The photo below is one of three schoolchildren taken at the same time and all have the same problem. They have lost their colour and have various other damage. The one attached is colour corrected which still could be improved.

The main problem with them all is the green dots covering the whole photo from the grainy texture of the paper. It is not noticeable on the original, but highlighted by the scanning.

Can I eliminate these at scanning or is there a way of reducing or removing all together in Photoshop?


The photos are approx. 35 years old

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Colan

The ImageJ works well with this picture …here very quick attempt.

this can give you an idea
http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/ht/apsremovemoire.htm

Here's some good first steps:

• Duplicate the image
• Convert to CMYK
• Copy the cyan channel to a new layer in the original RGB image
• Invert the image of the new, copied layer
• Change the blend to Color dodge
• change the opacity to 50%
• Merge the layers
- See left image below for results to here
• Duplicate the layer
• Run the hIgh Pass Filter at 1 pixel
• Invert the image
• Change the blend to Vivid light
• Adjust the opacity to 50%
- See the right hand image for the results of the inverted high pass application .. a bit softer

With some cloning and patching you should be able to produce a showable photo.

Stosh

Try scanning at a 45 degree angle if not move it around and scan it again..I bet one of your scans at dif. angles will get rid of the paper texture.
Anyway I:
Cut out the background, ran it thru Noiseware, healed the skin in parts, painted some of the spots out, heal patched the sweater...added noise everywhere.
It normally helps to present the original image or scan (before corrections)
Lasa

ran FFT filter
ran neat image filter
used grain surgery 2 to sample grain from original
matched grain at 57 percent
made mask of girl copied to a new layer
replaced background with white.

Hi there

As the good work above I ran the picture thru Image Analyzer to remove some of the texture.

Then some healing brush...replaced background then a good amount of noise filtering. I may have used a little too much on the sweater.

Butch

Hi Everyone

Thanks for taking time to help and offer advice. I will try each one to see the difference and save the methods used for future reference.

One other question, what method or plug-in does you use to get such clear crisp extractions when changing the background?

Thanks again

Colan

It's always a good idea to post the original along with your reworked version.
Because you're only posting the image you've already adjusted, you're missing out on techniques that might better handle the problem if applied to the original color image.

Hi Vikki

Thanks for the info, this was my first post. I will also post original in the future. I am new to this forum and looking through the other posts I am astounded with the depth of talent and variety of different methods used by the members. I feel very lucky to have found this forum.

Regards

Colan

I used the GML (search this forum for it, it's a free extraction tool) for the top half and the pen tool for the bottom half.

Lasa

With the original high res I'm sure you can get a much better outcome.

Hi,

Colan,
welcome to RetouchPRO!! :pleased:

What Vikki said about posting the original scanning too.... :)

Can I eliminate these at scanning or is there a way of reducing or removing all together in Photoshop?..I think scanning at different angles helps a lot in minimizing this kind of patterns.... this Tutorial (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=58) shows you how... But, if re-scanning isn't an option, Photoshop will help you get very good results.

Like unimatrix001, I used the FFT filter on your picture. Here (http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~avc25/archive.htm) is the archive page of Alex Chirokov creator of the free FFT Plug-in for Photoshop.

I have both versions, but tend to use the RGB version of FFT/IFFT (http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~avc25/archive/FFT_RGB_PlugIns_13April_2005.zip) because it gives you the same results and it's simpler to use ... You can find Rô's Tutorial on the usage of FFT here (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=185).

Attachment 1 = my final result.
Attachment 2 = Before&After FFT

Hi Flora

Thanks for the warm welcome. Your version is amazing, I doubt if I 'll ever get close to your standard on the other two photo's, but I have downloaded the fft filter and will practise and hopefully learn at the same time.

Could you tell me the other proceedures you used and how do you get the extraction so clear and accurate.

Thanks

Colan

Hi again Colan..

you are welcome and thank you for your kindness!! :pleased:

..... will practise and hopefully learn at the same time I'm sure you will ... Just don't give up ....I was about to throw my computer out of the window when i started with the FFT Filter!!! :dizzy:

...how do you get the extraction so clear and accurate.... very simple... I didn't extract at all!!! :) ... I simply restored the original background after having created a (not very accurate) mask around the subject > Attachment 1.... As for my procedures here they are: (I work with Photoshop)


used the magic wand to select the Background.


with the selection active (marching ants around it), I created a Level Adjustment Layer where, to remove the cyan cast, I tweaked the Reds only as in Attachment 2


After that, I created a new blank Layer and set its Blending to Color.. with a fuzzy brush (Opacity 30-50%), sampling colour from surrounding areas, I painted over the discolorations in the girl's face, hair and top. You can find a Tutorial on this procedure here (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=206) just scroll down the page to the "BLANK/EMPTY LAYERS SET TO...." paragraph.


I used the Patch Tool to remove the scratches.


I used Neat Image (a Noise Removing software which comes in 2 versions: as standalone only (free) or with the addition of a Photoshop plug-in (not free))... Neat Image can be downloaded here (http://www.neatimage.com/download.html) and on the same page you will find the links to manual, support, tips and tricks..


I used the Heal Brush to clean the spots on the background.


Finally I lightly sharpened the girl by using Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask.


Hope this helps ... but just 'yell' if you need more help.. :)

Hi Again

Thanks for your prompt reply. I will now go and try to work through your workflow and see how they turn out.

Regards

Colan

i'll just add one thing to flora's post regarding the FFT/IFFT. well, two things. first, she's right about throwing the computer out the window... most of us were close to that when we first ran into it :)

and two, there's an even simpler version in "Image Analyzer" which seems to work very well and that others use here. i've tried both and tend to use the RGB FFT/IFFT rather than image analyzer's, but mostly because i learned on FFT/IFFT and that's what i'm most used to. but, dont overlook image analyzer either. it has some very good things in it and, it's free.

and my welcome to RetouchPRO as well :)