Hello,

This is my first post ---I only found this site a couple of weeks ago and it’s great! When it comes to restoring photos I’m a total amateur and I’m not even sure I’m very good at it but I thoroughly enjoy myself. Mostly what I try and do is improve on some of our old family photos. I have one from about 1895 that I would really like to restore but I need some advice. It is of my great grandparents and their children but my great grandmother is worn/torn off. That’s the bad part. The good part is that I have another photo of her taken within a year or so of the one I want to restore. I have played around some and I can clone her in or add her by placing the second picture in a lower layer and erasing through. But she is still clearly added. Also as you can see, the picture is in generally in rough shape. I would like to be able to clean up some of the stains cracks and tears and get the faces as clear as possible. Actually I had thought this picture was beyond fixing until I saw some of the things people had done here and I got inspired to try. Now I think I may be in over my head! I would greatly appreciate any help (I generally use Paint Shop Pro 8 but have the beta of the new version 9)

Bill Fields

Well Bill for a Family name (mine is also Fields) I thought I would give it a little shot :)

First thing I did was duplicated the layer and overlayed it as multiplied
Then I took the green channel and made it black and white from there.

The two little girls on the far right side both are completely missing their heads. Actually was a little freaky to realize :) So I cut them out!

Did some basic cleanup with the healing brush to minimize some of the cracks and some of the stains.

Unfortunately I don't know the equivalent steps in Paint Shop Pro. But it is at least partially fixable :) From here I would get deeper into the nitty gritty cloning and fixing, but that is what takes the longest :)

- Noel

Thanks Noel! Cropping was actually the first route I went with it. Since Great Grandma Elizabeth was already half gone I just took her out completely. That is how I left the picture for several years. Then I thought since I had the other photo of her taken about the same time, I could put her back in. (I’m sure they are within a year or so of the same time because the smallest girl, my grandmother is clearly pretty close to the same age in both pictures) Below is about the best I have managed, As you can see, the big problem I’m having is getting the added in parts----Great Grandma and the background--- to look at all natural. And I’m not sure how to clear up Great Grandpa’s face without losing detail. I don’t have another photo of him to work from

Best I can tell Paint Shop Pro has most of the features of Photoshop they just may be called something else. Not sure what the healing brush does but looks a lot like the scratch remover in Paint shop.

Thanks for your input! Where is your Fields family from? Mine are many generations in southeastern Kentucky. The folks in these photos are my Mom’s ancestors tho. I don’t have a lot of old Fields pictures.

Bill

Mine are basically from the South Dakota area.

However as a fun coincidence, my great grandmother's name was also Elizabeth :)

- Noel