How to restore this image using PS CS4

[VHDEL]

O.P.

Hello

This is my first post for advice.
I am in the process of scanning all my fathers 35mm slides for archiving.
Some of theses slide are from 1957, part of the slide has a faded area.
Is anyone here with the Photoshop skill to give me some advice what tools/method needed to restore the damaged section of this slide.
This is only one of many that need to be restored in this manner.
Some slides have the magenta colour cast that can be fix easily.
Any advice would be appreciated, as I am just scratching the surface of PS CS4.

Also a link to a slightly larger image below

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...Untitled-9.jpg

Cheers

Del

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by VHDEL

O.P.
Hello
the slide has a faded area.
Is anyone here with the Photoshop skill to give me some advice what tools/method needed to restore the damaged section of this slide.
This is only one of many that need to be restored in this manner.
Some slides have the magenta colour cast that can be fix easily.
Any advice would be appreciated, as I am just scratching the surface of PS CS4.
Cheers
Del

Del, Welcome to RetouchPRO Hope you enjoy your stay here and make lots of friends. Poke around, ask questions, have fun!

Here are some links that may help:

How to Repair a Light Leak or Stain

Faded Foto

Old Faded Color Damaged Photo

Help on technique for restoring photos that have gone pink

[VHDEL]

Thank's for the links.
The "Old Faded Color Damaged Photo" that Flora restored was absolutely amazing.

Cheers

[Kraellin]

yup, flora is gifted

welcome to RP.

i gave your image a shot, since i need more practice on this type. basically, what i did was make a selection, feathered quite a bit, of the worst of the faded area. to that i did a brightness/contrast adjustment layer. then, i merged all layers and made a new of those and did another selection, this time less feathered and ran a curves adjustment layer on it.

i still wasnt anywhere near happy, so i decided this was going to be a hand work job. so, i dragged out the clone and airbrush and started working. when i start, i'm real sloppy with the first couple of layers. i airbrush in the appropriate colors and do it vigorously and without much care to watchhing the lines. i do all this on a blank layer and then do a gaussian blur on the whole layer. then, i just erase what i dont like, using a light opacity eraser brush.

i'll do a couple layers like that and then start refining things. after a bit, i started coloring more precisely on another blank layer and set the blend mode to 'hard light'. i also began cloning in some definition from other parts of the image. again, i then simply erase parts i dont like. i just keep going at that whole process until i get things real close, then i make another copy merge and paste to new layer. on that layer i used color balance to bring back some of the color, mostly in the reds, but some green and lessened the blues a tiny bit.

after that is the final layer. the image was bleached out on their arms, so, i airbrushed in some color and set the blend mode to 'color'. then erased again.

ok, just before i posted this, i looked at my work again... added another blank layer for some final 'push' brush and cleanup with clone.

[Southbay]

If there's a two-minute solution, I'll usually take it. Here, a color burn gradient was the source for the history brush. Painted it on at a low opacity, with repeated strokes. Burned a few mid tones and shadow areas, dodged some highlights, and we're done. Not perfect, but hopefully passable.

[VHDEL]

Thank's Kraellin

Thank you for your wonderful effort.
I've just spent the whole afternoon using layers & brushing a darker colour on.
Still no where near as good as your effort.
Image is still to light and I'm starting to lose some detail.
Although I am still learning Photoshop.
I'll try and digest your method and give it another shot later.
Hopfully I would like to repost my effort for some C&C.

Cheers

[VHDEL]

Originally Posted by Southbay

If there's a two-minute solution, I'll usually take it. Here, a color burn gradient was the source for the history brush. Painted it on at a low opacity, with repeated strokes. Burned a few mid tones and shadow areas, dodged some highlights, and we're done. Not perfect, but hopefully passable.

Your two minute job looks better than my effort thats taken me all afternoon.
It seem to be with photoshop there is more than 1 way to edit a photo and I am taking the very long option, that I would prefer to avoid.

Cheers

[VHDEL]

Well after all this time, I still got lots of work to do trying to get this image better.
The jeans are still too blue and there is still some fading.
Thanks for your input so far PPL.
Using gradient fill to start made things a bit easier.

Is there a DVD tutorial with this type of photo restoration available?
As I have video tutorials on other software and find it much easier to follow.

My effort so far.

[Cupcake]

What kind of scanner are you using???
It looks very good to me even with the light problem.

[VHDEL]

Originally Posted by Cupcake

What kind of scanner are you using???
It looks very good to me even with the light problem.

I'm using an Epson V700. The slides are scanned at 4800dpi.
The full size scans will have just basic touch ups such as dust / scratch / light fade / colour correction.
I'll then make a lo res copy of theses images and make my father a DVD slideshow.

Cheers

Del

[Southbay]

Originally Posted by VHDEL

I'm using an Epson V700. The slides are scanned at 4800dpi.

Hope you don't mind a comment, here. I scan slides on a regular basis and offer two resolutions: 2,400ppi and 4,000ppi.

2,400 translates into a high quality 8x12 at 300, and is the most popular choice among my clients. It gives you plenty of pixels to work with, takes less HD room and jumps through the photoshop hoops just a little bit quicker.

I used to scan slides with a 4990 and have experimented at the higher resolutions. Unless you're planning on the biggest prints possible, you'll find no visible difference when it comes to something like a DVD slide show.

It's even easier to make sharp, reduced-size Jpegs, from an original that isn't humongous. And I don't have to tell you how long it takes to scan at 4800 when using digital ICE. It's painful.

Bottom line...many will tell you to always scan at the highest rez possible. Me, I don't think it's necessary.

[VHDEL]

Thank you for your comments Southbay.

I agree that I could not see any difference between 3200ppi & 6400ppi.
4800ppi was choosen to give my father the option of allowing him to print large if needed.

As this is a once of project for our family,I do not want to be rescanning images later for larger prints.
If it were for a friend then I would scan lower.

Cheers

Del

[Southbay]

VHDEL,

I hear you. Go for it.

At this high rez, you might consider doing fewer slides at a time though, to avoid the sagging that comes from heat. With ICE, I think my flatbed took an hour to scan a rack of slides. It got pretty warm under there, and I'd notice uneven focus in single frames, particularly on neg strips. Just sayin'...

[VHDEL]

Originally Posted by Southbay

VHDEL,

I hear you. Go for it.

At this high rez, you might consider doing fewer slides at a time though, to avoid the sagging that comes from heat. With ICE, I think my flatbed took an hour to scan a rack of slides. It got pretty warm under there, and I'd notice uneven focus in single frames, particularly on neg strips. Just sayin'...

Thank you for your advice.

The Epson V700 is a new purchase, I was unaware of the heat issue you mentioned.
It did take approx 90 minutes to scan a full rack of 12 slides.
One of the reasons why I got this scanner is so I could scan multiple slides whithout me being constantly at the PC swapping slide over.
Not to mention I also get better flat bed scanner to boot
I just needed to convince the wife justification for my purchase

Would their still be sagging issuses with the 35mm slides still in the plastic/cardboard frames?



Cheers

[Kraellin]

if you're scanning a lot of slides and negatives, i'd seriously consider getting a dedicated slide/negative scanner rather than the standard flatbed type that scans prints, paper and so on. if i remember correctly, you can find some that will batch scan. a google shld turn up some good results.

and you've done well on your posted picture. you've kept true to the original image and brought back a lot of detail. one note of advice here; it's not always necessary to bring a restoration back completely to a pristine photo. one can shoot for that, if you want, but remember what your client is actually going to be interested in, in this case, your dad. he's not really going to care if every pixel is perfect. he's going to be more interested in the people and perhaps the setting. unless he's a restorer himself (and thus a total nutcase on perfection like the rest of us ), he's really not likely to be super-critical. so, dont get too locked into thinking it all has to be perfect, every time, every photo, every pixel. you'll drive yourself crazy that way

[Southbay]

There's no "issue" with your scanner, it's just that with the lamp on that long, it gets a bit warm in there. Heat will make film curl/bend/sag. When I scanned a rack of negs on my 4990, they'd be in there so long that they'd often sag to make contact with the bed. As a result, I was getting problems with Newton's rings.

True, you could reasonably expect the impact on well-mounted slides to be less. But after such a long run, I'd double-check them.

I'm an Epson fan, and yours is a great unit with dynamic range that's outstanding for a flatbed. It really is the best of both worlds. Have fun with your project, and never stop experimenting.

[Cupcake]

Thank you for the answer, it sure works better then mine.