Removing Texture

[femmgrangwav]

There seems to be lots of cracks or texture in this pic. I tried using Neat Image and it didn't make a difference. Is there a way to work on this?

http://ss1.pickle.com/media/femmgran...99_big.jpg?971

[femmgrangwav]

I've tried the following:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/rp-...hlight=texture

and this:
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=140

and this:
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/index.php?m=show&id=18


I don't know if I'm doing something wrong but the cracks are still there...HELP me.....

Will this tutorial work?
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213

http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/index.php?m=show&id=33

[BillFrey]

Hi femmgrangwav,

I tried Polaroid Dust and Scratch Removal on your picture (a free plugin).
It did a nice job of removing the white dots.
It's not the total answer for this restoration, but it will give you a good start.

[Swampy]

You need to rescan the image and use the descreen function of your scanning software as a start. Scan at about 300 DPI. Scan a couple times moving the photo to different angles with each scan and see which one gives you the best results.

[femmgrangwav]

1. where can I find the poloroid plug-in

2. I have an HP scanner....I'll look for the descreen option.

Thanks.

[Swampy]

. where can I find the poloroid plug-in

Probably at Poloroid.com

[DCobb]

I wanted to give this one a try. Straightened the picture, duplicated layer and set to multiply. Then used the history brush--lighten and darken--to take out the texture. I also decided to add just a hint of a smile; however, if this picture is of a historical nature then that would be inappropriate. Added a quickie frame. An improvement, but as it has been previously advised, a good scan is the best place to start.

dc

[Gary Richardson]

Ran it through the de-crack action by Tim J Edwards (used to be a copy on this site, haven't looked to see if it's still available), then used History Brush to bring back some of the lost detail.

Haven't tried to correct anything other than the cracks, picture still needs work, but perhaps gives you something to work from.

Edit: Link for de-crack Action http://www.retouchpro.com/tutorials/...ack-action.zip

[unimatrix001]

gave this a try
duplicated the layer
gave it a 0.9 gaussian blur
duplicated layer again blending mode to multiply
merged layers
selected highlights copied to new layer blending mode to multiply
small amount of noise reduction.
came up with this

[Lasa]

Gave it a run..
Duplicated the image.
then ran a dust and scratch filter (Filter/noise/D&S)
Then added a mask reveal all (painted black)
then with a 60% white opacity brush painted the D/S layer back in except the eyes.

Lasa

[femmgrangwav]

Originally Posted by Swampy

You need to rescan the image and use the descreen function of your scanning software as a start. Scan at about 300 DPI. Scan a couple times moving the photo to different angles with each scan and see which one gives you the best results.

I tried it and it didn't help much. Is there a difference in 600dpi vs. 300dpi?

[femmgrangwav]

Originally Posted by Swampy

. where can I find the poloroid plug-in

Probably at Poloroid.com

thanks I'm going to check it out too.

[femmgrangwav]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

Ran it through the de-crack action by Tim J Edwards (used to be a copy on this site, haven't looked to see if it's still available), then used History Brush to bring back some of the lost detail.

Haven't tried to correct anything other than the cracks, picture still needs work, but perhaps gives you something to work from.

Edit: Link for de-crack Action http://www.retouchpro.com/tutorials/...ack-action.zip

I got something like that. It looked like a mosaic. How would I proceed from there when I have it looking like the above? The picture also got very blury.

[femmgrangwav]

Lasa, unimatrix001 thanks!! I'm taking everyone's feedback and seeing what works best. At the same time I'm enjoying the learing process.

[Swampy]

Originally Posted by femmgrangwav

I tried it and it didn't help much. Is there a difference in 600dpi vs. 300dpi?

Depends on how big you want to output it. If you are going to print a 5 x 7, 300 ppi should be fine.

[LadySedim]

Well crud! My browser died on me and I lost my whole post on what I did...and I cannot even begin to reconstruct it now, but there were quite a few levels and hue/saturation adjustments. I apologize, but anyway here's my take on the pic. With so much yellow and over-exposure, reverting to black and white seemed to give the best results.

[femmgrangwav]

Originally Posted by Swampy

Depends on how big you want to output it. If you are going to print a 5 x 7, 300 ppi should be fine.

thanks..the image is a the size of a passport photo. Can I still enlarge it at 300 ppi?

[femmgrangwav]

Originally Posted by LadySedim

Well crud! My browser died on me and I lost my whole post on what I did...and I cannot even begin to reconstruct it now, but there were quite a few levels and hue/saturation adjustments. I apologize, but anyway here's my take on the pic. With so much yellow and over-exposure, reverting to black and white seemed to give the best results.

Ohhh thank you!! This looks great! Can you pretty pretty please post the steps you used?

[LadySedim]

The problem is, I did quite a number of steps, and I lost them when my browser crashed on me, cuz I wrote them in the box as I did them. So what I can tell you here can really only be the general steps I took. PLEASE NOTE....This is probably missing aa few steps and critical details...I am sorry about that.

I know I duplicated the image, and on the duplicate layer I did a "levels" adjustment layer, first in the RGB and then in the Yellow sub-channel, to make his skin more of a natural brown color. After that I did an image>adjustments>variations. It was set on mid-tones, to "fine" setting, and 1 click each more blue, more red, and darker. After that I used the hue/saturation dialog to take him back to a true black-n-white. After this I did a quick de-saturate on the background layer, and adjusted the top layer to something like 70% fill. Merged those 2 layers to create 1, then used the "burn" tool on a soft round brush and about 70% strength (I think) to clean up the background. I did use a smaller brush on "blur" tool (60% strength, I think..I maade several passes) to blend in the mottling on his skin. Then I cropped the old frame out entirely, and used custom shape to make a new clean frame in pure white.

[femmgrangwav]

Originally Posted by LadySedim

The problem is, I did quite a number of steps, and I lost them when my browser crashed on me, cuz I wrote them in the box as I did them. So what I can tell you here can really only be the general steps I took. PLEASE NOTE....This is probably missing aa few steps and critical details...I am sorry about that.

I know I duplicated the image, and on the duplicate layer I did a "levels" adjustment layer, first in the RGB and then in the Yellow sub-channel, to make his skin more of a natural brown color. After that I did an image>adjustments>variations. It was set on mid-tones, to "fine" setting, and 1 click each more blue, more red, and darker. After that I used the hue/saturation dialog to take him back to a true black-n-white. After this I did a quick de-saturate on the background layer, and adjusted the top layer to something like 70% fill. Merged those 2 layers to create 1, then used the "burn" tool on a soft round brush and about 70% strength (I think) to clean up the background. I did use a smaller brush on "blur" tool (60% strength, I think..I maade several passes) to blend in the mottling on his skin. Then I cropped the old frame out entirely, and used custom shape to make a new clean frame in pure white.

Thanks I got to step #1 and adjusted the RGB channel but where is the Yellow sub-channel?

[femmgrangwav]

Originally Posted by BillFrey

Hi femmgrangwav,

I tried Polaroid Dust and Scratch Removal on your picture (a free plugin).
It did a nice job of removing the white dots.
It's not the total answer for this restoration, but it will give you a good start.

I tried it. I think I need to look at the instructions. It automatically uploaded as a PhotoShop Plug-in. So I went to Filter>polaroid. Is there a way I can preview the image? All I see in the preview box is a white area. And when I go to adjust anything on the Polaroid plug-in a pop-up comes up saying Progress and just sits there. As if it freezes. I hit cancel and it does nothing. But when I click exit closes out. ooooo vey!!

ETA...

I finally got it. I did do a GREAT job by getting the cracks out. Now he looks like he has leathery skin. How do I work that out? I'll post the pic.

Here's what I got when I adjusted the levels and used the Polaroid plug-in:
http://ss1.pickle.com/media/femmgran...39_big.jpg?170

[BillFrey]

Hi femmgrangwav,

I didn't save your file, but I'll do it again and save the steps. If I recall correctly I ran the filter two times on low settings, once for the 'light' and once for the 'dark' spots.

I'll edit this post and show the results in a few.

Edit: Your version is a good starting point for restoration. I used it to continue with noise removal and layers of selective lightening and darkening. The highlight/shadow adjustment in CS2 recovered a good deal of the shirt.

[LadySedim]

I'm sorry, it might have been the blue channel, or maybe red. I was trying to correct him to a more natural skin-tone, and also tone down those yellow highlights...so I corrected for that...if it helps at all, the skin-tone I ended up with was a warm chocolate brown with a slight but distinct red cast. But I know for sure it wasn't the green channel, so don't mess with that one if you are trying to follow what I did. I only converted him to black-n-white image after I had the most natural skin-tone acheivable. To judge skin tone, I kept his skin in the same value-range, and applied my own knowledge of skin coloration in darker races. Hope this helps

[BillFrey]

I gave colorizing a try.

[Swampy]

Bill

Good job. Very sellable. :-)

[femmgrangwav]

Originally Posted by BillFrey

I gave colorizing a try.

WOW!!! This is lovely! Did you use the replace option tool in photoshop? I wasn't even thinking about adding color!

[BillFrey]

Thanks, Swampy

Hi femmgrangwav,

Glad you like it

I painted color on layers set to 'color' blend. I don't think it's the most favored way of coloring, but it's what I'm most comfortable with.

Bill

[LadySedim]

Wow! that looks amazing, Bill! Can you please describe how you do the layers-color-blending...thing? It looks like something I would really love to try

[LadySedim]

OK< I know it's not technically related, but I'm saying it anyway ;-) I really love watching how people work off one another in these forums, taking something almost lost and ending up with something amazing. It's really a pleasure and a creative inspiration to watch :-)

[BillFrey]

Thank you, LadySedim

I agree, I'm often impressed with the restoring/retouching being done here. I'm often surprised at how much can be salvaged from badly damaged photos.

Here's a small example of how I colorize... often changing colors to hopefully get a natural look.

Regards,
Bill