Hello everyone, i have just come across this site and i must say that i am very impressed with what can be done in terms of restoring damaged photos. Attached is a old picture of my grandfather which i would love to be able to restore and give it to my dad. I do have access to CS2 or Paint shop pro 11 if thats any help. Any help or suggestions would be most welcome as i really am a bit of a novice at this. Thank you for your time.

Soakes,

That photo will restore very easily, and nicely. One suggestion would be to work on a larger resolution image if you are interested in printing the photo larger than wallet size.

If you would like to restore the photo yourself, I suggest reading about the clone stamp and healing brush. These tools will allow you to erase the creases and cracks.

Before you do that, you should do a level adjustment, and ensure that the photos tones are evenly distributed over the luminosity spectrum.

These two techniques should make this photo look nearly new.

Another option, would be to scan the photo at a higher resolution, upload it to the internet and post the link here. I am certain that there are plenty of folks on this board that would be more than happy to do the restoration for you, myself included.

Good Luck,

Guy Thomas

My quick try.Levels,lots of healing brush.neat image.It's a start,could use more work.

Bob

Thank you Guy and NYBOB for taking the time to reply and giving me some direction as what needs doing to the photo, also for NYBOB for his "quick try", which to my novice`s eye looks great.

I don`t know if i have done this correctly but i uploaded as Guy suggested a higher resolution version of the photo, although i cant really notice much of a difference.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v609/highborn/?action=view&current=Grandad2.jpg

Hi

Here's my try. Plenty of cloning, levels adj and noise reduction.

Thought I would leave it sepia to retain old look.

Colan

Hi soakes,

I left my version grainy since I took Neat Image off my computer... I had to clean house and it was one of the things that had to go.....

I converted to black and white by using the Channel Mixer and set to Monochrome. Then I flattened the layers and began to work.

Did a levels adjustment.

To get rid of light colored holes I Ctrl +J to duplicate the background layer then, with that layer selected, select the move tool. Tap the 'Down' arrow 2 times then tap the 'Left' arrow 2 times. Change the layer blend mode to Darken. Alt click the 'Add Layer Mask' button and with a white brush tap or paint over the white holes.

I flattened this all and began using the patch tool to get rid of the remaining spots.

To even out the too dark/light places I Alt clicked the 'Add New Layer' button and set the blend mode to Soft Light .... just underneath I clicked the 'Fill With Soft Light Neutral Gray' box, clicked OK.

In this new layer I lightened the dark spots by using the Dodge took set to Midpoints at about 10% and began lightening...

Repeated above then used the Burn tool set to Midpoints 10% and touched up too light areas.

Once I liked the picture, I flattened it all. Ctrl J to duplicate and set that layer blend mode to Soft Light. Then went Filters > Other > High Pass and sharpened.

I reduced the opacity of that layer then flattened.

I then went Image > Mode > Grayscale

Then again went Image > Mode > Duotone and clicked 'Load' and played around with various colors.

Changed the Image > Mode > back to RGB and that was it!

Fun picture to work on, thanks!

Beth

Solitear,

You did a very nice job. And your step through is also highly appreciated.

soakes,

You had the right idea about uploading to photobucket, but the file is the same resolution. What I emant, was rescan the original photo, so that it comes out with dimensions in the thousands instead of hundreds.

Right now the photo is only 573 x 800 px , but in order to print this as an 8" x 10" you would want to work with the file in a range of 2200 x 3000 px.

Hopefully, not too confusing. Let me know if you have any questions.

-Guy Thomas

Thanks Guy! I try to cover the steps for others as a 'pay it forward' kind of thing.... BTW I notice you do the same thing :) .......I'm eternally grateful to those gracious people who post for me to learn....

Are you currently serving in Iraq?

Beth

Thanks Beth,

I work at the US Embassy in Baghdad as a contractor. I should be here for another 11 1/2 months or so.

-Guy

Hopefully, Guy, you're as safe as you can be there..... I'm sure your loved ones are praying hedges of protection for you and can't wait until you're safely home again.

oxoxo
Beth

Had a quick go with this, haven't tried to "polish" it too much, just to keep the feel of the original.

Cloned out blemishes, adjusted levels a tad.

Created new layer, set to soft light, and evened out some of the lighting by painting with a soft white/black brush set to about 5% opacity.

Used Neat Image to reduce noise a little.

Looks awesome, Gary..... as usual..... hehehe

Beth

welcome to RP, soakes.

as you can see, we've got some talented people here. but we're also a learning site, so we'd like to see your work as well and those same talented folks can help you progress if you need it.

Looks awesome, Gary..... as usual..... hehehe

Beth


Thank you kindly Beth. I'm similarly impressed by your rendition of Soakes picture, you have a nice light touch, which is almost always my preferred result (they can always be "polished" later if the client want it that way).

I did the same as Gary. Tried to keep the original feel of the photo
duplicated layer
patch tool to repair
duplicate layer
Highpass filter at 1.3 set to linear light
merged down
noiseware to reduce noise
grain surgery2 to match grain set to about 38 percent
selective color neutrals to +2 blacks to +1

You're welcome, Gary....

unimatrix001, beautiful work!


And, um........ Craig....... CRAIG........ where's your version?.... :)

I thought I would have a go at this,

I used the channel mixer to get the best information from the best 2 channels, and then cloned / healed the creases. Add a duplicate layer set to soft light to increase the definition of the jacket, and add some color back in.

Hello again, first of all i would just like to thank all of you for your excellent contributions and for taking the time to help with the photo of my grandad. You will all have helped to put a big smile on me and my dads faces, so thank you all :D

Guy, I had to upload my photo to different host because of the size restrictions on photobucket, hopefully i have done it correctly. link for download of about 2mb
http://download-v5.streamload.com/KMdEoRAd~nazG~A4HK~rq7Z~oim4mwIA6xsM/soakes/FileManager/Grandad.jpg?action=save

Below is my go at the photo, it took quite a while as i had not used photoshop before and found it quite confusing at first, but with the steps that you guys explained i am quite pleased with it. First i changed to gray scale, then i auto adjusted the levels, i then used the healing tool and the clone stamp which took quite a while to get used to and do, then i reduced the noise.

Please feel free to tell me where i could improve, where i have gone wrong, i`m sure there lots of flaws in there.

And, um........ Craig....... CRAIG........ where's your version?.... huh? wha? was i asleep again? oh. hmmm... was i supposed to... oh, hi beth! why'd you remove neat image? and what are you using in its stead? remarkable job you did there, considering you used no noise reduction!

Hi Craig...... naw.... I was just picking on you! I've been going crazy with my old 'Millineum Falcon'..... I've been removing files and programs trying to keep it from hanging up..... when I tried to de-fragment it, I got a message that said, "Are you kidding me?..... You've got to have at least 15% free space for me to even begin and you've got, what, something like 7.... Puhleeze....." hehehe

oxoxo
Beth

Hey Beth,

Don't you just hate when the hardware cops an attitude? lol

Yes, Dave..... I'm thinking about hosting a Computer Smack Down and it's not gonna be pretty..... I'm talking hardcore reboots using the 'Power On/Off' switch .... no using the little girlie 'Start' button....... and spillin' my coke into the keyboard...... well, um....OK.... so I've already done that part ... but the rest of it's gonna loom over the office here like a...... like a ....something that sounds real scary in computer world.....

:)

something that sounds real scary in computer world microsoft? :D

hehehe.......... ;)

I've found if you have problems with quirky hardware you just can't beat "jump starting" your box ........................... (if it don't start jump on it). :D :D

Ok Gary, that's goin' in my 'File of Clever Things to Say' .... too cute! Does anyone remember where I put that dang file? :dizzy:

at microsoft?

Maybe we could find a working trebuchet? That is after Gary is done jumping on it.

G'day Soakes.
I had a a go at repairing your granddad, i hope you don't mind, Don't remember all the things i did but cranked up the contrast in the end for a bit of depth. Tried to use the lest amount of cloning that i could.

Hi toe, thanks for taking the time to have a go at restoring the photo of my grandad, you did quite a good job also. Its apparent that there are many ways of restoring photos achieving different but excellent results. Im a novice at trying to restore damaged photos but with the guidance and tips and ideas on this forum i am now able to do things that i could never have done before.

I must admit that although everyone did a great job i was most impressed with what solitear did, :bow:, it just shows what is possible.

well, beth wanted to know where mine was, so...

i actually started this a while back and then stopped. so, i dont have all of the particulars for you. but, generally i followed my usual method which is clone, airbrush, push, fade correction, curves or brightness/contrast or both, and a bit of clarify. i also added a hue/sat layer to reduce the reddish tint a bit by desaturatng.