Help with old passport photo with stamp

[fernyway]

This is the only photo of these 2 brothers and sisters together at that age. It's from their parents Laissez Passer document and unfortunately the stamp mark obliterates the face of the younger sister. I've had a few attempts to rebuild her face using her sister's face and making it a bit smaller, but basically I'm unable to get a satisfactory result in terms of even tones etc. (the two sisters did look alike at that age) I use Photoshop but still have a lot to learn.

-What would you suggest?

[des151]

Hi fernyway,
Have you tried just using the blue channel to start with? You can see more of the girl's face.
Ray

[mistermonday]

As Ray has pointed out, there is some detail left in the Blue channel. I would first recommend that you get a good hi resolution color scan . The image you uploaded is quite small. Instead of making a copy of the Blue channel I added a B&W Adjustment layer on top of the background. Adjusting the sliders will get back detail that is left. From there you can begin to rebuild the missing places and use the clone tool to clean up the damaged areas.
Regards, Murray

[fernyway]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[fernyway]

Thanks Murray - I can see a vast difference. I'll try getting a hi res scan of it for starters.

[Kraellin]

you might also check the forum for solutions to removing ink from photos. i seem to recall seeing something on this once before. if you cant find anything here, try some conservator sites or a simple google.

[DCobb]

This is the result I got running a forensic color deconvolution filter on the picture. Large picture on the left. After running the filter I made a levels adjustment. I am not a professional retoucher, but tried to do a little more as shown with the double picture on the right. With a better scan I am sure that an expert could render a nice restoration.

dc