Hi Everyone
(posted this in another thread but figured I would have been better of starting it in its own)

I've been wondering about this question for awhile, and am not that deep into playing with photoshop yet.

For photos that have cracks, warps and bends is it possible to take digital "slices" of the affected areas and manipulate them in a someway to change the plane to try to achieve the look of a flat surface? I am thinking thin "slices" depending on the damage. Or is that too much of a 3-d thought for Photoshop?

I did something like this by hand once ( it was a bugger, too fragile to unroll all the way) by bracing a curved print and shooting the work as I shifted it. (I was able to have a vertical area about an inch wide).
I then was able to manually slice my shots, mount them on a wax board and shoot another copy to do the manipulation/restoration work to hide my slice marks (by hand ugh!).

Is there a way to do this in Photoshop at all?

I am finding many things i much prefer doing in Photoshop, it is just taking me a lot of playing to transfer the manual skills into the new tool, so to speak.

Thanks!
Juliana

Hi Juliana,

If you get familiar enough with the tools and how to use different options, you'll probably find that doing something like that in Photoshop is easier than doing it the way you're now using. Of course, it will depend on your skills in Photoshop. We have people here who can do just about anything. Then there are others, like me, who need help with a lot of things. The good news is that our pros are willing to help when you need it.

Ed

thanks, Ed

I learned how to do everything by hand.

It is a matter of different things like say I can tell the pressure of a manual airbrush by the sound.... I just have to play more with the new tools to learn how they act :)

Photoshop has a set of panorama tools (called Photomerge), which is essentially what you're talking about (merging several small photos into one larger photo). It's located under File > Automate.

I'll go and play with that....

Further to my description.....if you were to select an area can it be tilted on its axis? Can you manipulate the selection on three planes, x,y and z ?

(and it took me a good minute to acess the math memory from high school so I could describe what i wanted...*chuckles heartily*) ;)

...if you were to select an area can it be tilted on its axis? Can you manipulate the selection on three planes, x,y and z ?

I think I know what you mean, and I think the effect can be achieved through Transform>Distort.

This is a filter that lets you modify the 3d perspective of an i mage.. Maybe this will allow you to do what you want..

I am a big fan of getting as much of the "corrective" work done before you scan/photograph as possible.

Trying to get an orginal print to lay flat can be a bit of a problem, but is usually worth the time and effort. For large orginals that you are going to copy with a camera I suggest:

sheets of glass larger than the orginal are your friend, get them thick enough so they have the weight to hold a 'warped' print down.

prints that are rolled up, sometimes just taking off what ever is holding them and letting the print 'relax' will greatly help, let them take a day or two to do this.

if you are sure what you are doing, re-wash the print then make sure it is held down when drying. If you do not want to chance a complete submersion, try a steamer (like you use with clothes) and see if you increase the humidity around the print that it will relax and unroll more. Make sure to let it dry before you roll it back up!

If you have to take several images and merge them together in Photoshop, make sure you have enough overlap from image to image. I consider 35% to be the minimum, 50% maybe a little overkill, but usually more is better.

I am sure that I have not hit all the points, any one else?

Mike

Hi Juliana

For photos that have cracks, warps and bends is it possible to take digital "slices" of the affected areas and manipulate them in a someway to change the plane to try to achieve the look of a flat surface?

-Use one of the selection tools to create a selection on your image
-Control-J to copy that selection to a new layer
-Control-T (Transform) to change the shape of the newly created layer (hold down the control key while grabing the different 'handles' on the transform bounding box - this allows you to freely change the shape in any direction, play with it and you will see...).
-Add a layer mask to the layer and paint black on it on the portions of the layer you want to hide.
-Control-E to merge down
-If the plane did not 'bend' in the right way exactly you can fine tune with the clone or liquify tools.

Then do it again until the whole thing is how you want it.

There are many ways to do anything in Photoshop - but this should be the easiest way to manipulate 'slices'.

Good Luck,
Roger

Thanks so much everyone,

Now I have some wonderful ideas to muck about with.
Keep em coming if you got 'em :)

Sorry about my lame description of what I am trying to do....one of those things where I can picture it just fine in my own head
;) Always the way isn't it?

I am thinking of using these methods for really damaged originals, where the paper has broken down and become fragile or where the emulsion is very brittle, lifted partailly off the base paper...etc. (Blame the Uber boss for making me paraniod about "delicate" originals.)
folded spindled and mutilated in other words. Where it would be impossible to take a flat scan.

If I can figure out any how to make any useable actions, I'll post them in the new section.