restoring a severly faded and damaged image

[miss jane]

aloha everyone,

i'm new around here and i was wondering if anyone had any tips on restoring an image like this one. i've included the original scan aswell my progress so far.

i'm not sure if the method i've used so far is the best, but i'm starting with what i know and hoping to learn some new techniques (i love a challenge!).
briefly, what i've done to date is create a screen layer on top of a multiply layer, and using a mask on the screen layer i've brought through some of the details of the eyes, lips, nose, hair etc... i don't know if it's possible, but i'd love to smooth out all the all the blotchs. i don't want the image too look to fake, but it's soooo damaged i think it will be hard to avoid.

if anyone has any feed back as to how they would approach an image like this one, i'd really apreciate it.

cheers, jane

[Ken Fournelle]

Can you post a larger image?

k

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Jane, had a bit of a play with your image. Can't see you getting rid of the blotchy texture without losing a great deal of the feel of the original.

I first looked at the channels, and found the red one had the best image detail.
So changed mode to Greyscale and discarded other channels. Changed mode back to RGB.

Duplicated layer and set to Multiply. Duplicated that layer and set Opacity to 30%.

Created new layer set to Soft Light and filled with 50% grey. Made rough selection of background. Now filled selected area with white, then reduced layer opacity to approx 10%. This increased contrast between figure and background.

Flattened image, then duplicated it. Blurred the Duped layer, and applied hide all mask. Painted with white brush on mask, to blur a few minor blemishes, and thus hide them.

New layer, and cloned out other larger blemishes.

Curves adj layer, and pulled the contrast a little.

Ran through Neat Image at very low settings to take out some of the noise.

[miss jane]

thanks gary! what you have contributed to the image is very helpful. the lady in the image just wants something better than the original and what you have shown me certainly looks a lot better. you've gone about it in a more sophisticated way than i have (this is what i want to learn), so i'll give it ago today. i'm still just learning about channels so if i get stuck i'll be sure to be back to ask for clarification thanks again.

[Gary Richardson]

Glad I could help a little, good luck with your restore. Any questions, post here or send me a PM.