Advice on Restoring Photos

[domenica]

fairly new at photo restoration - was asked to work on old photos - faded, cracked, discolored and i photographed each one to work on them in photoshop. not sure why the digital image, is softer than the original.
001.jpg

is there a better way to work on old original files?

also i'm working on an image that is full of cracks...any advice?

[4personnen]

when you say photographed, were you scanning them or really photography them with a camera? In that case you need a high end macro or small-tele lens (repro lens) - very sharp and accurate alongside adequate lighting. Usually (except in some cases) people scan their photos...

[domenica]

i photographed them (canon mark IV) zoom lens, shot at 45mm (24-105) f 16, iso 100, 1/16o sec. studio lighting. definitely not a macro lens. i'll trying scanning
thanks,
domenica

[4personnen]

should be better I guess...
Don't forget to disable all the auto stuff and even the anti-dust thing unless you are sure it's a hardware device, scan in colour even if it's black and white, check for the resolution and scan at the max of your native resolution, eg. avoid interpolated resolutions, if the paper is textured or if there is silvering, scan the same photo at 90 degree angle and at 45 angle to get rid of the moiré...

[domenica]

your work is beautiful - do you scan your images and if so, what do you use? thank you for sharing...
domenica

[4personnen]

I'm blushing
I use An old Epson 2400 which is 2400 dpi in resolution. I use the "professional" settings of the software attached (curves, color balance etc) but only when I scan negatives...Otherwise it's all "off".

[4personnen]

I forgot
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=86


and

http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=58

Somebody already did the job...