Where do I start?

[tahaney]

Hi,

I would like to restore my parents' wedding photo for their anniversary, but I don't know where to start the restoration process. Please advise.

-- Photo is from 1967 and is severley faded after 38 years.
-- Almost all color is gone except for the edges that were under the frame.
-- Photo is 8x10, and I scanned it in at 600 dpi in a TIFF format = 86 MB file
-- I have Photoshop Elements 3.0, but could use a friend's PS 7.0.

I am a newbie here, and am not familiar with restoration of old photos. I am familiar with digital photography and have manipulated some of my own shots, but this appears to be a huge undertaking, and any help is greatly appreciated. I see some amazing work done here, and would like to do the same myself.

Thanks in advance,
-- Todd

[lamedos]

Hey Todd

I'm new here too and I'm kind of guesing that the image you posted is just a touch too small for any serious work (but I'm sure someone will put me right). I'm also kind of thinking that the colour is so far gone that the only option is to hand colour it - once gain I'm expecting to be put right on that one.

Anyway, this is about as quick as it gets, all of 15 seconds.

Duplicate layer - blend mode = multiply (Cropped out border to save having to work on it - sorry, I'm lazy :-)). I'm sure there's far more work that can be done on a bigger image and that someone else will come along and offer far more advice than I can.

Cheers

Roy

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Todd,

What lamedos says is right, almost all the colour information is missing from this image. Your best option if you want a colour image, is to hand colour it.

There's a whole mass of information on colouring images here, just scan through the forums and tutorials and you should find some help.

Hopefully one of the colourising experts will give you a hand. (Not really my forte).

If you just want to get a bit of the fading out, prior to colouring, duplicate the layer, set blend mode to multiply, and adjust layer opacity till its as you want.

[jenjen]

I tried this really fast and am not sure on the coloring yet, but here is what I did.
1. corrected the coloring a tad with levels on each seperate channel.
2. created a theshold layer and found the white and clack points.
3.used the levels droppers to find bl and white points.
4.Ctr+ALT +~ , then inversed it. I set that layer to mulitply. (to darken the shadows)
5.I selected the skin on each person and made a seperate layer (ctrl+J)
6.made separate layers (color mode) and colored skin color i wanted
7.Did some cloning
8. the bottom of her dress was still redish so i selected it and adjusted it with a color balance adj layer.

I hope my spelling was ok! Anyway that is roughly what I did. Good luck.

[Flora]

Hi Todd,

Welcome to RP!

I had a go at your picture ....

I agree with Roy about the size .... If you need help about quality and size for your attachments, just follow the first two links under my signature ...

Let me know if you are interested in a detailed explanation ....

Jennifer,

great job!

[jenjen]

Flora,

How do you get the skin so dark. I used the eyedropper on the girl's skin that you did, and on a blank layer (color mode) colored it with that color. But it doesn't turn out that color or yours. It's way lighter. Is there another way to color the skin? What would we do with out you!

[fat0n3s]

I agree with jenjen.

Flora, the images you post are truly amazing.

If you don't mind me asking; how long does it take you to restore an image like this one?

[Flora]

Jennifer, fat0n3s,

thanks for your kindness!!

Jennifer,

How do you get the skin so dark. I used the eyedropper on the girl's skin that you did, and on a blank layer (color mode) colored it with that color. But it doesn't turn out that color or yours. It's way lighter. Is there another way to color the skin?

...It's not only a matter of chosing a lighter or a darker colour .... It's a matter of balancing lights and shadows before applying the colour!!!

As I explained in this post, *Pure or nearly pure black just as pure or nearly pure white can't be coloured..... so, before you start colouring, it is vital balancing highlights and shadows wherever necessary if you want your applied colour showing evenly throughout.*
.... meaning if you try to apply colour to nearly 'blown out' highlights or 'black' shadows in a picture, the applied colours just won't show or will be nearly invisible!!

For balancing Highligh/Shadow, you can use Levels, Curves, Brightness&Contrast or if you use PS CS you could use the wonderful Image>Adjustments>Highligh/Shadow Option ...

In my attachment, you can see original and the 'fixed for Highligh/Shadow' picture before I started to enhance/apply the colours ....

fat0n3s,

What I did here took me no more than 10 minutes ... no reconstructions, no healing, no cloning ... etc. .... the picture is only a bit faded...

[jenjen]

Flora,

Do you balance the highlights overall with the whole picture or do you make a selection of just her skin and use a level adj layer? That is what i have been trying to do but i just don't get it. The skin just turns red and kind of glows. This is what i did.

Ctrl J own layer
with it selected I used levels adj layer with each seperate color adjusted.
merged the layers into one
then create a blank layer and I color it

Any advice or could you walk me through it. Sorry if I'm being a pain.

[nebgranny]

Just can not get away from me Flora! I would love a detailed explaination step bt step of how to achieve this finished product. I have CS2 . I will then try to learn some new processes using the posted information. Thanks Neb

[palms1]

Really only added to this post so i can keep up with the info given please Flora explain some more i have just downloaded neat image as advised, I wont be using advise just yet but will store for future use

Palms

[Flora]

Jennifer,

Originally Posted by jenjen

Any advice or could you walk me through it. Sorry if I'm being a pain.

Jennifer,
You are not being a pain! This is what we are here for ... .... I tried to follow your steps but I didn't get the results you described ....

I'm preparing a Tutorial on balancing Shadows/Highlights ... starting from PS CS, there is a wonderful Option: Image > Adjustment > Shadow/Highlight ... it really is amazing but, sometimes, not enough and not available for those working with previous PS versions ... that's why I've been trying different methods to balance Shadows/Highlights without using this incredible feature ...

But, back to your question

Do you balance the highlights overall with the whole picture or do you make a selection of just her skin and use a level adj layer?

For this image I did an overall adjustment because the whole picture was faded .... I do selective adjustments if a picture is unevenly faded .... Here I used the Levels as shown in my attachment ... (sometimes it is enough to move the midtones slider only or simply tweak the 'Output Levels) .... but in evenly faded pictures, you could try to duplicate the background, set the blending to 'Multiply' and adjust Opacity if necessary ...

Neb,

Just can not get away from me Flora! I would love a detailed explaination step bt step of how to achieve this finished product. I have CS2 . I will then try to learn some new processes using the posted information. Thanks Neb

.... sorry, sorry ... I haven't gotten in touch with you ....please forgive me ....

Palms,

I also intend to write a mini tutorial on the usage of Neat Image ... Gosh ... I do hope to find the time to do all I'd like to ....

[Billfields]

I also intend to write a mini tutorial on the usage of Neat Image ... Gosh ... I do hope to find the time to do all I'd like to ....

Flora,

That would be great.....I have Neat Image and I’ve used it some but not with the best of results. I tend to loose a lot of detail. I see what other folks can do with it so I’m sure it is me, that I am not understanding the settings correctly.

Bill