Silvering on Old Photos

[ellemir]

Can anyone please help me on how remove/lessen the effects of silvering on old Photos.

I had great information on how to do it a couple of year ago, but of course can no longer find it. I have tried the tip on Silvering in this site, but it made no difference.

I have seen tips on photographing it with an SLR camera with Polarising lens etc, but this isn't an option for me.

Thanks

Ellemir

[lurch]

It would help if you'd post an image you're having trouble with.

[ellemir]

Sorry Lurch, I was having trouble with the resizing of the picture yesterday. However after doing more searching on the site I can across another couple of suggestions - one I think by yourself and one by roger-ele. Rather than waste anybody's time I'll try those suggestions, and if I don't have any luck will come back and post the picture.

Thanks
Ellemir

[ellemir]

Hello again, decided that I would post the photo, and keep working on it as well. I have tried making masks etc, but really haven't achieved anything useful. I think that my brain is on go slow (as so often happens when I strike something I find tricky!)

I would appreciate any suggestions on how I can lessen the silvering. I am using CS3

Thanks Ellemir

[Southbay]

I've used this fast and dirty trick before with some success. In CS3 Image/adjustments/Black and white/-75 cyan (or thereabouts). Then "tint" in the same B&W dialogue, to get back to your approximate sepia tone.

[ellemir]

Thanks Southbay, I'll try your suggestion. At present I don't have to try and tint it back to a similar tint as my client wants B&W - although of course that can always change!

Regards
Ellemir

[0lBaldy]

Channel Mixer, Red and Green Plus 50, Blue minus 50. Mono checked

Then some levels, curves, cleanup

[lurch]

ellemir, I tried out the method outlined in http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...tml#post212276, post #2 on your image. It worked quite nicely. On an higher-resolution photo it should do even better.

[0lBaldy]

Thanks for the reminder Lurch! I had forgotten all about that post... must be gettin OLD! That method made the picture look GREAT!! Good Job!

I copied and filed the method this time...... now to remember where when I need it again....

[Kraellin]

this is a very interesting image. if you look closely at where the silvering is, you'll notice that it has completely removed the original image data in quite a few spots. and, if you look closely at lurch's, OB's and southbay's work on this image, you'll notice they didnt replace any of the missing data. they simply smoothed it out or made it black. this is perfectly acceptable in an image like. most folks would be pleased with the results.

however, if you're one of those truly picky individuals who stays awake at night wondering oddball things that noone else would ever care about, then you're going to want to rebuild this missing data. and that can take a while. my standard tools for that are airbrush, clone and smudge and there's little i can do to walk you through it. you work on blank layers, one on top of the other, sometimes also using blend modes on those same layers. basically, this is painting. so, if you're not real good with painting, you probably dont want to go this route.

if you look real close again, you'll notice that on several of the legs of the gents that you just have a black blob that extends into the background. you have to make some sort of distinction between the legs and the background, a dark line or a light. figure out where things are and what's missing and then rebuild. clone is also a good tool for this, since you can easily borrow from similar areas in your rebuild.

if you're working for a client, i'd present them with both options, the quicker restore way or the longer rebuild, then simply go for what they want and can afford.

[valentina09]

hello!
Here is my try.
I hope you like it.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/2158606a09.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/a32dc5df5c.jpg

[ellemir]

Thanks Craig and Lurch,

I had tried the method you mentioned Lurch, but didn't seem to end up with a result I was happy with. Either I didn't do it properly or I was being picky.

Craig, I'm afraid I do wonder at night how things could have been done better etc. I'm trying to learn to step back a bit from total 'pickyness', as I'm definitely not good at painting. I had noticed that some of the legs are just blobs, and will probably try to make some definition between the legs and background. When I eventually get it done to my satisfaction I'll post it here so you can see it.

I was amused when i first saw this photo as it made me think of a Wild West picture, however it's a group of Sugar Cane cutters from North Queensland Australia!
Ellemir

[Kraellin]

ellemir,

i'll just add here that, remember the main focus of the image, the faces. those are intact and everything else is secondary. getting all the detail back in the legs and boots isnt nearly as important as the other parts. it's always nice to be able to bring out everything, but sometimes not practical, especially within a limited time frame. so, the point here is, evaluate your importances. you could actually crop most of the silvering out of the picture and it wouldnt be hurt that severely.

that being said, i've been working on this image. i'm finding, so far, that a lot of cloning is working pretty well. it's still a lot of work, but if you do wish to rebuild the dark and silvered area, clone shld do you a pretty good job.

[lurch]

Sorry, Craig, but in this case you can't crop most of the silvering out and have much image left. It pervades pretty much all of the dark areas. You are right, though, that the faces are intact and they are the most important part, except maybe for the bottle and glasses.

[Kraellin]

actually, from what i've seen, lurch, you can. it's sort of moot, though. the worst silvering lies across the men's leg area. but, to crop that area out, as opposed to how others have already done this restore, makes it kind of silly to crop.

[sananjana]

Originally Posted by valentina09

hello!
Here is my try.
I hope you like it.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/2158606a09.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/a32dc5df5c.jpg

yes dear , i am checking , your information very useful dear
ok thanks

[Kraellin]

ok, i just like old photos like this, so i had to have a go at it. this is mostly clone, push, airbrush, levels, contrast/brightness and the kitchen sink. it's just too damned hard to give the entire work flow. it's a lot of meticulous smallwork, zooming way in and doing a few pixels here then moving somewhere else. there's also a digital camera noise removal in there towards the end as well as just painting in the border with the paint brush. there's still a lot that could be done here, but it's now gotten to where i'd normally quit on such an image, so there we go

[0lBaldy]

Looking Good Craig!

[Kraellin]

thanks, OB

[Southbay]

Yeah, Craig, I like the way you "dug" the faces out of the hats on the two gents at either end. What a lot of work!

SB

[lcramer53]

Very, very nice Craig!

[lurch]

Nicely done, Craig.

[ellemir]

Thanks for everyones help on this. I Like the work everyone did, especially Craig, I'm like you, I really enjoy getting old photo's to work on. Valentina, I also liked what you achieved. One thing I like about Photoshop - so many ways to achieve the results you want.

I've been working on another old photo for the same client, and put this one on the back burner - time to get cracking on it and try everyones suggestions- what a great Group.

Thanks
Ellemir

[Kraellin]

thanks, southbay i think that came from using contrast/brightness and levels.

thanks, susie

thanks, lurch

you're welcome, ellemir do post up some of your own work on this.

[ellemir]

Hi Craig, I've pfaffed around and tweaked this photo until I think it's as good as I'm going to get it. Even tried using the air brush technique you suggested, which I think didn't work out too badly for a first attempt. Anyway once printed this photo looks a lot better than the original - hope the client agrees :-)

Again thank you all for the help.

Ellemir

[Southbay]

You've nicely brought out the bottle (so to speak). Looks good to me!

[Kraellin]

ellemir,

you did fine. i can see a little of the slivering still on the left, but that area was almost completely black, so, i'd say any client would be happy with the results. the carpet could be more consistently lit, but from what i could tell, at least part of that was from the original photo... just poor photography. so, again, nicely done!

and, you're welcome