Is this photo repairable?

[John_D]

We are scanning in our oldest photos and I came across this photo that is in really bad shape. It is a special photo and is approximately 70 years old.

I can do basic repairs to photos, but, with this one I have no idea of where to start... or if it can be repaired at all.

I would be most thankful if somebody here could give me a few tips on how to tackle this one.

I have attached a small thumbnail of the photo... I have a a much much higher res photo also if anybody would like it. I would need a place to send the hi-res copy. I scanned the photo at 1200dpi.

Thanks

[saby]

Hi

first keep that area what U need and try to use multiply and screen layers over detached highlight and shadows by masks, the luck is your pict contains the luminositi information after this i used a highpass/overlay sharpen

saby

[John_D]

Nice job saby.

Could you be a little more detail with the steps you used to accomplish your retouch? I would like to do something with this pic as well.

Thank you for your help.

John

[saby]

Hi John,

mode Lab copy chanel L
paste it onto a new layer mode multiply
mode RGB
make a mask for the unwanted area from the bottom
then i got about similar luminosity except the white
get the luminosity as a selection(cmd+alt+shift+1)
make a new chanel from selection invert it and make levels correction to get only whites
copy bckgrnd to new layer mode screen masked by that new chanel
make a new layer softlight filled gray50% and separated the women from the background by painted on her a brush white 8-15%op and black on the bckgrnd same op and her hair op20%
than sharpened
and clone stamped and the skinarea blurred

saby

[John_D]

Thank you saby...

I had already played with the photo after your first reply last evening... I posted my result in the critiques forum if you would like to look at it. I did manage to screw it up though :\

I will try it again now with these instructions... Thanks again saby.

[Kraellin]

hi john,

as this is a restoration, i'm moving the thread over to the restoration forum.

nice job, saby.

[John_D]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

hi john,

as this is a restoration, i'm moving the thread over to the restoration forum.

nice job, saby.

Thanks Craig.

[Kraellin]

no problem-o

[hkhailey]

Hey John,
I'd like to get a copy of the Hi-res image and give it a shot. You can send it to:

hkhailey@comsouth.net
or
hkhailey@hotmail.com

Thanks,
Keith Hailey