Salvage possible?

[carpman]

Hello, i have this photo i me and my brother from 35 years ago that my parent have asked me to restore, it is polaroid and very faded.

The green channel give best detail.


Any ideas?

Tools: Gimp, Krita Pixel32

cheers

[CJ Swartz]

carpman, you do have some "doozies"! Ouch! The blue has some detail that the green doesn't have, but it has some extra garbage artifacts also. Does the original Polaroid show the face of the boy on the right side of the photo? I trust you've tried some scanner "tricks" to get the best version that you could -- have you tried doing more than one scan to get versions that look different that could be put together like you mate's photo from 2005?

I hope someone else has some techniques that will help more.

Here's all I was able to come up so far with Apply Image and curves/levels, and a bunch more. With a lot of time, it could be better, but there's not much detail to work with.

[Swampy]

Better results than I could get, CJ. I don't hold much hope for this photo, but maybe someone will surprise me.

[carpman]

Thanks for replies.

I have just got a new scanner, epson 4490 photo, also now have latest version of vuescan so will try a few scans with multiple passes.

In gimp blue just came up a totally black?

The original is very faded with only very faint outlines.


Think this one is going to be tough.

[videosean]

Tough indeed! The blue of RGB shouldn't be totally black though - My first suspect would be the scanner somehow not working correctly? I've seen it happen with a very old (pre 1996) Agfa SCSI scanner that we managed to get working under WinXP at work. I'm not sure the exact problem we have every now and then (it does come and go with no apparent reason) but it could definitely be driver related (I forget what drivers we use but they aren't for WinXP) and maybe you have a similar problem with that new scanner.
I've attached files that are just the red, green and blue channels (desaturated/greyscale jpegs) of what you posted. The 4th/last image is the lightness channel from LAB mode. Maybe it will help if others can see them without having to save and open in PS... you have alot of work ahead of you I think but it's not a total loss... maybe I'm overly optimistic though.

[carpman]

Hello, ok i have re-scanned it with new scanner and vuescan, scanned it as greyscale using blue channel with 3 passes, the results are better but still not good.

Going to have to put this one aside and think about how best to get something out of it, while i do some easier ones.

[Vikki]

I suggest you experiment with scanning. Turn off any "auto" features in your scanner and just start playing around with the levels/curves adjustment sliders within your scanner software. (With most scanners, you must get out of the "basic" scan mode and into "professional" scan mode to access the features.)
Get a scan that best brings out the faded areas, without worrying about what it does to the rest of the image. Scan again to capture the best quality scan of the other areas, and so on.
What you want to do is to create several different scans, combine all of the scans and utilize layer masks to reveal only the good parts of each scan.

[Kraellin]

yup, that's a better scan.

could you do one in color, though? i can always pull out the blue channel, but i'd like to have all channels there in one image to work with, if possible.

[LadySedim]

Hi, I am new here, but I work with a lot of old, damaged pictures like yours. I believe your image can be preserved and restored to a large degree. What you need to do first is get the best possible working image. I would suggest you try doing 4 scans in cases like this. Both ways vertical, and both ways horizontal, all at the highest resolution possible (to create more data for your "working" image). Then open all 4 scans in your image editing program...I use Photoshop CS2, so will describe the process I use, maybe you can apply to your program. Layer these into one document, matching orientation and alignment, and play with the Fill and Opacity of each layer. Top layers will need to be more transparent, so take the BEST image to use for your bottom/background layer. Then flatten the image into 1 layer, and convert to Black & White, add a "Levels" adjustment layer, and move the sliders to just inside each edge of where the "graph" starts. Save image. This whole process takes maybe 45 minutes, and will get you a MUCH better working image to do the restoration.
Hope this helps
Sedim


edited to add:
P.S.
I will see what I can do with your "raw" and "improved" images in the meantime

[LadySedim]

OK, I have been tinkering with ideas all afternoon, and I am having a hard time getting more than a ghostlike image of the 2 smaller children. Is there possibly another picture of them, from about the same time? With another picture I might be able to put in better details.

[carpman]

Hello, thanks for the replies but been a bit busy, i will do the scan/layer suggestion and see what i can come up with.

The picture is of me and my brother with our step mother at Broadstairs (seaside resort) in 1970, dam i am getting old

[LadySedim]

sorry taking so long, have messed up my wrist bigtime.....typing w/ 1 hand now. will try again when healed.