I need direction

[rem49]

I was wondering if someone could give some direction as to was to do to this photo. I am using a Mac w/ PS CS ( I know, ouch!). I would appreciate any and all suggestions. Thanks.
PS... please feel free to explain in detail ( I am a slow learner!) Thanks again

[Juergen D]

Can you re-scan at a higher resolution (300 PPI)? Also, a larger posted image would help. You can go up to 100K and additionally you can post a link to an uploaded full sized file.

I played around some, but the result is from trial and error. Lots of duplicate layers in Overlay and Multiply mode, some painting, dodging and burning... nothing to write home about.

Juergen

[rem49]

Thank you for the help. I can put a larger image on I just thought this was to show what we are up against so I posted a small image. Here is a larger one. If you could explain what you are doing I would like to ttry and work on it myself. I am confused how to merge layers and the adjustment layer "blending into the picture", not being the picture. Sorry I am so confusing but thanks again for your help, Rem

[TommyO]

Rem,
Unfortunately, images like this are quite hard to do. If the owner really wants it to look clean, it will take some hard work. If they don't, then you may settle for a grainy look, with as much detail brought out as possible.

If you do want to remove the heavy grain, work in small areas. For example, work with just the face and improve a small area of skin. Once you get it the way you like it, work that pattern into the other areas. Another way that often looks good is to use the "smudge" method, popular with byRo and others. Just do a search on some of his images in the restoration forum and practice on a small area.

[Kraellin]

hi rem49 and welcome to RP.

tommy is quite right about this image not being an easy one. it's grainy and faded and not a beginner's piece. heck, i'm fairly good at this and it's giving me fits

i'm not going to try to explain all my steps here, but rather give an overview for now. what you're going to want to do is add back some contrast and detail while removing some or all of the grain. so, you're going to be using tools like contrast/brightness, noise removal, shadows/midtones/highlights, airbrush/paintbrush, smudge, clone and perhaps a few others.

this type of restore takes a bit of artistry. for instance, her eyes are almost completely missing, so they have to be drawn back in with little to no references other than the general outline of the eye as a whole. tommy's suggestion of working with a small area is a good one. i also, on this type of image, take the image to a certain level of being ok and then blend it back with the original. i do this because i'm not perfect. every stroke i make, every little repair, alters the image ever so slightly, so, i blend my work back with the original to fix my fixes, so to speak. this is like making sure that i 'color within the lines'

if you're only going to be doing this one image and are not really all that interested in restoration, i'd suggest sending this out to someone to have them work on it. and if you are interested in doing more than just this one, i'd suggest learning photoshop or whatever other graphic editor you're using. learn the tools, the basics and learn them well.

i'm attaching my work so far. i mostly just fixed her face a bit and a general clean up and definition. it's far from done, but thought i'd show you a start.

[TommyO]

Well, I guess I can tell you what not to do.... I wanted to try a few filters on it, as it seemed like very unusual "noise"/texture/problems. None were effective in blending the texture out. Actually, PS's own reduce noise did better than any other. But, the end results were still not useful. So, I am thinking that a smudge technique or a very artistic hand may be better in the long run.

Here are examples of denoising the faces. His isn't too bad, hers looks worse (kinda zombie'ish). Sorry. If I come up with another bad idea, I'll let you know.

[rem49]

Thank you Tommy o and Kraellin for your help. I am glad to hear it is a difficult one because I sure thought it was.
As for Kraellin's statement, I do want to really learn PS. I was considering getting the "photoshop retouching and restoration" by Katrin Eismann. Someone in one of these forums recommended it. Does anyone know if this would be a good book to help me learn.
Again thank you for your help I am looking forward to learning more on this forum. Rem

[Kraellin]

from all accounts i've ever heard, yes, Katrin's book is supposed to be excellent.

[0lBaldy]

I just did a quickie here..
levels..
Used soft History brush with Screen setting a few times throught the process to bring the ladys face in line with the gents
multiply about three or four times masked the lady and man till they looked about the same..
Polaroid D&S light and dark with settings between 2 and 4 ticks on the 'Detect Level' slider.. ran it through white then black then did it again for refinement till most of the splotchy black and white spots were sorta gone..
Then ran it through Neat Image, Advanced>muddy looking and played with ALL the sliders..
Neat Image settings from top to bottom:
150%,5%,0%,150%,100%,45%,100%,100%,100%,45%,100%,100% all the boxes checked High 170%,Mid 50%, Low 55%

That's all I have done!

[Juergen D]

The larger image was even more grainy. So I decided to run it through NeatImage (twice at default settings) first. That cleared up the faces some. To keep some contrast and detail in the background I moved the persons from the filtered version back onto the original. Now I had them on a separate layer and could do some independent adjusting of the background.

The layer with the persons was then duplicated twice, one of them set to Multiply and one set to Overlay. Both not necessarily at full opacity, I don't remember exactly which.

Part of the lady's face was now too dark and somewhat undefined. I cloned quite a bit to restore, using mostly the skin from the forehead. The outcome is less the perfect.

A picture like this can't be brought back to perfection. There are trade-offs and I think it does not hurt to keep the aged look of the photograph, especially since there really is no other choice (at least for me).

Juergen

[rem49]

Great work guys. I appreciate all the effort but more especially the explanations in what you were doing. That's where the learning is. Thanks again. Rem

[TommyO]

Originally Posted by rem49

I was considering getting the "photoshop retouching and restoration" by Katrin Eismann.... Does anyone know if this would be a good book to help me learn.

It is considered one of the best. Each chapter has numerous examples, each of which can be downloaded from her website and practiced on. It teaches many of the key fundamentals of restoration as well as retouch. If you are weak on masking and making selections, then you should also get her other book, Photoshop Masking & Compositing, New Riders publishing, 2005. The restoration book was published three times, so be sure to get the third edition, Photoshop Restoration & Retouching, New Riders publishing, 2006.

[rem49]

Great! I will definitely get the masking book too since I know nothing about masking to begin with! Ha! Thanks, Rem