Help with repairing old Photo

[termatt56]

I'm having trouble removing the discolouration in this old photo. It's of one of my grandparents and I'm restoring it for my aunt. Any help or suggestions on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=477426
(wait 5 seconds after the page loads for the download link)

[igot2pman]

Hello and welcome..

Not sure what you mean by remove the color...if you are trying to make the picture look natural, it’s not going to be an easy fix. The picture is Sepia color, orange brown. The only way to make it look natural is to Paint the natural colors back in after desiderating.

Easiest thing to do here is desaturate (image>>adj>>desaturate), making it black and white. Then play with levels or curves to get good contrast.

Another thing that gets ok results is just clicking AUTO on Levels, makes the image very contrasty. Then you can use a Hue/Adj layer to select what color you want it to be (I like -1,-15,-15).

To fix the fade in the center, use an exposure adj layer. Mask the area and lower the offset till right. You can then fine tune the mask so it all looks even.

Hope this helps,
-Keven

[termatt56]

Thanks that did help, i meant fixing the fade- sorry if i wasn't clear enough.

[igot2pman]

Made two versions... one desat and the other not.

Whatever made that fade left a reddish residue. So after using Exposure adj... I masked the same area and did a hue sat adj to fix the redness.

Easiest thing to do is just make it black and white. If you didn’t know, click where the red arrow is, to make adj layers

There is not much detail under the fade, so the adjustments only lessen the effect, to to a full restore, you may have to heal/clone and paint to make it look right. But that normally turns out like a drawing, not a picture.

Hope this helps,
-Keven

[LonK]

As a recent convert and Photoshop rookie, I thought I'd give this a go. Since I was just experimenting, I used the attachment as a source rather than the linked D/L, so the quality could have been much better.

[termatt56]

That looks great Lonk, did you just clone to remove the fade?

[LonK]

I used calculations to fabricate a corrective layer for the faded area; this was masked as necessary. Calculations allowed restoring the contrast as well as the density. I used several other tools then to enhance the repair, including yes, clone, but only for the foliage areas between and aside the subjects.

[termatt56]

I gave calculations a go and was completely stumped as to what to do, could you post the settings you used?

[igot2pman]

Good choice on the color correct Lonk. Never used the calculations before. Very interesting tool.

Termatt56, try this (first hide all layers except the background):

duplicate the background>> black and white it>> Make a new blank layer >> calculations S 1: murged, channel blue ::: S 2: blank layer, red ::: blending color burn ::: result new channel >> click on blank layer >> Apply image: layer: blank layer, channel: new alpha, blending normal >> make a mask show all. paint with black and white till even.

Clealy more detail then with just exposure adj.

-Keven

[LonK]

Originally Posted by termatt56

I gave calculations a go and was completely stumped as to what to do, could you post the settings you used?

I understand. As powerful as Calculations is, it can be intimidating. Here are some settings for you to try. Once you've created the alpha channel with Calculations, paste it as a new layer with a hide-all mask. With a soft, low-flow white brush, gradually paint in the faded area. (NOTE: This is using your attached image, thus the horrible artifacts, which Calculations intensifies. Your hi-res file should return much better results.)

Be aware that I've only had Photoshop for a month. No doubt, there are other ways to handle this repair. Keven has provided a good take on my suggested process, with different Calculations settings. I'm finding the possibilities with Photoshop are virtually endless.

Good luck,

[ktg222]

I took a different tack when restoring this image. My guess is that this was not a sepia print originally. Looking at the channels the blue channel had the best detail. I selected all, copy and pasted it into the background copy layer.
I made a loose selection of the blurred, lightened area and made a levels adjustment layer and adjusted the area to match the suit in tone. I made a second selection of the suit shadow area on the man on the left and with levels again adjusted the shadow darker. I then made a Healing layer and "cloned" out the seams in the adjustment and the vegetation. ( should have done this earlier) but I made a Curves layer and applied an "s" curve to improve the contrast. Next, I made a blank Softlight layer and dodged and burned areas I thought needed work. It would be now easy to make a sepia version of this if one wanted.
k

[printmeister]

recoloured...

[LonK]

Nicely done, John.

[printmeister]

Originally Posted by LonK

Nicely done, John.

Thanks Lon.

[termatt56]

That recolor is very nice, here is my best attempt at removing the fade using ktg222's method

[termatt56]

Hey John is there any chance that you could send me the full photoshop file of that recolor, is just looks a magnitude better than anything i could do.

[igot2pman]

John,

WOW, One of the best recolors I have see to date. very nice. If you dont want to post the whole file, could you post a screen shoot of your layers pannel? It would give great insight on how you created this work of art. Lots of people could learn from something like this. Or if you have time, a short how too.

Great job again,
-Keven

[printmeister]

Here's the link to the psd file...it's 16Mb!

http://vash.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Pic...Colourised.psd

Right click on it and select 'Save Link as...'
(for PC...... not sure of the Mac method of saving a link)

It's really just a bunch of Curves adjustment layers.
There's probably better ways to colourise, but this is the one I feel most comfortable with.

[igot2pman]

Thanks for sharing

[jackw]

John,
You did an outstanding job of coloring that image. I appreciate you posting the psd image for us to review. I have a question. You did everything by use of curves. I would have thought you would need to use the H/s adjustments. How did you know how to manipulate each channel to get the desired colors? I have never seen that done.
Jack

[termatt56]

You sure did a good job with that photo John, thanks for sharing it.

[printmeister]

Originally Posted by jackw

John,
You did an outstanding job of coloring that image. I appreciate you posting the psd image for us to review. I have a question. You did everything by use of curves. I would have thought you would need to use the H/s adjustments. How did you know how to manipulate each channel to get the desired colors? I have never seen that done.
Jack

Jack: I'm just a Photoshop hobbyist,and as I said, the method I use to apply colour is not necessarily the best method. However, once the selection is made, it's just a case of playing with the curves to attain the desired colour.
(Sadly, there's no secret algorithm to arrive at a particular colour... I just fiddle with it until it looks right) :o)

Of course, the beauty of this method is that it's so easy to go back and change a colour... e.g. brown suit to blue suit takes literally seconds.

As more colours are added I usually find that they affect the previously added colours, so it's then just a case of returning to whichever layer and tweaking the curves slightly.

Termatt56 & Keven: Thanks for your comments.

[philbach]

I used a Channel Mixer to select the blue channel which seemed to be the best
I used curves (or Levels) to increase the contrast
I used Curves again to darken the central light band of the image + a layer Mask
I added sepia back in using a HSL adjustment layer

[jackw]

John,
Thanks for sharing
Jack

[bananabone]

Having a go at this. Let me know what you think. thanks

[philbach]

Well I would recommend that you colorize their skin some and perhaps the bush in the background left could use some color also.

[bananabone]

Thanks for the advice.