Im cant figure this out

[fotophix]

Ive been trying for days to repair this photograph and keep coming up with a ridiculous out come.
Is there anyone that can offer me some advice?


[img=http://s2.postimage.org/1w0i0dxus/1_original.jpg]

[Chain]

Ah, that is quite a broken image you've got there. Most detail is lost, and the rest would be very time consuming to restore (and the result would not be that great).


(I assume you have an original that has not been destroyed by JPEG-compression? That would make a much better starting point.)

[fotophix]

Here is this one, sorry for that last one.
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...x/original.jpg
This is what Im coming up with...
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z412/fotophix/6.jpg

[Tony W]

I think you will be really frustrated trying to get much further with this due to the amount of damage and the huge loss of detail - unless you have painterly skills and can fake it!

If you have the original can you see more detail after examining it very closely? If you can see more then you could try scanning again, this time scan for an image size as large as you can at 48bit colour and high DPI - it may give you a fighting chance of a satisfactory restore. I would concentrate efforts in the face and hair, you can always fake the rest.

[fotophix]

Thank you, I will try that.
Here is what I have been working [better yet over working] with.
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...ix/tester2.jpg
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...hix/tester.jpg
these are her 30 yrs later.

[John Wheeler]

Very very tough image to work with. Here is another angle/approach to consider.

- I took the original and selected the very white scratch/scuffed areas and did a content aware fill
- Took one of your most recent images of the woman and carefully overlaid and used the Overlay blend mode then just mask the hair and face to show through
- A little bit of adjusting highlights

Just took a few minutes to show what might be another type of starting point. Good luck

Overlay-Blend.jpg

[fotophix]

How does this look. I think I may have gotten about as close as possible.
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/.../original2.jpg
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...phix/anne4.jpg

[kav]

I suggest a scan that is not losing details. Sure it may look dull and flat in the preview but containing any information present in the original is of paramount importance.

[fotophix]

My scanner cant do better than that. actually that is better than the actual photograph where you can barely make out an image.
Im not sure I understand what your saying.

[kav]

It's clipping highlights. This may not be a scanner issue but the way you set it up. They should be fully contained so that you can work on it. It should be scanned in a way that it can be resolved down to the paper texture without excessive sharpening. If possible scan it on a quality scanner and if it wants to clip highlights, then undo any adjustments made within the software. Sure you'll think it doesn't look as good as this one at first, but having highlight detail vs. not makes a difference.

[fotophix]

I guess my scanner isnt that good... it scans what it does. All I do is to set it for color/bnw/ and the dpi. thats the only options I have.

[kav]

I have no idea what scanner you're running or what software drives it so I can't really comment further. Also mine is absolutely ancient :P

[fotophix]

I guess Im just brain dead, cant seem to understand what your trying to say. Im sure its useful if I could just wrap my small head around it...haha
maybe I need a break, been at this photograph since 6am.
Thanks Kav. Sorry if Im not grasping here.

[Cupcake]

I like the bride picture better to work with.

[fotophix]

But thats not the one that is being fixed. that is a reference for the damaged one.

[fotophix]

The color version seems to look better to me, but its supposed to be black and white.
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...anne_color.jpg

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by fotophix

Ive been trying for days to repair this photograph and keep coming up with a ridiculous out come.
Is there anyone that can offer me some advice?

Welcome to RetouchPRO Hope you enjoy your stay here and make lots of friends. Poke around, ask questions, offer help, have fun!

You might want to rescan the original black and white using the color setting... this thread may help some

[fotophix]

Thank you very much for the warm welcome!
I did scan in color, but at 300 DPI. I was thinking of trying black and white.
Im really not sure if I can dig out much more information from this. It was carried in a wallet for 31 years, that's a lot of friction.
Wow!! what a tutorial! Im not going to try to go through it tonight but I definitely will book mark it and give it a try! Thank you!

[fotophix]

OlBaldy - Here is a 1200dpi. My scanner wouldnt go any higher.
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...ix/1200dpi.jpg

I see a huge difference. Thank you again.

[fotophix]

This is what I came up with after scanning at 1200dpi
http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...ophix/Anne.jpg

[0lBaldy]

Impressive!! Looking Good!!

[fotophix]

give yourself a pat Olbaldy...
that was no easy task to say the least. Now I am trying to figure out how to make it smoother ...
any suggestions will be much welcome