Photo Restoration - - problem with black and withe photo

jenjen · #1 08-15-2005, 07:43 AM

I have a big problem with this photo. I thought it would be as easy as adjusting levels and setting a new black and white point, but its not. When i print it out for one the ladies suit is all blotchy along iwth the man's pants. Also the top of his pants and her waist and up is lighter black too. Another problem is that the white especially at the top is all grainy and is like grey or white with black dots on it. The whole thing overall looks crappy when printed. I think i've wasted so much ink all ready. Even though it looks ok on the monitor it still prints out bad.

I scanned it this time at greyscale at 300 dpi. I only increased the size a tad with the resize wizard. Any help i would aprreiate it. Thanks!

jenjen · #2 08-15-2005, 07:52 AM

Here is the original.

Cassidy · #3 08-15-2005, 08:51 AM

Jen it appears with the photo that if you wind up the contrast too far it fragments quite substantially, I found that I did not get the same amount of contrast however by copying the base layer applying it as a screen and then adjusting the brightness (down quite a bit) and upping the contrast (quite substantiallY), whilst not as bright, it did not fragment until I over revved the contrast

jenjen · #4 08-15-2005, 09:06 AM

Cassidy,
Isn't the bottom of the picture too dark then? I tried that and you couldn't tell the difference between the pants and her skirt. Unless i did it wrong. So think my problem is is that i have too much contrast? Thanks for the info!!

Cassidy · #5 08-15-2005, 09:13 AM

Agree you do lose some definition however, the main focal point of the photo should be the faces I'd think, the lack of definition in the lower part of the photo should also help with preventing the fragmentation as close inspection shows a light tweedy pattern on the suit and numerous hairs, speckles on the pants

jenjen · #6 08-15-2005, 01:04 PM

Does anyone else have any ideas with this one?

Panpan · #7 08-15-2005, 01:18 PM

Here's my attempt. There was a lot of dust on the dark clothes. I got rid of some with dust & scratches, but there's still some. I got rid of most of the posterization with dodging, burning and blurring. There doesn't seem to be any detail left near the shoes and on the shirt.

Maybe cleaning the original before rescanning would help?

Pierre

Cameraken · #8 08-15-2005, 01:58 PM

Hi jenjen.

I think the problem with printing is because your whites are too white and your blacks are too black. Prints look blown out where there is no ink and printers struggle to get to pure black.

Try reducing your output levels a bit. I think this will help. See attachment.

Ken

jenjen · #9 08-15-2005, 02:32 PM

is it wise to use the eyedroppers in the levels adj layer to set the black and white points? IT seems that when i do that that is when there clothes looks funny.

Thanks for your help everyone, i guess that makes sense. I'll give it a try.

jenjen · #10 08-15-2005, 03:00 PM

How is this one. I tried a combo of what you guys said. Do you think that would print out right. I did a little tooooo much burning on her dress.

Kraellin · #11 08-15-2005, 04:04 PM

jen,

i dont think it's going to look right. on my monitor, i see a lot of very dark in the pants and left skirt and a lot of very light up top. there's also quite a bit of grain showing in places, especially on the faces.

i gave this one a shot also. it turned out to be a lot trickier than i would have imagined. i ran all the standard adjustments with curves, levels, contrast/brightness but it still wouldnt correct right.

so, i made a mask over that bright blown out area on the left, the house part, and darkened it on a gradient.

i ran the whole image thru neat image, but that didnt clean it up enough.

i ran selections on the dark skirt and dark pants and used a median filter on both to clean these.

i ran one very light salt and pepper filter on the whole image

i ran another very light median on the whole.

i then ran the whole image thru the 'one step photo fix' of psp 9. this finally got the levels and contrasts better.

i did some other minor cleanup with push, clone, and smudge in various small areas.

very deceptive image, this one.

Craig

edit: and i still dont really like it

jenjen · #12 08-15-2005, 04:11 PM

thanks Kraellin. Your version looks better then mine. I've redone this one over and over. It's funny after awhile it doesn't matter if you get this picture or not but it becomes a challenge.

Caitlin · #13 08-15-2005, 04:15 PM

Hi Jen,

It sounds like people are finding this one a bit tricky. I opened your original up in Photoshop and noticed something odd - the levels look like they have already been manipulated in some way. (See attached) Did you have any automatic settings when you scanned the picture?

Kraellin · #14 08-15-2005, 04:19 PM

Quote:

It's funny after awhile it doesn't matter if you get this picture or not but it becomes a challenge.

i start taking them personally after a bit, jen

and yes, cathy, i had wondered about that.

Craig

jenjen · #15 08-15-2005, 04:52 PM

HMM i not sure whats going on at this point.

When i open up the original and go to Levels it doesn't show it like that. But i got a new printer so i'm not sure. I thought i turned off all the printer corrections.