I have been working on this restoration for more hours than I care to mention, but I keep thinking there must be a quicker way. I have cleaned up the two figures, which are the main emphasis of the restoration, but I wonder if there was some sort of blurring I could do to the background.

Take a look at a portion of the image, and I'm glad to hear any suggestions.

-Jason

hi monk (easier than the full name you're using :) )

and welcome to RP.

normally, or at least before i got psp 9, i'd just clone out those lines. now, and depending on what program you're using, i'd use the small scratch remover in psp 10. there's also a 'remove digital garbage' tool (not the real name, but expresses its uses) in psp 9 and 10 that i use quite a bit for things like this. i'm sure photoshop has similar tools if you're using that.

you might also take a look at the polaroid scratch and dust removal program. it excels at this sort of thing. you might have to do some manual masking with it, but it's a nice program.

you could also try duplicating the original on a new layer and try a gausian blur on the whole, then use a blend mode to bleed the one layer into the other.

so, there's some starters for ya. keep us posted on progress. we like to know if anything worked and if it didnt.

Craig

thanks for the reply. I'm using the "healing brush" in photoshopCS mostly. Well, that and the cloning tool. I tried to do the technique where you blur the image until the blemished disappear, take a history snapshot, undo in the history pallett and paint back the blur over the cracks with the history brush, but the cracks are too wide and it just made a bunch of gray lines. I can't even really get the cracks to disappear completely no matter how much I blur it. Ugh! I may be stuck doing all this by hand (and not charging near enough for it).

-Jason

ok, here's two versions i worked on. the first is a combo of line scratch remover tool/brush, remove digital camera noise filter, some clone and smudge, and the new in psp 10, blemish fixer brush.

the second is a straight clone and smudge, nothing else.

the image is badly damaged, so dont beat yourself up too much if it doesnt come out looking like a new house on a clear day ;)

Craig

edit: also, i wasnt real sure about that 'chimney' thing on the roof. i might just be seeing things there.

Monkey,

Sometimes you just have to do the tedious dirty work.

However, take a look under Resources in the RetouchPRO pull down menu above. Then click on Photoshop Files there is a De-Crack Action that may help.


k

Great stuff that De-Crack action, ran it 5 times with 1.5 as the selection and this was the result, no other adjustments done

If you still have the original photo and can scan it again, try scanning it several times at different angles and then put the scanned images over each other on different layers and use "overlay" blending mode.

Sometimes scanning at different angles and then stacking the images will remove a lot of these little cracks - something about how the scanner light hits the crack and leaves a shadow.

Margaret