Can anything be done?

[kudin888@tm.net]

Got a picture my mum gave me of her relative from the 40s. Can anything be donne to make the image clearer/sharper? Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

There are heaps more and would be willing to pay for pro retouching.

[roger_ele]

Hi,

This isn't too bad in terms of sharpness, but the light and dark areas are blocked up - can you scan this without increasing contrast any so that we can see how much subtle detail is in the original photo that could possibly be enhanced?

Roger

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Kudin, had a quick play with your image, attatched results below. Here's a quick breakdown of what I did.

1. Duplicate Image.
2. Apply Dust and Scratches with Layer Mask to get rid of small blemishes.
3. Create New Layer, and clone out larger blemishes.
4. Curves Adjustment Layer to get rid of some of top end blow out.
5. New layer set to Soft Light and Mid Grey Fill.
6. Use Burn Tool on this to darken shadows around Pith Helmet and face.
7. Create Edge Mask and apply Unsharp Mask (1, 200, 10).

Had to compress quite a bit to get within 100k limit, hope this does'nt give too many artifacts.

Hope this helps.

[Duv]

Hi Kudin

Duplicated layer
Curves Adjustment: Z curve to increase contrast
Noise: Median: 7 Pixels, Alt-Layer Mask and painted helmet, face with soft white brush 46% general and 9 % eyes, nose, etc.
Selected hats, Levels adjustment, shadow slider to right.
Painted under helmet, black brush 12%
Selected background, darkened with levels.
Unmask Sharp: 100% 1.8 to bring out texture in coat.

Cheers
Dave

[W. Rose]

Nice Dave and Gary,
Dave i am going to try your method. And thanks again Dave, still working on the curves, (having a bit of trouble getting it down). I can get all of the numbers right, but it still doesn't look right. Not the same photo.
Wayne

[kudin888@tm.net]

Roger, Gary, Dave, Wayne...... Thanks