1950 faded pic from Colombia

[WendyV]

Hi everyone. This is my first post. I'm so glad to have found this place! I love the tutorials and the organization. I love restoring photos because you know you are helping someone recover something they've lost. I'm not really new to Photoshop but I am to photo restoration and look forward to learning a lot here.

This is a picture of my husband's father in Bogota before they moved to the U.S. Pictures are all that's left of his dad and each one is precious to my husband. (Why do I feel like I sound like a Hallmark card?) Anyway, I searched the tutorials and actually have worked, scrapped, and reworked this picture based on the tutorial about 3 times now - The faded pic tutorial with the plane was wonderful. I keep getting to around this point and it seems this is as far as I can take it. I'm not sure if by simply looking at it if you can tell me what more to do or not do. I can take care of the sky it's the details of the picture and the people that interest me. My father-in-law is the small one sitting in the grass.

Thanks so much for taking the time to look and for your feedback. I look forward to getting to know you all much better in the future!

Oh, I should add (if you've made it this far in this ramble) that in this last version I selected his dad and applied adjusted levels to him...purely out of frustration....

Wendy

Here's my Flickr if you would rather look at there

http://www.flickr.com/photos/redskygraphics/

[aartist]

Your thumbnails are on the small size.
There is a way in Photoshop to save them for website posting.
So they will be larger but still under 100k.

Update: Attached your photo to make it easier to see.
In second thumbnail, I straightened photo to the vertical lines of the house,
figuring the stone wall follows an incline. Reduced fad and darkened portions.

Looks like Clark Gable sitting on that log!

[WendyV]

Thanks aartist. The originals are small too. I did save for web with PP and 72 ppi, but this is what it gave me. Sorry. I'll poke around a bit more. They are also on my Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/redskygraphics/

Thanks,

Wendy

[Juergen D]

The original on flickr is not too bad. Here is my attempt. Required a lot of darkening and USM. Contrast adjustments and Curves were applied to the right side of the image. Trial and error...

Juergen

[WendyV]

Thank you, Juergen! I did a quick search for acronyms but couldn't find USM. I'm wracking my brain trying to figure it out. What does that stand for? Thanks again for your help.

Wendy

[WendyV]

Just saw your update too aartist! Looks great, thank you!

[amica999]

Originally Posted by WendyV

Thank you, Juergen! I did a quick search for acronyms but couldn't find USM. I'm wracking my brain trying to figure it out. What does that stand for? Thanks again for your help.

Wendy

USM = Unsharp Mask

[Juergen D]

Originally Posted by amica999

USM = Unsharp Mask

Thanks!

Juergen

[Kraellin]

wendyv,

welcome to RP.

if you were using paint shop pro, i'd tell you to use 'fade correction' and 'clarify'. those two together will heighten the contrasts a bit and bring out more detail and definition. that's where i'd start.

after that, i'd do some noise removal using paint shop pro's 'digital camera noise removal' tool. and then i'd start cloning and smudging a bit.

now, i took the image you had posted here, rather than the one on flikr and the one where you'd already done some work. my advices were based on that and i got this result.

[WendyV]

Kraelin - Thank you so much for taking time to work on my photo! I appreciate everyone's efforts and advice. I need this to grow!

Wendy

[Kraellin]

you're welcome

post up your results and perhaps we can help some more.