Old photo, looking for some honest feedback!

[Webnower]

Hi!

I've been retouching family photos on and off for a couple years now, most of which have been color photos taken in the 80s and early 90s... Mostly just removing dust and scratches and/or correcting colors.

My step-mom recently gave me a gigantic box of old photos, ranging from the late 1800s all the way up to the 1980s. This is my first attempt at really restoring a messed up old photograph.

I'm not sure where or when this was taken, but it looked like a good challenge to start with.

Let me know what you think!

Original scan
Restored photo

[Mike]

Its hard to tell from a scan, but I do not think that the photo was originally a sepia tone. I would try taking it to a black and white and get the jacket a little more the same shade of black. Then if you wanted to sepia tone it go ahead.

[TommyO]

A very good start, especially if you have not worked on these before.

The scan has good potential. Not a lot of damage, good clarity. I would take another look at the original, focusing in the different channels. The green channel looks nice and could be "applied" on a new layer to add a bit more contrast. Your restoration seems to have a bit too much of the blue channel mixed in, bringing out more of the problem areas.

On a different note, you mentioned it was a gigantic box. You will probably want to select a few special ones for restoration and simply archive the rest for later. While scanning often seems the way to go for archiving, I prefer to photograph them. Due to the higher resolutions of the newer cameras, it's as good as scanning for those non-critical images. Just use a tripod, get near a bright window and diffuse the light with a thin white cloth. Use color mode even on the b/w's. Change your focus and app settings to spot/center and shoot away. You can average about 4 images per minute that way. Again, any you decide are special or want to restore soon can be put in a pile to be scanned.

Hope this helps !