Hi I am having a little difficulty with removing the scratches from this image. I am new to photoshop CS2. I don't really want to use the clone brush as there is quite a lot to do - so I tried using channels and copied the blue channel to the red channel as the red seemed the worst but it's come out kinda green. Any advice greatly appreciated

you shouldnt worry about the color of the image.
because when your finished you can just change the image to gray scale to rid of the color.

i say do what you did with the channel then finish the rest with clone tool

I did as you suggested and I have tried using the clone tool but there is so little of the ladies checkered top without scratches that the cloning doesn't look natural and is v difficult to follow the checkered pattern without making it look flat

I just re read my post and I think I have it in the wrong forum so apologies. Don't know if I should move it ?

here is a good way i found to clean it up a bit so you can fix it easier

1)change "mode" to "CMYK" (need to do it with the colored image, it wont work if you have already changed it to "grayscale")
2)select the "yellow" channel
3)select all then copy
4)then paste it into all the other channels (Cyan, Magenta, Black)

Great - I will give that a try and let you know how I get on. Thanks for you help

It appears to be more than just a surface discoloration, so you'll still be faced with the same issues regardless. You might want to think about painting over it and adding some noise to make it a solid instead of a check pattern.

here is my try at retouching the image

(its not perfect)

For the sweater top.. make a pattern, using the patternmaker, with a small selection from the small area at the top and mask it in and adjust the opacity on a multiply layer..

A Black & White adj layer can be used toquickly eliminate the yellow and at the same time darken the lighter area. From here you could leave it as is or clone over the damaged area or paste new clothing on top of it.
Regards, Murray

mistermonday - this may sound like a silly Q but can you tell me how you created a B&W adjustment layer ? I have followed one of Flora's tutorials on using Gaussian blur masks and manager to hide some of the minor scratches on the man's coat and hand. I will have to use the clone tool to do the rest. Let me know what you thinks and thanks to all for their suggestions