FFT and Texture Removal

[Nu2retouch]

I think I'm in a bit over my head again. I'm trying to restore a picture of my mother's father. He died when she was a little girl, and I think this is the only photo they have.

The photo has a texture to it. I've read here that you should remove the texture first. So I've been reading about FFT. I'm using a Mac, and I read here that the Mac counter part is a stand alone program called ImageJ.

I did download it, but I'm overwhelmed by it. I have no idea how to work it. I did manage to run FFT, and I did get to the place where it gives you quadrant looking thing, but now I don't know what else to do.

Thank you so much in advance for your help.

[csuebele]

One of the tutorials on this site has info about the FFT. I've never used it, but it looks neat. I recall it say to darking the bright star like marks in the image, but NOT the center one.

[DCobb]

Have your checked here? This is the tutorial.

http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=185

[grannysdc]

Originally Posted by Nu2retouch

I did get to the place where it gives you quadrant looking thing, but now I don't know what else to do.

Load picture
red arrows right side>> (select drawing tools)
Process>FFT>FFT
use magnify glass>left click till at least 100 %
used size 20 brush (right click brush to change size)
Start in one corner and paint over each light spot (to move page hold down space bar click hold and drag with hand icon) also if you lose the paint cursor use the hand by holding the space bar down to locate it and move to next dot release both and paint with a click

when finished painting all light spots
Process>FFT>Inverse FFT
save as ??

Hope this works for you

[csuebele]

I just downloaded a version of the FFT filter and gave it a try. The tutorial on this site said to use the red channel, but this one said to use the green channel. Check which channel shows the little white spots. On this image, I darkened the one that were in groups of 4 along the vertical axis, but it didn't seem to do anything. then I hit the very faint ones that were right on the horizontal axis and that seemed to reduce the texture.

[Nu2retouch]

Granny, thank you soooo much. That was exactly what I was looking for. I never would have figured that out. I usually need a walk through the first time...lol. That did the trick nicely. I'm on my way now. Thanks again.

[Nu2retouch]

Thank you everyone for your help so far. I've gone ahead and ran it through the FFT filter in imageJ. I adjusted with levels, and I've ran the noise filter in elements. I'm not sure the noise reduction filter did much though.

I'd love to hear how you think I've done so far, what you think I've done wrong, and what your suggestions are to improve it.

Thanks a lot for all your help and time.

[0lBaldy]

I think you have done real good!

You have taken care of most of the inconsistencies while keeping the older picture ambiance..

Good Job!

I had a play also...:
cropped and added 1" border all around
ran the FFT filters
color corrected using gray, black, white points
reduced noise using Imagenomic Noiseware
Cloned and healed
sharpened eyes and mouth on separate layer
painted jacket on separate layer
used replace color to lighten the shirt
Added some soft grain @ 13 intensity and 50 contrast
Then blended a black and white soft light, saturated copy of the original at about 25% opacity back into the repair to finish it off

[laelaps]

Wow Olbaldy, I'm really impressed by the amount of detail in the restored version. It looks fantastic

I was looking to try and get some ideas for my pic, but this is way beyond me at the mo. Still, it gives me confidence!

[Nu2retouch]

Ok I've been playing with this picture for a while now. Thank you everyone for all the advice I've gotten so far. I've been fixing the pic, getting to a certain point, and then not liking it, and starting over. I've learned a lot in the mean time, so thanks everyone for the learning opportunity, and the advice.

One thing I've learned is to run the noise reduction filter sooner rather than later in my workflow. It seems to be much more effective if run earlier.

Anyway, here's what I've gotten so far. Please let me know what you think, and what you think I could do to make it better. Thanks so much for your help.

[aartist]

Quick initial impression.
Too much contrast and his eyes are too sharp compared to photo's softness.
But, that's from me.
Others may differ and probably will.

[Nu2retouch]

Thanks aartist. I see what you mean. I tried this action for eyes, and even though I decreased the effects with the opacity slider, it still seems too much. I went back and removed the effect altogether. I also toned down the contrast some. Does that improve it at all?

Feed back is very much appreciated.

[Kraellin]

does my heart good when i can see someone come in, learn something, apply it and get real good results! just excellent, nu2retouch!

and thanks to all that helped!

[aartist]

I have to agree with Kraellin.
The FFT as explained by grannysdc was pretty cool!

As for contrast and sharpness, it's a matter of personal taste and opinion.
Nice Job!!!

[Nu2retouch]

Thank you everyone for your help and encouragement.

[Florin]

Yea, it´s the green channel.
This plugin is a miracle.
I want to say special thanks to all my friends here for indicate me this filter. For years I did the hard painting-for-removing. Of course I still paint the whole image after using FFT (it makes a little blurring, not too much but needs painting restoration) and so I save some precious time.
Cheers