Thought I was pretty good

[ukpapasmurf]

Hi

After messing around with Photoshop for about 6 months I thought I was getting pretty good
Then ...............................
I got shot down in flames when my in-laws came up with an old photo of their friends deceased parents.
It was ceased/damaged and faded.
After about a month of trying I have got nowhere fast !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could someone help me to find some really good tutorials that could help me make a 'silk purse out of a sows ear'

many thx
Smurf

[Swampy]

I don't think there is a "magic pill" for the process of retouching. Much depends on the problems with each different file. I think you also have to accept that there are some files that are just too far gone to ever do justice to.

What are the problems with your specific file? Can you post a sample?

[ukpapasmurf]

Thx for the quick reply Swampy
I will certainly try to add the actual photo for anyones comments/advice

thx again
Smurf

[mistermonday]

Barb, this image has a ton of life left in it. It took me less than 1 minute to restore the base color. I don't have any more time this afternoon but I would next adjust the tone slightly and proceed to clone over the cracks and clean up the small stains. You an also turn this into a nice B&W or recolor parts of it. It is in a lot better condition than many posted here.
Good luck withthe restoration.
Rgds, Murray

[ukpapasmurf]

mistermonday that is absolutely superb - didn't realise it had so much colour.

As for the rest - that is the bit I am having trouble sorting - and why I would like to find a good tutorial to help me learn the tecniques neccessary tto be able to do this
many thx again
Smurf

[palomino]

the color and most of the cracking is not too bad (clone stamp and healing brush mostly should be able to handle it...) the main problem I see is that one of the cracks is definitely over his eye...it is hard to re-create entire body parts like that. It will have to be done up very close on a high res image, or "borrow" a different eye! Best of luck, restoring old images liks that can be a challenge, but rewarding and well worth the effort when you see the face of the person it is for.

-Kate

[ukpapasmurf]

Thanx everyone for your invaluable help - these are things I would never have been able to do myself
As I said b4 I would like to find 'idiot proof' tutorials of how to do these procedures.

As for 'clone stamp and healing brush' - again I have never used these tools - Have always used cut & paste to solve my problems (guess this is not the best way?)

thx
Smurf

[Gary Richardson]

Did a very quick clone job, so you could get some idea of what you can get out of this picture.

The posted picture is a little small, and has a lot of jpeg artifacts.

Obviously with more time and a larger picture you should be able to get a better result.

Added a little colour.

[Swampy]

Originally Posted by ukpapasmurf

Hi

After messing around with Photoshop for about 6 months I thought I was getting pretty good
Then ...............................
I got shot down in flames when my in-laws came up with an old photo of their friends deceased parents.
It was ceased/damaged and faded.
After about a month of trying I have got nowhere fast !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could someone help me to find some really good tutorials that could help me make a 'silk purse out of a sows ear'

many thx
Smurf

Six months, huh? Smurf, I'm here to tell you that I've been using Photoshop since version 2 and still feel there is SO much left to learn! It is just so deep and broad. There are some excellent tutorials here in RTP dealing with various aspects of retouching and Photoshop techniques.

At your stage of the learning process, you are probably familiar with the basic tools such as crop, clone, select, etc. With some basic knowledge of the tools it might be worth your time and money to visit Lynda.com. There, for $25 for a one month 24/7 subscription, you can view all the video tutorials available and get a better grasp of the basics of Photoshop. In addition to the PhotoShop tutorials there, watch Bert Monroy's stuff. It will bowl you over.

Katrin Eismann's "Restoration and Retouching" Book is a Bible of techniques specific to restoring old photos. In the book, she will tell you how to get the excercise files and work along with the book.

There are just too many resources available (books, movies, podcasts, web sites, magazines) to tell you where to go. You're request is almost too "general" for anyone here to respond to because there are so many ways to "fix" or "repair" the multitude of problems that any one file (let alone the whole general subject of retouching) can begin to touch.

[Daviskw]

Hi there smurf

I boosted the saturation to get a little idea of the colors. Then removed color using the green channel and added some color back in. I don't think I got the girls clothes right.. oh well nothing new there... just ask the wife.

Non the less mostly cloning and healing brush then adding a little color.

Any book on Photoshop will have an extensive section on the clone and healing brush tools. That is the area I would look at to get a handle on how to repair your picture.

Butch

[ukpapasmurf]

Thanks everyone for your input -
just shows that I have a long long way to go which will include many hours in front of this screen

May I say many thx again
Smurf

[CarolB]

Hi Smuf!

I just had to give your picture a try. I haven't been using PhotoShop for too long, just a little over a year. There is so much to learn.

I did levels, curves and then mostly cloning. I did borrow an eye and I am not sure I like it. I also sharpened the picture. Since I do not have the experience of most folks on this group, it took me several hours to do.

I hope you like it.

CarolB

[RokcetScientist]

All the above is good advice.
And since it looks like you will be spending quite some time on those cracks and creases it may be worth your while to find the best tool, for you, to do it with.
Photoshop is good. But it's a Swiss army knife: most of the tools you never use (or even know what they're for...).
I submit you have a look at the tools in PhotoLine32 (get it here), notably at the copybrush that I use a lot for this kind of stuff.

[Syd]

I like it Klassy. You have evened out the tones nicely. She looks a bit like Helen Hunt, doesn't she?

Syd

[ukpapasmurf]

RokcetScientist

Looks pretty good - will give the trial a go
Have been using Ulead PhotoImpact recently and find it much easier to use than anything else I've tried before.

Thx everyone for your invaluable input
Smurf

[Flora]

Smurf, CarolB,

welcome to RP!!

..Just wanted to add something to what has been said already...

unlike 'Retouching', 'Restoring' a picture means trying to take it back to the conditions it had when it was taken, in the most 'natural' way possible.

Old pictures might have many and different problems, the most common of which are:

• Faded
• Faded or nearly 'gone' colours
• Colour Casts
• Scratches
• Mold
• Exposure
• Noise

...that is why there can't be either one magic button to fix all the problems, or a single Tutorial covering all these topics in one go!

The Software, methods and techniques to correct each problem area in a picture are many (understatement of the century!! ) and it's a matter of trying until you find what you feel more comfortable with, and of being flexible enough to venture new ways...

In my experience, Books are the only 'Learning Tools' that cover all (or most of) these topics. Like many here, I consider Katrin Eismann's "Restoration and Retouching" Book a 'Bible' in the field, but I know that there are many other books, just as valid and good on the market.

Like many here, I've been using Photoshop since years (I started with version 6) and, like Swampy, I'm still learning, but I'd like to share some Tips I found very useful in Restoring pictures:

• If dealing with portraits or picture of people, never change the 'identity' of the subject/s ... meaning don't change eyes, mouths, noses and don't reposition these features in the face ... It might look nicer to you, but satisfy your taste isn't what matters ... you are dealing with people's memories and people want to remember/recognize the subject/s of the pictures as they were!!! (Reconstruction of missing details is another topic)
  
  
• Keep in mind that old pictures rarely had a very strong contrast, so, go easy when adjusting contrast and exposure, a well balanced picture still has visible details in both darkest and lightest areas ...
  
  
• The same goes for colours ... bright coloured pictures are the product of a much closer past ... so, don't go splashing strong colours on your image just for the sake of impact and, maybe, even for drawing attention from 'uncorrected' or badly corrected areas .... Be very careful to soften the edges and really blend the colours when colorizing ... badly coloured pictures tend to look like a kid's experiment on a Colouring Book!
  Here are some very useful colouring Tips.
  
  
• Unless specifically asked, be it by customers or friends/family, don't change a photograph into a painting or a very personal artistic interpretation .... It surely makes everything easier as 'artistic' procedures tend to 'hide' scratches/imperfections much quicker ... but, sometimes, these procedures tend to transform a face into a nearly unrecognizable 'blob'
  
  
• Go very easy with 'denoising' procedures ... (no matter what software and method you use) ... an 'overdenoised' subject migh look like a plastic doll making everything look very unnatural!
  
  
• Go very easy with sharpening too, as strong sharpening can create unwanted, unnatural 'haloes' around a subject.
  
  
• Finally, when making corrections, any kind of correction, start very softly ... you can 'build up' gradually until you are satisfied with the result.

Hope these tips can help you like they helped me!!!

[Daviskw]

As usual Flora... wonderful job and advice. May I ask did you do a little work on the eye?... If so did you use shading or did you copy an eye from another picture?

Butch

[albatrosss]

Thought I also would give it a try.

Used a number of blending modes and merges.

Played around with Hue and Saturation

Selected various areas and varied the hue and saturation.

Cloned out the cracks etc.

[Daviskw]

I decided to follow Flora's advice and try to keep most of the original color and try again... at least what I think it was