Dad 1929

[Nan]

This is my dad in 1929. A relative took a digital photo of it and that might be part of the problem I have with it. I've worked on it several times in the past few years and always throw out the fix and start over. It's the only one I have of dad that young and just wondered what the rest of you would suggest, (before I start again,) to get it looking neat enough to frame.
Nan
Here's a link to the larger version. http://photosamples.homestead.com/Photos.html

[TommyO]

Nan,
Interesting damage... sort of like another piece of paper was on top.

Just a thought....
- you might think about keeping the background and clothing soft; focusing more on clarity in the face. In addition to cloning the damage to the face, additional sharpening to make it the focal point.

- the damage is much less in the Cyan channel (if you convert to CMYK). It is possible to do some cloning/repair in that channel and recover quite a bit.
- the damage is fairly easy to isolate, as those pixels are lighter. You can make a copy of the image, push it way black and white with curves, then save just the luminosity as a selection. Tweak the adjustment layer a tad to maybe isolate just the background. Use that as a mask in other adjustment layers to fix the damage.

[Nan]

Thanks for taking a look Tommy. I'm starting on it again today and will try your suggestions. It's true that I should concentrate on the face. there's not much to save on the background anyway.
Thanks again,
Nan

[0lBaldy]

I used Imagenomic Noiseware a few times on copied layers and masks so other areas were not affected.. A small amount of cloning and healing.. then tried to bring the eyes out a little... converted to Black and white then applied a Sepia tone.. cropped a bit of the left side off also

[Nan]

That looks good OB. I'm still working on it and can't get it that clean yet. Threw out another try already. I just can't get this one the way I want it. Thanks for working on it.
Nan

[Kraellin]

nan,

you might also try the FFT filter on this. that texture may be just prevalent enough that the FFT would work. i havent tried it, myself, so, i'm just guessing. or, try the FFT filter in Image Analyzer.

OB,

take your results and overlay it on the original and set the blend mode to luminance or lighten or screen or overlay or softlight and see what you get. your noise reducer smudged things quite a bit and doing an overlay on the original with a blend might put some of the detail back. you could also adjust opacities to help on that.

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

nan,

you might also try the FFT filter on this. that texture may be just prevalent enough that the FFT would work. i havent tried it, myself, so, i'm just guessing. or, try the FFT filter in Image Analyzer.

OB,

take your results and overlay it on the original and set the blend mode to luminance or lighten or screen or overlay or softlight and see what you get. your noise reducer smudged things quite a bit and doing an overlay on the original with a blend might put some of the detail back. you could also adjust opacities to help on that.

used Image Analyzer to show comparison

Overlayed the Original (after Image Analyzer) onto the repaired from above @ 68% Luminosity as per suggestion

[sergio2263]

Originally Posted by Nan

This is my dad in 1929. A relative took a digital photo of it and that might be part of the problem I have with it. I've worked on it several times in the past few years and always throw out the fix and start over. It's the only one I have of dad that young and just wondered what the rest of you would suggest, (before I start again,) to get it looking neat enough to frame.
Nan
Here's a link to the larger version. http://photosamples.homestead.com/Photos.html

Nice photo you should be ok saving the face don't it don't look too damaged what about putting a vignette around the photo just keep some of the green background.

helen

[Nan]

I think I'm finished. It's the best I'm going to get it. I did use some blend modes, selective levels adjustments and lignt smudging all over. Mostly on the face and clothes. Also some dodge and burn. At least it prints out better now. I kind of over sharpened after I resized it to post here.
Thanks for all the help.
Nan

[0lBaldy]

Looks good Nan!

[Nan]

Thanks OB. I wasn't able to get Image Analyzer to work like you did.
Nan

[0lBaldy]

this might help for the next time
Operations>Filters>Frequency domain filter

[Nan]

Thanks for sharing that! I think I'll try it on the original again to see what results I can get now.
Nan

[Kraellin]

well, it didnt clear it up as much as i hoped it would, OB, but it did help a bit.

looks good, nan. i particularly like the face there.