Hello all,

I was asked by my Father-in-law if I could fix an old photo of his parents. I've been clone stamping in CS3 for a while and was hoping there was some better way to fix this photo.

Can anyone give me some help please?

2 meg file (http://thefabhouse.com/temp_sample_images/potn/stabile_restore.jpg)

Instead of all the cloning, I chose to go with "smudge". Worked on the colors and then began to work. The ending result is like a painting.

Here is a link to my flickr, where you can find the full size.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearimage/2356479789/sizes/l/

Thank you for sharing.

All I did was remove some noise so you could finish with the cloning and healing and smoothing the background:

Ctrl+L (Levels) (While holding down Alt key adjust each slider {Both sides} till color barley shows in face area on each channel ..Red, Green, Blue..
copy background
unclick eyeball on background (hide background)
Straightened
Decrack light - Settings 5, default- Available (HERE) (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/photo-restoration/1223-decrack-action-ps5-0-a-2.html) post 16
Merge visible( the top two layers)
Decrack light - Settings 5, default
Merge visible( the top two layers)
Decrack Dark - Settings 5, default
Merge visible( the top two layers)
Ctrl+J (Copy Layer)
Resize image from 2072 to 1024
Neat Image at default (With everything checked at the bottom) Available (HERE) (http://www.neatimage.com/download.html)
Ctrl+A (Select>All)
Shft+Ctrl+C (Edit>Copy Merged)
Ctrl+V (Edit>Paste)
Uncheck lower eyeballs (Hide lower layers)
Ctrl+J (Copy Layer)
Resize back to 2072

Hope this helps make it a little easier..Now Just clone, heal and clean it up (I would mask the mans face and add a little noise for texture just to make him more rustic or masculine)

Wow, thanks so much Klassylady25 and OlBaldy!!

I was looking for some tips and you folks did a good amount of editing for me ;-)

OlBaldy, I think I'm going to work off of yours, it seems to fit what I can do with it a little better. Also, thanks for the link to that action (works with CS2/3?)- very cool.

Thanks again, there's going to be a very happy 70th birthday boy!

You are welcome Fabrian.

As far as I know the Action should work.

Remember you are still able to use that Original layer to bring back the eye, mouth, nose, laugh line and any other details that were lost whilst removing the noise... don't forget to post a copy of the final product (before and after) so we can see your progress.

BTW... Welcome to RetouchPro. Good luck and enjoy your time here. Ask many questions! I hope you will make many new friends here.

And as you can tell there are many different way to find a solution, it's a matter of what direction your learning in at and what you're are looking for in the end.

Good Luck,
C

Ok, well this is what I'm up to. What's your thoughts so far? BTW, I'd like to say THANKS AGAIN for the initial help. There's no way I would have been able to duplicate with my current PS experience.

Here it is. (http://www.thefabhouse.com/temp_sample_images/potn/Noise_Reduction6.jpg)

Dang, What a difference.. You did Good!
I just chose a nearby skin color and painted it on a new layer over the bright spots then blurred some and reduced opacity till it blended in. kept doing it till it looked Ok

Awesome!!!!!! I'm just going to touch up his finger and I think it's done. Thanks btw, I did spend a bit of time on it.. lol!

Thank You!

Really nice job Klassylady

noiseninja used to remove main noise
witch file used as a masked "blur" layer in cs2
it still needs lots of healing but I've no more time
if U'd like it to finish I'll sent the full-res on skype

Thanks for your effort, but I'm actually happy with the way it is now. Again, thanks!