Faded Image: Not really sure where to start

[tb5821]

Where should I start, got this pic from a client just not sure where to start?

[Dreamypix]

When faced with this challenge, I would first desaturate the photo. The yellow is just going to give you problems. After that-you can either run levels or curves or what I do for faded photos is Duplicate the background layer, change the layer mode from normal to multiply. Or you can use Flora's luministy technique. After that, the healing brush and the clone stamp are going to be your best friends. If you still have a problem with noise, take it into Neat Image.

Hope that helps you get started.

~Amber~

Here's what I got in about 20 minutes. It's pretty crude, but you get the idea of what can be done.

[Kraellin]

i got a little carried away on this one, just for the fun of it. rather than a traditional restore, i did a lot of smudge and push on the hair and shirt.

the more traditional stuff was on the face. i used a contrast/brightness adjustment layer globally. same with a curves. i made a duplicate of the original layer and ran the fast fix plugin on it. i smoothed out stuff with clone, push, smudge, and added noise and blurred it here and there. i also ran the light/dark tool on parts of the forehead and cheeks.

the most striking change was made with the fast fix plugin. i highly recommend this plugin for quick saturation, contrast, lightness and color fixing.

Craig

[tb5821]

hmmm I'll give that plugin a try, can you post a link?

[Kraellin]

i've prolly got it somewhere (?) but a simple search in the forums shld find it or a google. i believe it's made by Fotomatic, so you could search that also.

Craig

[suchyy]

What I did is:

- darkened image with levels
- applied Filters --> Noise --> Dust and Scratches
- played a lot with healing patch
- applied Noise Ninja plugin on a copied layer
- adjusted layers opacity
- merged all
- darkened with curves
- sharpened

[Cameraken]

If anyone is looking for the fast fix plugin by Fotomatic it is available from many sites. However the best place to download it is from the Fotomatic site.

It’s free and available here

http://www.cybia.co.uk

And a direct link

http://www.cybia.co.uk/fastfix.htm

You will also need Winzip to extract it. There are PC and Mac Versions


Ken

[tb5821]

Originally Posted by Cameraken

If anyone is looking for the fast fix plugin by Fotomatic it is available from many sites. However the best place to download it is from the Fotomatic site.

It’s free and available here

http://www.cybia.co.uk

And a direct link

http://www.cybia.co.uk/fastfix.htm

You will also need Winzip to extract it. There are PC and Mac Versions


Ken

Hi ken, I like the colorizing job, can you give me a little tutorial on how you accomplished it?

[Cameraken]

Hi TB

Thanks for your comments.

I must admit the colour was a bit of an afterthought after the picture was cleaned up.
Some sepia toned pictures look almost coloured and this was (to me) one of them.
All I did was create a new empty layer above the cleaned picture. Set the blending mode of the layer to color.
I chose a soft round brush and painted the cheeks and lips in red.
I did exactly the same for the shirt with a light blue.
To make the colour match the sepia I reduced the opacity of the layer

I have attached the picture again. But this time left the colour layer opacity at 100%
It makes the colours more vibrant. You can choose which you prefer.


Ken

[tb5821]

Here is my before and after what do you guys think?

[Kraellin]

tb5821,

hehe, i like the addition of the hat.

you've got some problems with your edges, however. they look clipped. you know what i mean here? like the edges were cut from a magazine and pasted into the picture. you also straightened all the lines of her shirt. that's a dead give-away of a touch-up. no matter how you wear a shirt, if you're wearing it, the lines will almost never be perfectly straight. look at the original picture and you'll see that the lines of her shirt arent perfectly straight. you've done a very good job of getting her face back. so, well done on that part.

overall, good job, but needs some work here and there. (jeez, i sound like a schoolteacher grading papers)

Craig