Restoring old photo speckled with yellow

[CAnn]

Hello,
First time I ever posted on this forum. I have photoshop CS5 and while I'm not an expert, I am not a total newbie either..I guess somewhere in between. I have a photo that a co-worker gave to me sister to see if I could fix for her. She put the jpg image on a CD. She got it from her grandmother who wouldn't part with any of her originals. By the looks of the pictures that were on the disk, I think that she took a picture of the original and that's what I have to work with. Some of the pictures on the disk were very old and I mangaed to restore them so that they looked a lot better than what I was given. But this particular picture, I'm not sure how to remove the yellow that is peppered throughout. This is what was on the disk. I've cropped it and removed some of the stains, but even using the clone brush, there's not a lot of area to get a good sample from. If I can get past getting rid of the yellow, then I think I'll be fine. Any suggestions? Thanks for any help or advice that you can give.
Charlotte

[mistermonday]

Charlotte, welcome to RetouchPro! There are many ways to get rid of the yellow and correct the image. One quick way is to add a Selective Color adjustment layer on top of the background. Select the Yellow channel from the pull down menu and then drag the yellow slider all the way to the left.
Now hit Ctrl+J twice to triplicate the selective color adj layer. Your yellow will be pretty much gone but you will need to make corrections to restore proper skin and hair color.
Regards, Murray

[Daviskw]

This is going to be tough... Below is a start but lots of work to do.

I duplicated the background

I used the median filter at about 6. Then I made a snapshot...clicked on the snap shot in the history pallet then in history backed behind the median filter.

I can then use the history brush to go over the damage and blend it some what.

Above the history layer I grouped a layer filled with 50 % gray and slightly blurred noise for texture. When grouped the texture is only applied to where I use the history brush.

Butch

[0lBaldy]

Charlotte, Welcome to RetouchPRO Hope you enjoy your stay here and make lots of friends.

One of the first things I generally do to get rid of color casts is finding the neutral gray point in the photo.. then the black and white points:

To do this I copy the background,
then make a new 50% Gray Layer and change the mode of that Gray Layer to 'Difference',
after you get your 50% gray layer set to difference do a threshold adjustment layer.... slide the slider to the left till there is a small black point just large enough to accommodate the bullseye of the eyedropper tool that shows up and after you hold down the Shift key and click to set the point (that is the neutral gray point).... you can then turn OFF the 50% Gray layer and use the same threshold layer again to establish and set the white point by sliding the slider to the right till you just see a white area just big enough for the bullseye (beware of reflections though) .. then set the black point the same way by going left..

when all three points are set hide the threshold layer and open a curves or levels adjustment layer and use those points to set the white, gray, black points

Do a new merge all onto a new layer (Shft+Ctrl+Alt+E)

Then on this picture I put a gradient layer for the background under the new layer and masked out the background

For the Lady I used Polaroid (free) dust and scratch filter
I copied the new merged layer twice.. polaroid D&S on top layer (light setting box checked)... hide all mask... paint white over scratches....
merge down.... copy twice... use Polaroid dust and scratch again on the top layer, with the light setting box un-checked (getting rid of the dark lines/spots this time)

A little healing and cloning for a few resistant spots, then used the dodge and burn tool on the eyes, then sharpened the eyes and the lips some

The hair and face still needs some work but you can get the idea of where it is heading...

[tom60634]

I concentrated on the facial damage, and eliminated a good portion of it by using the median filter applied through a mask. This also helped with the background and blouse damage.

The hair proved too difficult for me. The built up jpeg artifacts would require completely repainting a totally different hairstyle. This would reduce the look of the original photo and push it towards a painting type of edit. You shouldn't have this problem working with the original scan.

The red hair and skin tones I chose were just a matter of taste and of course can be changed

The minor damages that remain can be eliminated with many different approaches.

[CAnn]

Wow!! Lots of ideas! I am going to try and see what I can do using your advice. Like I said if I can get rid of that yellow, the rest will be a matter od fixing and correcting. Will let you know if I run into any problems/questions as I attempt your wonderful suggestions. Thanks
Charlotte

[CAnn]

Okay, I just tried a couple of the suggestions. Looks like I am getting somewhere. This is for Butch, I tried yours, but got stuck from the beginning, so I wonder if you could clarify a few points that you suggested for me. I like the way that your sample turned out and would like to try your technique. I got to make snapshot, clicked on snapshot-am I now making this the source for the history brush? That is what I assumed. I then went back in the history and clicked on the median. I wasn't sure if that's what you meant by "..backed behind the median filter". If I am correct in doing what I've done so far..? Do I click on the history brush and just blend around with the brush..? This where I need a bit of clarification. Hoping you can break down exactly what I should be doing up to this point. Thanks for your help!!
Charlotte

[Daviskw]

Click behind the median entry as in the example.

Butch

[CAnn]

Thanks Butch!! I'm right up to where you explained. Do I make the layer with the 50% above what is labelled the median layer in the layers palette and do I check or uncheck transparency? When I create a noise layer, I am assuming that I duplicate the median layer first, call it noise and then add blurred nosie. One other question, did you finally add a level or curces layer so that the hair and spots on the dress darkened? You've been so helpful!! Thanks
Charlotte

[Daviskw]

No...open a blank layer at the top of the pallet.

Fill it with 50 percent gray.

Then apply noise...about 2 pixels ...gaussian...Monochromatic checked

Blur slightly...say 0.6

Change this layers layer mode to overlay.

Hide all with a mask...otherwise add a mask fill with black.

Now with a soft white brush paint in where you want the noise texture to be.

Butch

[jeremy1986]

i got the hair from another source.. but i tried to use a similar hair style

[Cupcake]

Here is another one.
Touch up in CS5 & Painter.

[CAnn]

Wow you have all helped me sooo much ..thank-you!!! I ended up following Butch's suggestion and the using some other ideas and ended up with the attached. I don't think I was able to get it quite as good as Butch's, but it will do. I used portrait professional to tweak the face a bit, used the burn tool to fix hair, eyes, brows and lashes, fixed up her teeth a bit, added color to her face and sharpened. I think it looks much better than the original. Again, I've learned so much just through reading through and trying out some of your suggestions. I love to learn
Charlotte

[Daviskw]

Charlotte

I think you did an excellent job for such a difficult photo.

Butch

[CAnn]

Thank-you!!
Charlotte