Requesting advice or assistance with the attached photo. It is the only photo of a family member who died in 1922. The photo is a scanned xerox image which seemed to be all available. I scanned it in at 16 bit grayscale and have tried manipulating through Photo Shop. The skin texture is blotchy. I used the curves layer, Neat Image, Gausian Blur. Any advice will be most welcome.

Hi V Cooper,

The problem with your picture seems to be caused by having too much contrast in your restored picture.

With a picture of this age and condition it's not really possible to get the sort of clean bright image we accept these days, and a more sympathetic treatment is necessary.

I've done a quick clean up of your picture, and have enhanced slightly some of the contrast by use of Dodge and Burn in areas of her face (mostly round eyes and nose) that draw most attention.

I haven't tried too much to "enhance" the picture, just to draw out what's there.

It might be possible to do a little noise reduction to get rid of some of the grain, but I' haven't attempted to do so.

Might also be worth re-framing the shot slightly, as she is offset to one side, but I haven't done this either, as I don't usually re-frame shots without asking first.

I did a quick try.
-Smoothed background
-Degrunge (tutorial on this site)to smooth skin
-Selective sharpening on eyes
-Contrast adjustment

dc

Hi all,

Could not resist a quick try on such a beautiful spirit. This lady has incredibly deep eyes... those of a gentle, wise old soul.

Coop... thank you, so very much, for posting this photo.

-noise reduction
-cloning and healing
-brightness and contrast correction
-selective brightening on hat ribbon
-grain added
-cropped

Cheers,
Sherry

Thank you for such efforts, I am so amazed as I had worked so hard, and the response let me know that I was overworking the picture. I also note that you start from the unretouched not the one that I have "overworked". Should I post the one that I worked on at all.

Yes! Keep posting your progress. For my two cents... just keep on working and working at it... honing your skills... doing the tutorials. Trial and error... see what works for you.

Post your work and the pros will let you know what you've done right and where you need some guidance.

There are people in RP who have incredible skills in the restoration and retouch areas... and they are more than willing to help us out anyway they can.

I am looking forward to seeing more of your work. :-)

Sherry

I do not have a problem with reframing of the photo, it was the old fashioned square as best I could tell with a reddish overglow which I removed by scanning.

Her eyes are quite striking I do agree and they are olive shapped and appear to be a light brown. I am also trying to retain the imagery of the hat which appears to be straw with a eyelet dress (top).

Here again is one of the images posted and with some revisions, feel free to continue working with me. Do know that it is much appreciated.

Oops, I forgot to say that while I retain the name of the basic image that I used, I did use information and ideas from each of you that had responded thusfar.

Your latest background is out of keeping with the figure, in that it is "clean" and the figure is not.

If you wish to use a new BG, it's necessary to distress it slightly so that it fits with the figure, else it looks "wrong".

I've done a v-quick BG change, but have added noise to the BG to help it blend better. It's by no means a complete job, but I hope you can see what I'm getting at.

I agree with the other folks, this photo needs a gentle touch. Here is my go at this. I used pattern maker to create a background that matches the existing one. I think an antique style border also would look good with this.

Larger image is here.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u53/dave_cox/web.jpg

the border effect is really cool, however, when I printed the pic it was grainy, so I then put it through Neat Image at 50% for everything and this is the results.

Also I am assuming that my receiving family member will want to frame the photo, so would the additional frame be beneficial.

I also agree with Dave. Some restoration projects just can't be made to look 'like new'. And in fact, too much restoration will often destroy the gentle qualities in an old photo.

A good example of 'over-do' can be found in mine. I blackened her hat way too much.... losing the delicate ribbed qualities under the left side of the brim. I also made her eyes way too dark.

Dave's work is an example of the best of both worlds... combining restoration and retaining original photo qualities.

Cheers,
Sherry

Here is a shot at this one
Don

I'm suprised the border came out grainy, my print looked ok. Did you try the larger image link I provided, or did you get it to look satisfactory? Any way, feel free to keep or lose the border as you like. Depending on the frame you put it in, it may look better with, or without it.

Thanks Sunfly, for your nice comments!

I thought I would share my second challenge which is for more difficult than the first. It appears to have been not protected through time and the faces of the mom and pop are badly marred. The problem I encounter is that in cloning the skin acquires a painted look even though I am using other areas to clone that are similar. I have again attached the original and my work.

I hope you have as much fun with this one, but please share advice about the above problem. The WIP image is the one that I have just restarted working on, I threw out the first one, because I couldn't get it right, thought I would come back for your assistance again.

Hi VCOOPER,

I love the photos you've posted and think they can be restored to their original beauty.

I would have given one a try but the size of the photos posted are just too small and artifacted to show you how nice they could come out.

My suggestion is to slow down and stop using filters to cover up damage. The damage is still visible, but now it's just blurred. To get the most out of your restorations, you'll have to do everything in tiny steps. Zoom in and correct damage with the smallest brush. It's a bit tedious for those who are looking for a quick fix, but it will give you results you can be proud of.

Which tools to use? Using layers you can clone, lighten, darken, smudge, etc. Use separate layers for separate pieces of the photo. Stay organized and you'll be able to later edit your fixes without starting all over.

If you post a link to a hi res photo, I'll show you how I would tackle it.

Good luck :)

The photo was e-mailed to me and it is only 791k, if you are referring to the 40's Family. Is this a workable size. The Lady was a 3x4 xerox that I scanned.

If that's the only size that you have for the family, then it has to be good :) It doesn't look as badly damaged as the portrait of the lady.

The lady scan looks very strange to me. I guess that's because you said it's a xerox.

When you scan, scan keeping the print size in mind and scan 300 dpi for each 100%

example: your 3x4 lady. If you want to print it exactly as is, you would scan at 300 dpi. Personally, when I have a photo that needs lots of work, I double and scan at 600dpi. You can always drop the dpi after the worst of the damage is repaired.

In the lady scan, my preference would be to scan 1200 dpi. Why? because it's only 3x4 and I would want to print larger and also there's much damage to repair since it's not a photo, but a xerox. (300 dpi for printing, double it to print 6x8, double it to give room to repair the damage) When the work is done you can downsize to 300 dpi at print size and save. Ah, and turn off all scanner enhancements like sharpness, levels, etc. All of that can and should be taken care of in photoshop.

If you have a better scan of the lady, I'd like to give it a try since I think it would make a beautiful photo.

Bill is exactly correct. There is no such thing as a quick fix with many photo restorations. It is tedious work... you either love it or you hate it. :-)

Try this....

Open up your family photo and re-save it as a new photoshop or paintshop file... whichever you are working in.

Add a blank layer over top of the family photo layer.

Select the clone stamp tool. Set it to sample all layers. My brush preference for cloning is a soft round. Opacity 100%. Flow 100%.

Zoom in 300% and 400%. Adjust your brush size down to 3 or 5 pixels.

Start cloning on the blank layer. As Bill stated, by cloning a blank layer, you can erase anything you don't like without losing all the work you are happy with. If you wish, create several layers for different areas of the photo.

Turning the cloning layer visibility on and off enables you to easily see if you are developing the dreaded 'cloning trails'. You also see your progress... it's inspiring!

Hope this helps... for a starter. Oh... and don't forget to 'save' frequently, if your program is not set to auto-save.

Cheers,
Sherry

Sharpening, cleaning the picture, and last step was to add some noise. :)

Clone to new layer. Smudge. 2 adjustment layers Curves, Contrast

Luv,

You did a nice job on that one.

Thanks :) I'm new around here so that means a lot :)

If I ever get the hang of posting correctly around here, it will be wonderful, I do so that each of you with each rendition of the picture of the "The Lady" has just so impressed me at where I can eventually get if I keep at it. I am a retired senior who has taken on photo recovery and restoration in my family as a hobby.

Luv, I worked diligently on the 40s family and could not get that skin issue correct, I keep having that problem.

BillFrey, I did rescan as you suggested at 1200 dpi with all the scanner enhancement turned off. I now have to sign up for a place that I can post it for you as it will not reduce in size for web image in photo shop.

I will be working on this project :)

I have been cloning on a duplicate copy of the original layer. I tried cloning on a blank layer as was suggested, but I could not get any effects to show. I have had this issue before where I have to flatten the image before I am ready because I need to get to the base image, or I go work there and then move up the layers to see what the final looks like. I am working with the help of the Restoration and Retouching book by K. Eismann, but am certainly incorporating the tips from each of you. Again this is a wonderful experience.

> tried cloning on a blank layer as was suggested, but I could not get any effects to show.

Make sure you have "Sample all layers" checked in the options bar

VCOOPER,

Try www.photobucket.com for an image hosting service. It's free, widely used, and user friendly.

-Guy

Here's my shot at the first one.

fascinating picture.

i did this over several days, so my exact steps are long lost. however, it was a LOT of clone, some push, airbrush, clarify, an adjustment layer or two and most all of my standard fare.

however, there was one big difference i did here this time. the image, as posted, had 'the blocks'. the blocks are those small blocks, usually 8 x 8 pixels where some operation like sharpening has been done. this is done by program or a scanner. it's a decent method but often leaves a very discernable pattern which, when you start working in close or blowing things up in a photo print, is not so desirable. therefore, i ran a .jpg artifact removal, almost before anything else, to get rid of this pattern.

A quick fix
Don

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u148/vrcoop/Lady.jpg

Thanks again to all of you. BillFrey the image has been posted as you requested. I used the advice of Photobucket and joined :)

Thanks for taking the trouble to repost.

This new photo is smaller than the original you posted, but it's in better condition... there appears to be much less jpg artifacts.

Did photobucket reduce the size of the file or did you upload a smaller one?

If you have the larger version, could you please upload that one?

If photobucket has a size limitation, I know you can upload a max 1.5 meg file to http://www.imageshack.us/index.php ... no registration needed.

Thanks

Kraellin You again inspired me to do some work. I like your job.

Hard to do too much with such a low resolution image, but this is looks a little better.

Good morning, BillFrey I have reposted the lady at Photobucket. The maximum file size of 1 meg, so it should be much better this time.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u148/vrcoop/Lady-1.jpg

Thanks again :)

I'm getting approximately the same file size as before, but I found out what's going on with photobucket.

There is a size limitation... I found this at their forum.

If you have a free account, the maximum size is 1024 x 768 Pixels (or 1 MB depending on your settings). If you are uploading images larger than this, Photobucket will resize them, and possibly cause distortion or fuzziness. We suggest you resize before you upload.

I'll use this photo, I don't want to drive you crazy uploading :)

gave this a shot ... i havent gotten very good with the clone and healing brush so i use the patch tool for all my work.
patch tool to remove scratchs
ran through noiseware to reduce noise used default settings

thanks, chillin :)

yours looks good as well.

just one small item i'd warn about here. the lighting has given the woman a goatee. i find it perfectly ok, even though i'm rather adamant about restoring to the original image, to remove such oddities. :)

I continue to arrive at the painted on look with a lack of skin texture, is it that once the picture is so distorted you can only arrive at a certain restore point,
I have used the smudge tool for the majority of the work by enlarging the photo view and attempting to blend the pixels, a disaster I think :0
It just seems that the facial rebuild, I cannot draw, are beyond me for how to have skin texture.
I think the Family 40 is more difficult than the 1922 photo, maybe because of the destruction factor.
I think each of you that have worked on both of them are super, I am striving to get to your levels.
Thanks.

vcooper,

'smudge' tends to, well, smudge. that removes grain. grain gives texture. so, there ya go. but, that's not to say 'never use smudge' either. faces are tricky. faces have texture/grain. 'clone' copies. and, if done right, will copy texture/grain from one place to another. of course, there's a risk there too. you can get too much of the copy and end up with rather odd looking skin filled with lots of 'clone marks'. airbrush/spraypaint adds or covers. and when set to a low density (not opacity) can add grain/texture.

thus, i like to set my clone tool(s) to a fairly low opacity and copy texture from one place to another, but little by little and drawing from ALL of the surrounding area. i tend to then follow this up with some airbrushing to smooth out the look and add grain where necessary, but at a low density so it's not just a brushstroke effect. i may or may not then follow this up with a very light, like opacity 18 or so, smudge, just to even out the look a bit.

you can also mask an area, like the skin on a face and simply use the 'add noise' filter. this is usually set fairly low, and in a black and white image like this, set to 'monochrome'.

when i first started doing this stuff years ago, i used a LOT of smudge. and then i found the clone tool. that changed everything. you can still end up with a 'pasty' face using clone, so it's a bit of an art form. i usually start out with clone set at about 60% opacity and as i work out the larger areas to smaller and gross work to finer, i lower that opacity, getting as low as 18 or so sometimes. it's a bit of a trick and about all i can say is, practice, practice, practice.

Note to Kraellin, today I am sharing the photo restore you did with one of the family members who have never seen this beautiful lady. Will let you know how she sees it.

BillFrey wanted you to know that I am faithfully checking everyday to see what happened as you went to work on the picture using the brush stroke.

vcooper,

thank you. i'd be very happy to hear the results.

i'd also be very happy if you continue your own work. it's very easy in this business to say, 'i'll never be as good as so and so' and to then just give it up. Flora, who is a moderator here and one of the best retouchers/restorers/and general all around great photoshoppers i've ever seen used to post more often and i'd look at her work and just go 'wow!'. and the 2nd reaction was, 'boy, would i love to be that good', and the third reaction was, 'how can i ever expect to be that good?'. it's that third reaction you have to not listen to. i'm still not nearly as good as she is on most things, but once in a while... just once every great while, i can compare something i've done to something she's also done and go, 'there, i made it! that's how good i wanted to be with this stuff' and know that persistence and study and practice do pay off.