Washed out photo of kids

[JAYKAT]

I have this photo of my kids and their friends when they were smaller...being that kids have blonde hair that even made them more washed out. My daughter is in the front and then my son...then the rest of the kids are friends...so i scanned the orginal and showing my work that I started on....I tried all kinds of things to get them from being so washed out...using curves and overlays.....

Cheers~
Janell

[Tony W]

Looking at your scan it seems to me that the original photograph may be already washed out/faded as there does not appear to be any detail in the hair. If that is the case I think you have done a credible job of restoring - but you may want to lighten up the faces of the other kids. Maybe a layer mask on your curve layers to prevent changes to the darker areas

If you can see detail in this area on the original then perhaps consider doing another scan - or rather 2. First scan to get the overall image correct i.e. the darker parts. The second scan adjust the scanner settings to get as much detail in the washed out areas as possible, ignoring the other areas getting too dark.

When you have the 2 scans bring them into PS as layers with the hair detail layer on top apply a black mask to hide this layer and then paint on the mask with white or varying opacity to bring back detail into the hair

Hope this is of some help