Is There Any Practical Way to Restore This Photo?

[i_am_jim]

I've restored a few hundred old faded, creased, torn, stained, etc. pictures. An acquaintance said he had a picture he'd carried in his wallet for many years because he treasured it, but over time it had deteriorated and he wondered if I could restore it. I said I'd give it a try. That was before I saw it. Here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/y9exd3

I've never tried to fix anything like this, and have no idea how to approach it [other than brute force cloning]. The problem, of course, is the bits that have flaked away throughout the image. If you blow this image up there are more tiny pieces missing than is apparent in this jpeg I made for viewing. I'm very experienced at cloning, but unwilling to spend the hours and hand cramps necessary to take out all those little missing spots. I suspect there's no other way. In which case I'm going to have to tell him, "Sorry." But, before I do that I thought I'd ask here.

[bart_hickman]

For the tiny sample you've posted, make a duplicate layer, use dust&scratch filter in photoshop set to radius 2/threshold 35. Then set the blend mode to darken. It isn't perfect, but it's only a couple minutes work. Then a pass through noise ninja and healing brush in a few places to fix up the large scratches.

Bart

[printmeister]

Hi
About 1 hours work here.... mainly smudge tool, some cloning and noise reduction.

[Ying]

Unfortunately, cloning is the only good way
But it will not take hours, I think, one hour at most. Can you please send me the original scan (a private message with a link will do, but I can also give you my mail address)?
I will try to help.

[i_am_jim]

Hi Ying

I sent a private message.

[i_am_jim]

Originally Posted by bart_hickman

For the tiny sample you've posted, make a duplicate layer, use dust&scratch filter in photoshop set to radius 2/threshold 35. Then set the blend mode to darken. It isn't perfect, but it's only a couple minutes work. Then a pass through noise ninja and healing brush in a few places to fix up the large scratches.

Ok I tried this method on the full image which is 2700 pixels tall. It helped a some but not nearly as much as your result. Maybe I just couldn't find the right combination of radius and threshold but I ended up doing a lot of cloning, healing and blurring, and still have a spotty picture.

[p3net]

You may want to take the clone tool and carefully clone out a lot of those specks that are around the pant legs of the individuals in the photo. Their upper bodies look pretty good, though.

[i_am_jim]

Originally Posted by p3net

You may want to take the clone tool and carefully clone out a lot of those specks that are around the pant legs of the individuals in the photo.

I'm posting a 100% crop so you can see what those pants look like. This is the guy's lower Legs.

[Jillianweedmark]

Dear i_am_jim
I really love the photo you posted - your first one.
Old photos have such character to them
I wish you luck in your restoring - Jillian

[p3net]

i_am_jim,

Try zooming in using the clone tool and do your best. If not, I recommend either:

1) Taking the smudge tool. This may have mixed success
2) Take a tiny (1px) brush and set it to airbrush mode. Create a new layer. Using the eyedropper, sample the pant color from a non-damaged section and paint over it with the brush. Although it is "airbrushing", it is likely the only way to restore the pants, unless you either
a) Want to use the clone tool
b) Get the smudge tool to work (good luck)

[bart_hickman]

Originally Posted by i_am_jim

Ok I tried this method on the full image which is 2700 pixels tall. It helped a some but not nearly as much as your result. Maybe I just couldn't find the right combination of radius and threshold but I ended up doing a lot of cloning, healing and blurring, and still have a spotty picture.

The numbers will be different for a larger image. I have another shortcut method involving the patch tool. You can't escape all cloning, but you can escape most of it with these methods. If you post a link to the original or an important part of the original at 100% size, I can re-assess if you like.

Bart

[i_am_jim]

Thanks Bart, but I think I've invested all the time I'm willing to in this one.

Someone wanted to see a full sized before and after, so I created this 100% before and after crop.

I'm linking instead of uploading because it exceeds the 100px limit and I don't want to have to remake it.

100% crop sample

If someone would set this forum up to display images from links like most other BBS software going somewhere else wouldn't be necessary.

[Kraellin]

If someone would set this forum up to display images from links like most other BBS software going somewhere else wouldn't be necessary.

this is what is known as 'leeching bandwidth'. a lot of sites dont do it any more and a lot of sites will block others from doing it. when you do this, you are 'stealing' the other site's bandwidth because the link posted is always active and this takes bandwidth from the other site, since they have to send it constantly. whereas, if you simply provide a link to their site, their bandwidth only gets used when someone clicks on the link. it's like having your television running 24 hours a day to see a 5 minute show as opposed to just turning on the tv for that 5 minutes.

and since some sites are operating on limited bandwidth and have to pay extra when they exceed that, i certainly understand this.