Help! Restoring badly aged color photos

[Andreane]

I've read different threads on this forum and tried a couple of tutorials but can't seem to get my restoration correct.

This picture has two main problems : the overall color (obviously!) and some print lines (very visible in the wooden cabinet between the two men). Unfortunately, fixing the color usually brings out the lines and fixing the lines blurs the picture... I have over 50 pictures that have the same problems (my parents' wedding album!) and I'd really like to try my hand at restoring all of them!

[mistermonday]

Andreane, welcome to RP. Here is a 1 min. fix in Photoshop. Open the image and do a Image>Adjust>Auto Color (or use the shortcut Alt+I, A, O). This will get rid of tyhe red cast. With some images you may need to tweak the final color. Then I ran the Noise Filter plugin called Noiseware (by Imagenomic). The default setting attenuated the lines significantly. You can get better results with a quality scan. Also I assume that the images you are working on are not saved as .png because they are indexed and you will loose a lot of color data.
Regards, Murray

[DCobb]

This was done in the third party filter, Digital Roc by Kodak. This was done very quickly. As soon as Dig. Roc came up I could see that the colors seemed to be pretty good so I clicked the OK. In and out in under 5 seconds.

dc

When I started, Murray's post was not up. He is an expert and I would definitely follow his advice.

[mistermonday]

DC thanks for the compliment. However, seeing your image I realized that mine was still to red (the wall and the drapes). A small curve adjustment to lower the red and add a tiny amount of blue would have finished the retouch better.
Regards, Murray

[chillin]

Using curves should help

[Andreane]

Thanks everybody! I'll try your suggestions... I see though that most of you have the same problem I had, great colors, but more obvious lines.

Murray, you said these lines are due to bad scanning? Also, does it make a difference if you denoise before or after the color adjustments?

[mistermonday]

Andreane, actually I did not site poor scanning for the lines. It actually appears to me that the photo is on textured paper. However, due to the lo resolution of your attached image it is difficult to tell. In any case, it is usually better to de-noise prior to making any adjustments to tone, color, or sharpness because you will often amplify the noise making it more difficult to remove after.
Regards, Murray

[DCobb]

I missed the lines when I posted my first response. I took the picture into an FFTfilter and there were "stars" indicating some type of correction could be done which I did. The first picture is the original after the FFT filter and the second is the FFT picture through a color correction process.

I could not see any lines so I really don't know if anything has been accomplished.

dc

[Dave.Cox]

Here is a method that I use that I posted earlier. You don't need any filters for this, and I think it works just as well.

Sometimes the black white and gray levels can be hard to find. One way to do it is to use the threshold layer, and the color sampler tool. 1. add a threshold layer, and slide the slider to the left, until there are only a few spots of black left, and mark it with the color sampler tool. Delete the threshold layer. 2. add a threshold layer, slide the slider to the right until there are only a few white spots left, and mark it as above. Delete this threshold layer. You now have the white and black levels marked. 3. To get the gray level, add a blank layer, and fill it with 50% gray. Change the layer mode to difference. Now add a threshold layer again, and slide the slider to the left until you only have a few spots of black. Mark it with the color sampler. Delete the threshold layer and the 50% gray layer. You now have the gray level marked. From here you can add a curves layer or a levels layer, and use the black dropper on mark 1, the white marker on mark 2, and the gray dropper on mark 3 to adjust.

[Syd]

Another way to get rid of the striations on the photograph: once you have done your colour corrections etc. merge visible (shft+cntrl+alt+e), then copy that merged layer. Now set the top copy to DARKEN and select the Move tool. Now using the right arrow button, move the top copy one pixel to the right. This should get rid of most of the striations. Now use a noise removal plugin to do the rest. Tidy up with the Healing Brush and the Smudge Tool (6% on a new layer - check sample all layers).

Syd

[Alison]

One of the easiest things to try first in Photoshop is this: Make a levels adjustment layer, go into the individual channels (Red, Green, Blue) and pull the sliders till they reach the edges of the black mountain.

The attached file has simply had the above applied to it. One would naturally continue on with all other work :-)

[solitear]

Hey Dave..... thanks so much for those detailed steps..... I'd come across this method before but didn't 'get' it until I read your steps! Thanks again..... I can't wait to try this!

Beth