Found OLD picture. Where to start?

[timmy1729]

Hi everyone!
Well, going through my mother's box of pictures, I ended up finding some old pictures of my father. This one is from June 1942. The photo has what looks like a crease and a bunch of dust or whatever all that is. Other than that the photo isn't too bad, but it does need some work. So, I thought this would be great to practice on. For a photo like this, where do I start and what steps would you take as more experienced artisans?

[hawkeye60]

I certainly don't qualify as an "experienced artisan", but I would suggest starting with removing the black spots, before you make any adjustments.

[ktg222]

The photo is in great shape. The corrections should be relatively easy. Clone or healing of the creases and black spots. The photo has a red cast to it. You can remove it using the Channel Mixer set to monochrome or a variety of other ways.

[timmy1729]

Hawkeye60:
I couldn't think of another term that fit. That's why I'm a math major instead of an English major ;-)

[0lBaldy]

This tutorial "Restoring an old photograph" by cameraken has become the starting work flow for most of my projects:
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=255

[smak]

This is a start. I used Spot Healing brush, Clone and darkened the clothes.
It needs a professional touch though.

[timmy1729]

Thanks smak! That looks wonderful!

Well, here is where I've gotten so far. I only did the right half of the pic so far using the healing tool for everything. I love the healing tool! I didn't know it did such a great job!

Here's where I'm stuck though. On the right side of his forehead in the original picture I posted, there is some black stuff right on the edge of his forehead and the background. Also, there is some stuff on the heel of his foot on the left, on the edge of his heel and the table. How can I clean those spots up without them blending his head and foot with the background or table? I ask because the colors blend together on either side of the black stuff. Also, once I've gotten it cleaned up a bit, how can I make the background a little smoother and maybe his skin a little smoother? I guess, how would I do a little "airbrushing" on the skin too?

[smak]

>>>>>>> there is some stuff on the heel of his foot on the left,

Sometimes you have to "re-create" what the foot should look like. You are not just cleaning up areas, you are re-creating" them. In some photos, for example, a crease goes right thru the face. It takes great skill to rebuild the area to make it look like the original face.

[lurch]

How can I clean those spots up without them blending his head and foot with the background or table?

Here's where you zoom way in and either clone or paint pixel by pixel (or close to it).

[Mike]

So I read the title of the thread and I see that the word "old" is in all caps, "Found OLD picture. Where to start? " I assume that we are going to talk about an old picture, but what do I find?

A somewhat dated photograph of a young man. I happen to have a photograph of me, taken when I was about that same size and age, and also created in 1942. Apparently 1942 was a good year for cute kids!

So in the future, please refrain from using the term "OLD" when speaking of photographs created in the 1940's, or you just might get sent to your room!

[HroadhogD1]

Good one. LOL

[0lBaldy]

Dang, I'm really feeling OLD now!! Thanks loads guys!

About 10 min using the Tutorial presented above..

[tawnidilly]

Here is what I came up with.

[tawnidilly]

Here is a fun one with the photo style from the 40s-60s

[timmy1729]

Here is what I have after doing a MAJOR de-dusting and de-black-stuff-ing...

Anyway, what do you think of it so far? Where would you go from here? I'm going to work on it myself, but I always welcome help and ideas.

[Peter S]

Had to try this just to keep my hand in.

Peter

[timmy1729]

Peter:
That looks wonderful! Can you explain what you did?

[Peter S]

Thanks Timmy
It was mostly Healing brushes and clone brush, then noise reduction (A little loss of detail due to small file size) plus adjusted levels and a little D&B in places. I did USM as well but I think I overdid that a little.

Peter

[sjordanc]

I'm new to all this, Still Learning. This is a Great Site to Learn.
First I increased the dpi, Desaturated,ran an Unsharp Mask, Despeckled to get rid of most of the noise. Applied healing brush and cloning tool, Had to copy the left foot, flipped it to create the right foot. Merged all layers. Then I colored Him.

[timmy1729]

That was wonderful! I am still working on it as time allows, which is not nearly enough. I will keep in mind your coloring scheme!

I guess my vision isn't finely tuned to "sharpness" because every time I try to sharpen an image, I can't tell the difference between the original and sharpened one. Maybe I'm just looking at the wrong thing.