I just recieved about 10 very old pictures that belonged to my recently deceased father. These were in some file and not in albums. This one was one of the worst.

I am posting the original sepia photo and my first stage of work in a B&W photo. I started about 3 times and won't mind starting again if you think my method is wrong.

I am working in elements 2- with the added tools from Richard Lynch's book Hidden Tools. I rescanned the original at 600, my first try was 300 didn't give me much detail around the eyes and mouth and one face, top right, is severely damaged.

I split the image into channels, and as Jeanie suggested to me I chose the green channel to work on. Tried a few methods to get a better contrast and settled on one that I did with curves... which I am not an expert.

Then I made a copy, and used the filter Dust and scraches and with a lblack ayer mask I started to paint over some of the smaller blemishes... I am still in this process. The image is huge and I am working in zoom 300 slowly going over the image... trying to be systmatic....

The main issue is the green staining that shows up as black blothes.... also some red stains around a few mouthes. It seems that I will have to almost reconstuct those ties. I have also started reconstuction on the top right hand face..

There is a sever streaking problem among all the other blemishes...

Would really appreciate any :idea: tips and advise...

Carol

Carol,

I didn't want to do too much, as I'm not familiar with Elements, and what it's capabilities are. But I know it offers curves adjustments, so here's what I did:

First, I duplicated the layer, set the blending mode to screen, made a layer mask, and filled with black. Then I painted white where the dark streaks were on the woman on the bottom left, and the gentleman behind her, to lighten and blend the streaks. This is by no means done, but it's a little better. Flattened image.

Made a curves adjustment layer, and made the adjustment on the dress of the woman in back. Used a foreground/background gradient, and dragged it from bottom to top, to bring everything closer in evening out the tones from front to back. Before using the gradient, the bottom portion of the image was very dark. Flattened.

Another curves adjustment layer, targeting the areas indicated, and made the adjustments as seen on the curves portion of the attachment. After making the first three corrections, I had lost some detail in the woman's hair on the upper left, so I made another adjustment point close to the dark hair point on the curves graph, and raised it slightly. I'm not sure if you can see the detail in the attachment, but it will print nicely.

This is just a start on your image, but at least it's a start. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If I don't answer, someone else will.

Note: the adjustment for the blouse could have been raised more, but there is a lot of junk on the image, and I wanted to be relatively certain the detail in the blouse would print. If the dirt, or whatever it is, was not present, the point would be higher on the graph.

Ed

Thanks for the advise... I am very new to curves but will try it out.

I also read recently in the forum of NeatImage filter and downloaded and tried it on the original, before what ever I did and it really did a good job of cleaning especially the faces... I have to really check it out as there is a detail on my gr-grandmother's blouse, middle row, of a watch chain. I will also use your advise on that file as well....

Thanks again... will keep you updated... :classic:

Carol

Made a curves adjustment layer, and made the adjustment on the dress of the woman in back. Used a foreground/background gradient, and dragged it from bottom to top, to bring everything closer in evening out the tones from front to back. Before using the gradient, the bottom portion of the image was very dark. Flattened.

I am not sure that I can do this :( or I don't really understand it. In elements I have an action that allows me to make a curve layer. When I do this I can put in a point and move it but don't see any option to do a gradient on the mask... :confused: see attached image. I can not edit a curve leval after I made a point on it...:(

Carol

If Elements is like Photoshop, which I expect it is, you should be able to drag a gradient across the image while the curves layer is active. If that doesn't work, someone more familiar with Elements will surely help.

Ed

Its NOT exactly like photoshop... its the POOR cousin from accross the tracks:)

While the curve is open I can't do anything else but put a mark on the graph and move it...
When I close on the layer pallette I can click on the white mask and make a gradient... it shows but doesn't change the image :(

I will ask in the section for elements.... Thanks

Carol

There's always more than one way to do something. :) Can you make a duplicate layer of the background, then run a curves adjustment on it? If you can do that, and you can make a layer mask, you should be able to paint with black on the mask in the areas where it is too dark. This should lighten up the part you paint on. You should use a large, soft brush at a low opacity (if you can do that). If it gets too light, simply paint with white to darken it again. Paint with a soft brush at low opacity if possible. Layer masks are something I couldn't live without! They're very forgiving of human error, and that's why I *need* them. :)

Ed

Hi,

Yes I have no trouble with layer masks... that part I can do... although I have to adjust the opacity when I paint white...

its the curves + gradients the I can't do... I think what you wanted was that the upper part get darker with out the bottom part getting darker... Does that make any sense?//:)
I'll sleep on it and maybe think of some way to overcome the obstacle...

Thanks for the support

Carol

Well.... what I want to do is not important. It's what *you* want to do. But yes, that's what I think needs to be done, and it can be done using a layer mask. Just play around with it. It's usually better to lower the opacity quite a bit when you paint.

Ed

Carol - I use the same set up (Elements plus Hidden powers tools). While you can't edit the curves adjustment layer once it's in place, you can edit the associated layer mask. To do what Ed is suggesting you have to close the curves dialogue box first - do the curves adjustment layer, hit OK. Then on the layer palette, the curves adjustment layer should show up with the little white button on, which indicates the layer mask is active. Do the gradient as Ed describes on the image window and it will show up in the layer mask...Hope that's a bit clearer.

Susan S.

Thanks Ed & Susan,

Well.... what I want to do is not important. It's what *you* want to do. I realize that but I have to see what you did in order to decide...

I will try again with Susan's suggestion... I am a pretty perserverant...stubborn.....

Carol

Just for fun I had a go myself using Elements - mainly concentrating on trying to even up the tone - I didn't really have a go at the damage repair - it really needs a larger and less compressed file to do that I think. Bear in mind that this is probably only my second or third go at restoration - I mainly use Elements for photoediting.

I started with the Green layer as Carol did, then did something similar to Ed to adjust the streaking - I used a levels adjustment layer, increased the brightness with the middle slider and then masked the whole lot out by filling the adjustment layer's layer mask with black. I then painted in on the layer mask using a soft airbrush at 50 per cent opacity and white the darker streaked areas to bring them up. I then merged all visible layers onto one new layer. I did a similar - but rather more radical curves adjustment layer than Ed to incease the contrast and at the same time set sensible black and white points - I masked this with a gradient mask and also modified the mask with a large radius soft airbrush.
I then merged all the visible layers onto one layer again and then above this on a new layer cloned some of the worst damage out. By this stage the jpeg compression artefacts were becoming very visible at 100 per cent gave up and just gave the end result a quick sharpen, added a new layer set to color blending mode and filled with a sepia tone borrowed from the original image.

As an alternative you could try working in LAB mode. Throw out your color channels. The B&W channel is quite light but shows a lot of detail. As most of the banding shows up in the clothes, you can get good results just from careful use of the Patch Tool. Once your work is complete, then adjust with Curves.

Cheers
Duv

Duv -We don't have LAB mode in Elements (altho the Hidden Powers stuff has a workaround that brings you close). We don't have the patch tool either!

Well now. I feel silly. I thought Elements was much closer to big brother. I actually have Elements software and should load it up to find out what it's all about. Thank you Susan!

Cheers
Duv

Wow... you all have been busy while I went ot sleep.... I am +7hrs from EST....

I have one really theorectical question...

Should I first do damage repair and then fix the tone...curves/levals etc..

Or should I fix the tone first and than do damage repair....
Are both ways Kosher? :question:

This is my First real restoration and I don't mind starting over to get the correct method if there is one....
I did a similar - but rather more radical curves adjustment layer than Ed to incease the contrast and at the same time set sensible black and white points - I masked this with a gradient mask and also modified the mask with a large radius soft airbrush.

Sorry to be such a dummie...:( I am so new to curves... what were your sensible points... did you take them from the image...

Also really not to clear about the gradient mask? and its modification???

Really appreciate the help...

Carol

Carol - as I'm on Australian central time I post at rather odd hours too!
I don't know what is the "official" order of events in restoration - I'm strictly an amateur. Katrin Eisemann's recommendations in her Restoration and Retouching book (I've got the first edition, and with the help of the Hidden Elements tools I can do about 90 percent of the material using Elements) are to start with the big problems first - exposure, colour and contrast and then move onto the detailed repair - it makes sense to me as in the few examples I've played with you can't really see what you've got to work with until the big problems are fixed.

I took the darkest and lightest points that looked like they were image data rather than scribble (from the shadow on the legs of the girl on the bottom right and from the right shoulder of the woman at the centre of the image) - I could have set these by clicking on these areas with the black point and white point eyedroppers in either levels or curves. In fact I did it manually by putting handles on the bits that I thought were darkest and lightest (by command (mac)/control(windows) clicking on the image) and then dragging them up or down to the appropriate axis of the curves diagram. This left the top of the image and the bottom right looking to contrasty, so I reduced the strength of the curves layer in this region by adding a gradient to the curves-layer layer mask - running from mid grey (where the curves layer will only have about 50 per cent effect) to white, top to bottom, and then using a soft brush with black at 50 per cent (or less) opacity to paint over the mask in the bottom left corner, to reduce the contrast there.
Is that any clearer? Both the Hidden Elements and Katrin Eisemann's book have quite a bit about using curves.

I'm on Jerusalem time so you are about 10 hours ahead of me... probably asleep...

First I want to thank you for your help... I have just bought the Hidden Elements book and its a quite technical, more than I thought... I have to read several times and do the examples... I will have to redo the one on curves again to really SEE what is happening... I wil look into Katrins book as well....if I can do 90% on elements its probably worth the investment... I will wait till my friend goes to NY again as the price of shipping makes the whole thing double...

Have you tried neatimage? I tried it on the original green channel see attached detail.... would I do this before tone/contrast etc or after... I am working on a huge image..scanned at 600dpi.... that is mainly because of the upper right hand girls face is so damaged I wanted more detail to work to reconstruct her face....and with 2 layers its 128MB...

I really like the way to blend in the streaks painting in white on blk mask, but I used 25% opacity mostly with the blend mode at screen...

I will retry your method and see what comes out...

Thanks

CArol

I'm still up! (only 9.20 pm here!) Neat Image would be useful -but I am using a Mac and Neat Image is not yet available for us yet unfortunately, so I can't try it out as part of a workflow for restoration. My inclination would be to do that as a later step rather than a first as it might result in a loss of detail that would be useful in the restoration process - but not having used it I'm not sure.

I'm still up! (only 9.20 pm here!) Neat Image would be useful -but I am using a Mac and Neat Image is not yet available for us yet unfortunately, so I can't try it out as part of a workflow for restoration. My inclination would be to do that as a later step rather than a first as it might result in a loss of detail that would be useful in the restoration process - but not having used it I'm not sure.

Yes you are probably right....that is logical. :nod: .. back to the drawing board..

Carol

Neat Image would be useful -but I am using a Mac and Neat Image is not yet available for us yet unfortunately

Me too Susan, but have a look at this one:
http://www.canonians.com/noise.htm

It works amazingly well -- and it's free!

Suggestion for use: Duplicate your image, flatten it, run the action and drag it back as a new layer in your original. You can then mask to your heart's desire. Noise reduction on under exposed areas, no reduction on the correctly exposed areas.

Its just a basic curve correction

Its just a basic curve correction
Thanks I have been trying with the curves with no success...:(
Did you do in one curve.... Off to try again...

Carol

Me too Susan, but have a look at this one:
http://www.canonians.com/noise.htm

It works amazingly well -- and it's free!

Suggestion for use: Duplicate your image, flatten it, run the action and drag it back as a new layer in your original. You can then mask to your heart's desire. Noise reduction on under exposed areas, no reduction on the correctly exposed areas.

Only problem is that with elements its difficult, not impossible, to add actions... anyway I haven'f figured it out :(

But will use the suggestion with neatimage...:)

Carol

Personally, I wouldn't spend too much time with Neat Image. I often like the results but here, it looks like it blurs the clothing too much.

Cheers
Duv

no I did it with 4 curve correction and little bit masking.. but forget to write down settings,

for neat image it probably destroy the cloth details cause its low res pic. there r several sharpening methods but I prefer NIK SHARPENER PRO. its the best sharpening plugin I found. nothing is close 2 it.

also u can use DFINE also a good collection for image editing. (much more)
but its rare.

no I did it with 4 curve correction and little bit masking.. but forget to write down settings,

for neat image it probably destroy the cloth details cause its low res pic. there r several sharpening methods but I prefer NIK SHARPENER PRO. its the best sharpening plugin I found. nothing is close 2 it.

also u can use DFINE also a good collection for image editing. (much more)
but its rare.

I will have to conquer curves: don't really understand what is happening...I understand masking better..
Thanks for the tip about Nik sharpener and DFINE will look into both..notice the loss of detail in fabrics...

Thanks
Carol