New and confused - help with where to start

[driley]

I am a 65 yr old Newbie that wants to learn how to restore some old photos that have faded. I have absolutly no idea where to start. I am hoping this isn't going to be beyond me. This is the first photo that I would like to start with. It is of my husband and son.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...touch/Bill.jpg

[Swampy]

Welcome to RTP, driley. :-)

You have picked a doozy to start with. I'm not a retoucher, but can see that this photo has a terrible light leak problem. To correct this you'd need to do some channel mixing and masking and, not to be discouraging, but for a beginner it's a daunting task.

I want to encourage you to jump into Photoshop (or what ever editing program you are using) and I would hate to see you get discouraged. Also, any advise that folks might give you here will be really confusing if you don't know the basic terminology they are going to throw out to you.

My recommendation would be to start with something a little easier. Also pick up Katrin Eisman's book "Restoration and Retouching". If you can find a copy with the sample files on CD fine, if not she gives the web site where you can download them.

Understand this is coming from a 66 year old granny former school teacher. :-)

[OnAir]

Welcome to Retouch Pro, driley. I wish you good luck in your learning and please, do not be afraid, it should be not beyond you. As to the photo, you posted, I would say - it is not a good point to start from. I am afraid, there will be no other way then to make it gray and after colored back. Also, attached photo is too small to be printed after. You could find how to do that if you start searching topic colorization here, on RetouchPRO. Good luck!

[driley]

That looks so much better. Thank you.... Guess maybe some of these older photos are just going to have to go, till maybe one of the kids can fix them. I have picture it premium 9 and the Paint program also HP image editor. I just bought a Cybershot Sony camera, don't know if that came with an editing program or not.

Dee

[OnAir]

I would highly suggest you to go with Photoshop software. No software, you have mentioned is good for retouching. I also agree with Swampy's recommendations.

[dataflow]

here is a result i got.

it was levels (masked so its only applied to parts that need it)
then color balance mask of each color
then scaled it because the edges where hard to fix

[hawkeye60]

Similiar idea here...

[DannyRaphael]

Let me add my welcome to RetouchPRO too, Dee. Glad you found us. I moved your thread to this "help" forum where more people will see it.

Be patient... it takes awhile to get the hang of doing this type of thing, but it's well worth the time and effort. Best of luck as you begin this new adventure.

[chillin]

I would recommend starting with Photoshop & learn masking & curves adjustments.