Old, ripped, scratched photo needs help

[Psycho_uk]

Hi,

I was directed over here from the guys @ PhotoshopTechniques.com as your'e the experts on photo restoration etc.

I have an old photo (from 1930s - my grandparents wedding photo) that has been ripped and badly repaired (the photo has been taped back together, but there is a gap between the two bits).

As well as this, the photo is not exactly great quality, a lot of scratches, creases etc.

I have scanned it in and had bit of a play, but as I don't really know what I'm doing, I'm not getting very far.

I would like to get it repaired and cleaned up so I can get it printed out and framed for my mum and her brother and sister.

Here are some links to the photo:

PSD:

http://www.psycho-uk.co.uk/old-photo.psd (12.4Mb)

JPG:

http://www.psycho-uk.co.uk/old-photo.jpg (<1Mb)

I've put the PSD up in case someone had the urge to see what they could do with it.

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks.

[beatles2]

It,s nice to have those old photo. I'm new at this as well.
I used the clone tool mostly.
Paul

[BenHardy]

You need a lot of patience for this as it requires extensive use of the Clone tool.
I initially desaturated the image to remove some blue fringing around some edges then applied the Noise/Dust & Scratches filter to clean up the dust and then it's on to the Clone tool. There's a lot more left to do on this one but it comes down to how much time you want to spend on it.
To do it properly takes a while, with particular attention to faces, which are what the eye naturally focuses on.
Once cleaned it up I would adjust Levels & Curves and then maybe re-tone it to retain the original sepia effect.

[Psycho_uk]

Thanks for those....I've spent most of the night on it and have got nowhere near to that.

I managed to remove the scratch in the top left, the rip in the middle bottom and some 'noise', but thats about it - and I struggled with that. I was using the clone stamp tool and then smuding the edges to try to get it to blend in.

Here's my attempt, so far:

http://www.psycho-uk.co.uk/old-photo1.jpg

I suppose knowing what your doing helps a bit

[BenHardy]

Yeah, good Cloning just takes practice.
This is probably obvious but it's a little like 'planing with the grain' to use a woodwork metaphor. If, for example, you have a jacket with damage across the edge then sample from above or below the edge such that the sample area covers part of the edge and part of the background, if you get my drift. Also you'll need to make much use of the Ctrl-Alt/Z to undo what didn't quite cut it. Very laborious work.
Also, where possible, select an area adjacent to the damage, copy it and paste it to a new layer then Move the pasted section over the top of the damage. Also check out the Patch tool which does similar.

[DCobb]

This is my try. An excellent photo to use for practice. Did not do a lot with the dust, etc.

dc

[duwayne]

If you are doing a lot of cloning it is best to put a new layer over the working image layer (Layer=>New=>Layer) with blending mode set to Normal. Be sure to turn on "Use All Layers" check box above the image window. This way, if you mess something up and want to re-do an area, you can simply erase the previous cloning.

[Dave.Cox]

I touched this up and repaired the tears. You can download the full size image from here. Hope you like it.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...photo3copy.jpg

or if you would prefer, here it is colored in Sepia

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...hoto3sepia.jpg

Would you mind if I used a copy of your original in my portfolio?

Thanks.

[Psycho_uk]

WOW - thanks all....

Dave - I have no problems using it in your portfolio....I'm grateful for the work you've done on it.

I do have a load of other old photos that need doing, but this was the worst and I didn't know what could be done with it.

I'm going to try and get to grips with PS and work on the others. I'll post up some results (if they're any good).

What resolution is best to scan the photos in? I'm using a Canon PIXMA MP810.

Thanks,
Simon

[Ziaphra]

I think I got them all. I lightened it and got rid of those dark circles under the eyes that made them look like frankenstein.

Larger version: http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=psychoukhv7.jpg

[Psycho_uk]

Many thanks to all - as far as I'm concerned, you've all performed a miracle on this photo.

Thanks.

[Beni]

Hi Psycho_uk,

Here is my contribution... In fact, my first restoration attempt (but I´ve been using photoshop for over 6 years now).

http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?i...edbybenti4.jpg

(can´t seem to make an image thumbnail)

my contact info (email) is on the pic, so if you got more pics to restore or know some who have, please contact me, and we will get a nice solution

Cheers,
-Beni-

[Psycho_uk]

Hi Beni,

The link in your post is dead....

Thanks.

[zekeode]

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~osoll/old-photo-zekeode.jpg

I might have missed few spots, but your photo is a perfect practice picture. scratches, "grape" skin, dust, fingerprint...

[Beni]

Originally Posted by Psycho_uk

Hi Beni,

The link in your post is dead....

Thanks.

It seems Imageshack had some problem with that one! (it worked right after I put it there, and checked from another pc too)

Anyway, here it is now: http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?i...edbybenti4.jpg (it is also updated in my first post).

Hope you like it
-Beni-

[Psycho_uk]

Originally Posted by zekeode

I might have missed few spots, but your photo is a perfect practice picture. scratches, "grape" skin, dust, fingerprint...

Glad to oblige - although I didn't know this photo would be so useful

[Kraellin]

lots and lots of clone. some airbrush. quite a bit of lighting balancing with clarify, brightness/contrast, shadows/midtones/hightlights and whatever else i could find

[CherokeeCandy]

This is my first post and I have no idea how to do an attachment here to show the thumbnails so will just give links to the images.

Black and White


Color

[Caitlin]

Originally Posted by zekeode

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~osoll/old-photo-zekeode.jpg

I might have missed few spots, but your photo is a perfect practice picture. scratches, "grape" skin, dust, fingerprint...

Zekeode, I've just been browsing through this thread and wanted to say I think your version is really excellent. Beautiful clarity and detail, and a particularly good job on the tear through man! (My only teensy criticism is that both women have slightly odd repaired eyebrows)

[zekeode]

Originally Posted by Caitlin

Zekeode, I've just been browsing through this thread and wanted to say I think your version is really excellent. Beautiful clarity and detail, and a particularly good job on the tear through man! (My only teensy criticism is that both women have slightly odd repaired eyebrows)

Thank you for your criticism, and you are right about those flaws.

I try to keep focus on the faces, as it's usually the first thing that catches my eyes. I also like to keep noise removal minimum (same goes with my audio restorations )

I actually had a "later" version of that picture, and now it should also have those glitches fixed you mentioned (at least i hope i fixed them)

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~osoll/old-photo4.jpg

[dianajenna]

Zekeode,

Your photo is so clear. I'm impressed. How did you do that?

Diana

[zekeode]

Sharpening, levels, cloning (every clone count), and as for faces rather than using noise removal i used blur brush (make sure it doesn't touch outlines, eyes etc. too keep sharp overall). You could also try smudge tool, but in this case grape skin wasn't so bad. No plugins was used.

[dianajenna]

Zekeode,

All I can say is you did a great job. I tried all those tools, but apparently not at the same strengths, etc. because I didn't get quite the same result.

Diana