Whew...I might be over my head with this pic...

[LensCap]

Hello to the group,
I'm a little stumped as to where to start with this old 1920's era photo.
It appears to have been a passport photo and was in a wallet for about 20 years.
Not only is there spotty discoloration, but there is the outline of a passport stamp, too.
I could use some assistance as to where to start and what to do.
For what is worth, I use Corel PhotoImpact X3 or can use Corel Photo Paint X4.
Thanks!
Christopher

[mistermonday]

Christopher, your best place to start would be to attach a copy of the image so members could see the problems with the image and make specific recommendations.
Regards, Murray

[aartist]

Using Paint Shop Pro.
Worked on Top right quarter of photo.

Split Channel to rgb and use the r photo.
Adjust contrast.
Scratch Remover and Clone tool.
Add sepia if desired.

[0lBaldy]

Just a start but shows the capabilities possible using the Color Deconvolution Plug-in (which is compatible with host applications such as Adobe PhotoShop™ (or Photoshop Elements), JASC or now Corel Paint Shop Pro™ , Corel PhotoPaint™ (old), and ULead PhotoImpact™ amongst many others) along with some cloning and healing

Or

Copy the Red channel and put it on its own layer then clone and heal then apply a sepia or similar tone or a Gradient Map to regain the original color

OOPS! aartist is much faster than me!!

[Janet Petty]

aartist and baldy, you are both faster than me.

I made NO attempt to get rid of the paper texture.

LAB mode worked very well for the red. All healing/cloning was done on a copy of the lightness channel. I also opted to keep the yellow/sepia of the picture rather than turning it into a strictly black and white.

The corrections aren't perfect, but then I'm not being paid dollars for the job either.

[aartist]

Janet, you have to pick up the pace!

[Cupcake]

Here is my try.

[LensCap]

Pardon my ignorance on this part, but are you aware of how to split and copy the red channel happens in PhotoImpact?
Looks great!

Originally Posted by aartist

Using Paint Shop Pro.
Worked on Top right quarter of photo.

Split Channel to rgb and use the r photo.
Adjust contrast.
Scratch Remover and Clone tool.
Add sepia if desired.

[aartist]

LensCap, sorry, no I'm not familiar with PhotoImpact.
Corel's Paint Shop Pro sells for $35 to $40 on amazon.com.
It's a great program to restore photos with.

[Southbay]

Ah, I'm seeing a much cooler dude. Red channel, some cloning, crop the disk, 800 ASA film grain, touch of neat image, curves, blue tone at 20%, shades and burns.

[LensCap]

You folks are very impressive! I thought I was OK with my restoration skills, but I now stand humbled - and wanting to learn more.
I do see many references to splitting the color channels in photo restoration. This is a new arena to me. It "seems" most folks use PhotoShop, whereas I use PhotoImpact and find it accomplishes many of the same goals. Except, apparently, splitting the color channels.
At any rate, can anyone steer me to any tutorials on this particular phase of restoration? The how's and why's it works?
Thanks for the input!

[LensCap]

Nice work here...how speficially did you get the red spotting out? Was this done in the red color channel? Thanks...

Originally Posted by 0lBaldy

Just a start but shows the capabilities possible using the Color Deconvolution Plug-in (which is compatible with host applications such as Adobe PhotoShop™ (or Photoshop Elements), JASC or now Corel Paint Shop Pro™ , Corel PhotoPaint™ (old), and ULead PhotoImpact™ amongst many others) along with some cloning and healing

Or

Copy the Red channel and put it on its own layer then clone and heal then apply a sepia or similar tone or a Gradient Map to regain the original color

OOPS! aartist is much faster than me!!

[LensCap]

Looks really good!!
Sheeshh...I can't keep up...

Originally Posted by Cupcake

Here is my try.

[LensCap]

Very nice work! Did you use any specific technique for the red spotting?
This has been the big challenge for me.
Thanks!

Originally Posted by Janet Petty

aartist and baldy, you are both faster than me.

I made NO attempt to get rid of the paper texture.

LAB mode worked very well for the red. All healing/cloning was done on a copy of the lightness channel. I also opted to keep the yellow/sepia of the picture rather than turning it into a strictly black and white.

The corrections aren't perfect, but then I'm not being paid dollars for the job either.

[LensCap]

Looks great!
Please explain what you mean by "...use the r photo..."
Thank you.

Originally Posted by aartist

Using Paint Shop Pro.
Worked on Top right quarter of photo.

Split Channel to rgb and use the r photo.
Adjust contrast.
Scratch Remover and Clone tool.
Add sepia if desired.

[HennadiyK]

Here is my 10 min edit.

[0lBaldy]

I don't know the capabilities of the programs you have... If they can not separate the channels then a program called Image Analyzer (Freeware for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7) can split the channels among a myriad of other things..

By just using the Red channel you will eliminate most of the red spots...
To do this in Image Analyzer open your Image..
Operations>Pixel Format Conversion>Split Color Planes> (select RGB, click OK)
Select the RED image
Operations>Color Correction>Visualization Palette>GrayScale
Now you will have a nice black and white picture with most of the spots gone to work on..
Go to File>Save As (make sure it is JPG... change the file name to 'Graysacle' or something you prefer then select the folder to save in... Click 'Save'

Open in your editor, repair and apply a Sepia Tone or equivalent to bring back the original color

[LensCap]

Thanks for providing the details!

[Janet Petty]

LensCap, I converted the picture from RGB to LAB mode, which has a lightness (black, white, and gray) channel, one channel named A, which is red/magenta and green and a B channel with blue and yellow. I made all of the corrections, except for the red mess on the face, on a copy of the lightness channel. When done with the corrections, I copied the copy and pasted it back into the lightness channel. To take care of the red, I blurred the red/green (A) channel.

I hope this helps. Again, I did not take time to clean up the paper texture. That would have been more time than I was willing to invest.

Janet

[hawesm]

Isolating the red channel seemed to clear up the rash. Fixing the damage is a moderate challenge - heal and clone. Restoring/rebuilding the gentleman's right eye seems to be the real task. You can barely make out what this eye originally looked like. I resorted to painting some of the missing details - while trying not to make it appear to be "painted in" or embellished. I used the faint remaining detail and the good eye as a reference to do the fix.

[LensCap]

Nice work hawesm!
You're right about the eye and your efforts look great.