Learning to restore and this is a tough one

[JAYKAT]

I have been working on restoring photos, and when I came across this one of my parents...I got stuck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated ....thank you~

Cheers~

[Tony W]

Hi Jaykat welcome to Retouchpro

It would be helpful to know what software you are using to edit your photos and where did you 'get stuck'? Could you post an image of how far you got with this

First thing I like to do is to get the colour and contrast correct first. In this instance just using curves layer got the image to this point. There is still a large amount of work to do but if you get to this point then you can spend the time required to get rid of blemishes etc.

[curtism]

Hi, Jaycat, and welcome to RetouchPro. I've attached my attempt which took about 5 minutes. If you're using Photoshop here's what I tried:

Used Topaz Labs DeNoise plug-in to tone down the noise. Then opened a curves layer and used the eyedroppers to set black point, white point and midtones. Not great by any means, but it could be a start for you.

Good Luck!


Curtis

[John Wheeler]

I like the results Tony and Curtis have shown. Couple pieces of advice for restoration IMHO of course

1) Get the best possible scan that you can get in resolution and color depth. Also, I cannot tell just from looking at your image if the damaged areas are from scuffing or from other mechanism. I always check to see if the lighting direction of the original can minimize the apparent defects. If this is the case, using a copy stand with side lights positioned and angled properly can eliminate a lot of apparent damage and greatly reduced photo-restoration time. Sometimes polarized lights as well as polarized filter on the camera used with the copy stand can make a large difference. Many do not have this setup at home yet local Pro shops often can do this for you.

2) Once you have the best scanned/shot image, focus on your parents for quality restoration and do as well as you can with everything else given time constraints. A quality restored bush on the side won't make the image yet having your parents restored really well certainly would.

Good luck

[JAYKAT]

Thank you for your help!!! I am going to see what I can do....man this is toughy....thanks again...

[JAYKAT]

I am using paint shop pro....sorry I left that part out...hehehe...

[JAYKAT]

I am making progress....some what..hehehe..lol....I really like that you are assisting me on learning how to use the tools...I at least got it to where I know my mom was wearing a black dress...

[Tony W]

A good start but for me a little too dark and also has a magenta/reddish cast on the faces also on the pillar behind your Dads head - assuming the pillar is close to white!

I am sure that PSP has the tools to allow you to correct density, contrast, colour and lighten this up overall.

John raised a very important point - did you scan at the best quality settings on your scanner? If not it may be worthwhile trying again, it may just save you some work

[chillin]

My first steps would be to exaggerate the colors.

[JAYKAT]

Okay thank you very much .... let me try that and see what I come up with.... you know what I am finding I do better on the challenges then I do on my own photos...lol...i think it is because I want it to be perfect...hehehe

[JAYKAT]

Ohhh I am not sure if I did scan the best quality on the scanner..hmmm... okay I am going to rescan and see if I come up with a different quality....you guys are awesome....