AM refreshing the following photo . Would like to enlarge it to at least a 4x6. Original is 2.98 x 5.2 scanned at res 300.

Orig scan is on this post. I have found best grey channel, blurred backgrounand rendered clouds, brightened his features, cloned out some cracks.

Then I wanted to put the writing from the back of the photo onto the front. So made a layer and dragged it over. Added some width at this time to fit writing but now res is 260.

End result is OK. But very snowy. What can I do to overcome this? Or should I not try to enlarge photo.

Thanks for any suggestions.

He is a wonderful octogenarian now and this is going to be a nice present to him.

Here are words on back of photo.

And now the grey version. Which I have printed 4x6 res 260 and find results snowy.

Hi,

I d/l your image and passed it through Neat Image.
I found the link to the Neat Image site on the is Forum.
It looked real nice after I applied it.I was going to u/l
the result on here to show you but I would have had
to save the picture as a web page photo to get it
down to less KB.When I checked out the image in PS
it had lost the quality of the original so I decided against
u/l because it wasn't a good picture to show.

There is a demo version of Neat Image that can be d/l at
their site.Just click on Neat Image.

Are you going to colorize it?It's a very nice picture.

Joseph

Neat Image (http://www.neatimage.com/index.html?K)

Have downloaded Neat Image and will try to use it. It sounds complicated. Will have to spend some time reading the user guide. Do you recall what settings you used???
Does it only work on JPEG ,TIFF,etc. files??? I did not see PSD as an option.

I haven't thought about colorizeing it because I don't know what color the outfit would be. Sepia will be nice.

I just know the final result can be better.

Thanks, Joseph

Good Day Cinderella,

All I did was open the picture in Neat Image.I then made
my box in a clear area of the background and clicked the
button on the right.I then went to the next tab to sample the
change and dragged another box over the facial area of
the person.Seeing it was clear I went to the last tab and
clicked 'apply'.I then saved it.All this was done in jpg format
because I had previously loaded the picture in PS and saved
it as a jpg.I was very curious as to the color's of the shawl
and clothing.I then found a web page with the colors blue
and red and wanted to see what would happen if I tried
colorizing it with those colors.
What you'll see is a very rough idea of the concept.Anyone
with the patience to tackle the pattern could do a much
better job than I did.I didn't finish it but I figured I'd give
you a rough idea on it.

Joseph

Very nice Joseph. How did you color the plaid????
I'm still playing around with neat image. Gets good results. Need to read the basics like - does the image have to be in color mode?

The image can be either/or B&W or Color. I didn't tweak
anything.All I did was open it,went to the second tab and
dragged a box large enough to anylze the picture (in a solid
area) clicked the analyze button on the right,then went to
the third tab and dragged a box around the face area to
see what it did,once I was satisfied it worked I went to
the fourth tab and clicked apply.I did not do any tweaking
at all.I haven't read the docs yet.

With colorizing I guess there are so many different
approaches to it and I guess some techniques are better
than others.Different kinds of techniques can be used
for the same picture.I read a tutorial recently that uses
curves to color.The way I colored was based on the
tutorial I found at TV Tech and originally from the DV Garage.
There is an explanation and a video online.I am placing the link
to it below.Good Luck with the picture,it's a real nice one.

JosephColorizing Photo (http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/answerstips/photoshoptips/story/0,24330,3516680,00.html)

You'd probably need to find a military expert to find out the regiment and then look up what color the tartan is meant to be - color a tartan wrongly and you'll bring the wrath of patriotic Scots down on your heads :)

Neat Image is a marvellous product! You can use it on images in color or b/w but there are different modes for the two...

I have to agree with you Leah, those colors are most likely
way off the right mark.And that's not a musical instrument
that he is holding in his hand.
:(
I searched and found numerous colors and different styles
for Scottish Uniforms.

Joseph

THanks for the color TUT. I will try his techniques.

Regarding Neat Image. Should I use that first, before I make other corrections and improvements or should I use it last, after all other tweaking is finished???

Going to try and include a smilie now. :)
Hmmm, Why didn't I get a yellow face????

Have a great day.

Here is a Challenge that is remarkably similar to what you have

http://www.retouchpro.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=564

I hadn't seen that challenge,unbelievable.A real treasure
throve of information to be had.Some real wonderful
examples of restorations very similar to this project.
I will have to look at these techniques closely.I already
sighted some hints and techniques, I wanted to know about
with just a quick scan of the page.

Thanks Doug,

Joseph

Hi Joyce!

As I already mentioned in the "my Dad" Thread, here is the result I got working on your lovely picture.

Of the methods described in my Tutorial, I used 'The curves' only ...

For the general Enhancements I did the same as explained in "my Dad"

Please, don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like me to be more specific on something.

P.S. I removed what I took to be a tear in the backdrop at the near bottom left (my left) of the picture .... but maybe it was part of the landscape ....

Hi Flora,
My computer has been down for a week so I am just now getting back to you.
You gave the photo dimension which is what it lacked.
I made a stab at duplicating your technique as described in the tut and "My Dad" but ended up with a dark and worse looking photo.

Did you start by converting to grey???? Or proceed with the yellow.??? I really like the sepia in your final.

Guess I could use some details , if you still remember after this amount of time.

Thanks for taking the time to work on this photo. Joyce

Hi Joyce,

I'm attaching a snapshot of the layers I used to improve the dimension of your picture.
As you can see from the snapshot, the first step I took was running the image through Neat Image followed by several Adjustment Layers.
Here are the values of each Adjustment Layer:

1)Hue/saturation:
Blending: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Saturation: -43

2)Levels:
Blending: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Input Levels: 0 - 0.92 - 204
Output Levels: 19 - 255

3)Curves:
Blending: Normal
Opacity: 74%
Same diagram as in Tutorial

4)Curves1 (Duplication of previous Layer):
Blending: Screen
Opacity: 45%

5) Curves2 (Duplication of previous Layer):
Blending: Soft Light
Opacity: 70%

6)Levels:
Blending: Normal
Opacity: 77%
Input Levels: 36 - 0.91 - 188
Output Levels: 39 - 255

7) Sharpen:
I know that, usually, Sharpening should be the last step taken when restoring a picture, but I found that, sometimes, a slight 'midway sharpening' can be a big help. Here, I used the Custom Filter for the purpose.

8) Hue/saturation for the final Sepia Tone:
Tick the 'Colorize' Box
Blending: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Hue: 37
Saturation: 20

The result obtained after these procedures was the basis on which I,then, applied all the other steps for the final restoration.

As for your question, if the colours are 'bad', I start by converting to grey (usually using 'Channel Mixer'), otherwise I tend to work with the original 'as is'.

Hope this helped ... and, again, please, don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like me to be more specific on something...:wavey:

Hi Flora

I'm trying to follow your work flow. In your first levels adjustment what am I looking at in your snapshot. Was some type of mask also applied.
I know you have only so much time for this forum but it would be really really helpful for a lot of us plebs if you could explain your reasoning behind each adjustment. In other words, why did you do what you did? As so aptly put in Buellers Day Off.."You're my hero!"

Duv

Hi Flora, Thanks so much for the detailed explanation. I would not have thought to use several curves, levels etc.
I'm going to spend some time with this so may have more questions. But appreciate all the time you have spent to show me how to do this. Joyce

Joyce, Duv,

Thanks so much for your kind words.

Duv

Originally posted by Duv

In your first levels adjustment what am I looking at in your snapshot. Was some type of mask also applied....why did you do what you did?

What I wanted to achieve in this picture was to 'bring out' the soldier from the background ....
The original was quite dark and a bit 'flat' (lacking dimension) and, particularly in the darkest part of the image, the soldier seemed to fade into the background.

The first Levels Adjustment Layer gave the image more brightness and contrast but, in my opinion, it made the lightest parts of the background a bit too bright... that's why, with a fuzzy black brush (Opacity - 50%), I painted on the mask to bring back the original 'flatness' in parts of the background .... I did the same with the second Levels Adjustment Layer and with the Sharpen Layer ....

In other words, while trying to brighten up the whole picture, I wanted to leave the background as flat as possible to create an illusion of distance and make the soldier 'stand out' more ....:wavey:

Thanks Flora! Your info really helps. It seems to me now in looking back at many of the old pics posted that "flatness" is not unusual. It's something I will spend more time considering in my efforts.

Duv

Hi Flora, Another bouquet for you. I finally got a result that I'm pleased with. Took a lot of courage to use enough painting over facial features but there was a eureka moment when I saw the 3D effect emerging. Hooray.
Happy Thanksgiving !!! Do you have a similar holiday in Italy???
Joyce