)
 	}
+	return true
 }
 
 // applySoftMask reads a grey image whose levels say how much of each pixel
 // shows.
-func (r *renderer) applySoftMask(s *sampled, stream *reader.Stream, resources reader.Dict) {
+func (r *renderer) applySoftMask(s *sampled, stream *reader.Stream, resources reader.Dict) bool {
 	mask := r.decodeImage(stream.Dict, stream.Raw, resources)
 	if mask == nil {
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 	for y := 0; y < s.h; y++ {
 		for x := 0; x < s.w; x++ {
@@ -398,14 +412,15 @@ func (r *renderer) applySoftMask(s *sampled, stream *reader.Stream, resources re
 			s.pix[(y*s.w+x)*4+3] = m.R
 		}
 	}
+	return true
 }
 
 // applyStencilMask reads a one-bit image whose set pixels are the ones to
 // leave out.
-func (r *renderer) applyStencilMask(s *sampled, stream *reader.Stream, resources reader.Dict) {
+func (r *renderer) applyStencilMask(s *sampled, stream *reader.Stream, resources reader.Dict) bool {
 	mask := r.decodeImage(stream.Dict, stream.Raw, resources)
 	if mask == nil {
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 	for y := 0; y < s.h; y++ {
 		for x := 0; x < s.w; x++ {
@@ -417,6 +432,7 @@ func (r *renderer) applyStencilMask(s *sampled, stream *reader.Stream, resources
 			}
 		}
 	}
+	return true
 }
 
 // intOr reads an integer, or gives a default.
diff --git a/image_test.go b/image_test.go
index e99709d..5d103b6 100644
--- a/image_test.go
+++ b/image_test.go
@@ -419,13 +419,28 @@ func imageWithMask(t *testing.T, entry reader.Name, maskDict reader.Dict, maskDa
 	return d
 }
 
-func TestAMaskThatCannotBeRead(t *testing.T) {
-	// Neither kind of mask, when it cannot be read, may take the image with
-	// it: the image is drawn as it stands.
+func TestAMaskThatCannotBeReadTakesTheImageWithIt(t *testing.T) {
+	// This reverses what this package used to do, and the corpus is why.
+	//
+	// It used to draw the image as it stood, on the reasoning that an
+	// unreadable mask should not cost you the picture. That is right for a
+	// photograph with a soft edge and catastrophic for a scanned page, which
+	// is a low-resolution colour background with a HIGH-RESOLUTION BITONAL INK
+	// LAYER over it — and that ink layer is a dark rectangle whose shape comes
+	// entirely from a JBIG2 stencil. Drawn without the stencil it is a dark
+	// rectangle over the whole page.
+	//
+	// Measured against poppler over 250 scanned medical documents, the median
+	// page had 97% of its pixels wrong that way. Not drawing it leaves the
+	// background showing, which is what the page mostly is.
 	for _, entry := range []reader.Name{"SMask", "Mask"} {
 		d := imageWithMask(t, entry, reader.Dict{
 			"Width": reader.Integer(0), "Height": reader.Integer(0)}, nil)
-		wantBlack(t, draw(t, d, Options{}), 10, 10)
+		img := draw(t, d, Options{})
+		if !isWhite(img, 10, 10) {
+			t.Errorf("/%s: the image was drawn although how much of it shows "+
+				"is unknown: %s", entry, pixel(img, 10, 10))
+		}
 	}
 }