Image Help - - Help with family photo

cmcleod694 · #1 07-10-2006, 01:38 PM

Hi,

1st post so please bear with me...

Using : PS CS

I scanned the attached photo. Water has got in around the picture and it has been broken recently. The dark lines is the glass that has stucked to the photo. if we try to remove the glass it rips the picture.

Can anyone help me restore this family picture. As the two front our of my dead grandparents and it would be nice to restore for the family ?

I'm ok with PS as i use it frequently. Not to sure on restoration so i don't know where to start.

Thanks for any help ,

cheers,

Littlecoo · #2 07-10-2006, 05:48 PM

good to start by 'covering all bases' at the scanning process to minimise the artifacts caused by the glass pieces. Tutorial here and Here These are more specific to paper texture and silvering artifacts in black and white photos but may also be useful for your image. I hope this is of some help to you as a start.

Cameraken · #3 07-10-2006, 07:21 PM

Hi cmcleod694

Welcome to Retouch Pro

Your picture is salvageable. It really depends on how much work you want to do

Here is a quick job because there are a lot of jpeg artefacts in the picture posted. You should be able to get far better from a high res scan

Here is (roughly) what I did

Levels adjust
Copy blue channel to a layer
Repaired the marks on this blue copy (mainly cloning)
Copy flip paste one mans eye and another mans mouth
Drag the levels adjusted colour copy above and set blending mode to colour
New layer set to colour to repair the colour
Hue/sat to increase the saturation (selective)
Selective levels on grandmas face
Sharpened (selective)
I also removed the black semicircle (not sure what that was)

As I mentioned, you should get better results from a higher res picture
Neat Image would help a lot.

Hope this helps.

Ken.

cmcleod694 · #4 07-11-2006, 07:18 AM

Thank you with your help on this family project.

Ken i have followed your instructions and all is going well. i have fixed the photo up to the following point to where i am stuck.

how do i do this
Drag the levels adjusted colour copy above and set blending mode to colour

cheers

Cameraken · #5 07-11-2006, 08:49 AM

Hi cmcleod694

I used the blue channel for the repairs because it looked the cleanest.

After repairing all the marks on the blue layer (A) I had a good repaired picture but it was in black and white so I copied the colour picture layer and dragged it to the top of the stack and changed its blending mode to colour. (B) This gave me a picture using the luminosity of the repaired blue channel but with colour added from the colour layer.

I have just noticed that I have painted Grandmas left hand orange. Easy to correct.

Hope this helps. Please ask again if I have not made it clear.
What is the black semicircle?

Ken.

HandMadeGod · #6 07-11-2006, 12:06 PM

Thats a really great restore

cmcleod694 · #7 07-11-2006, 12:29 PM

Ken
once again this picture is getting better thanks to your help. Family members have seen it so far and our very impressed and greatful that this can be restored.

Below you will see how far i have got on. just need to brighten up the photo and fix the background.

what do you think i should do now.

P.S that black spot is a lamp shade.

Cameraken · #8 07-11-2006, 01:51 PM

Hi cmcleod694

So Far, So Good.
The levels adjustment should really have been the first step (see my workflow) however if you don’t want to start again you can do the adjustments now.

Add a levels adjustment layer and put in these numbers.

Red 65 1.39 235
Green 43 1.00 209
Blue 30 1.00 180

This should give more contrast and help with the colours

You will now see that Grandma still looks a little pale

Make a selection round Grandmas face (I feathered it 20 pixels)
Now add a second levels adjustment and use

RGB 0 0.52 255

This step is shown in the attachment.

Then you can finish off the cloning.
I increased the saturation on the flowers (Selective Hue/Sat)
And I also did a selective Hue/Sat on the faces. Both these steps can be seen at the very top of my Workflow picture.
Add a blank layer set to colour to paint over the colours where needed and then sharpen.
I did not use Neat Image but it may help with your picture. It’s free, There is a tutorial and download link here.
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=138

HandMadeGod. Thank You for your comments.

Ken.