Restoration help

[KevinBE]

This is my first post here so I hope I get it right. I have experimented before with restoration but now I am wanting to get serious. I have a good project now I am doing for myself, so there is no rushed time frame. I picked a real tough one, for me anyway, to start with. It is the best picture I have of my maternal grandfather who died 45 years ago. Most other pictures of him were done with the small "brownie" type of camera and almost all were out of focus and show no hope of enlargment. While this portrait is in bad shape I think it can be restored and make a fine present for my mother, and for myself.

The biggest problem I have is the "linen texture" is so strong that it makes clearing up the skin area difficult. I have looked for filters that would correct it but so far I haven't found the right touch.

What I have done so far is to rescan the image in RGB so that I can eliminate most of the imperfections on the backdrop and face area. The clothing seems to be no problem at all. I will upload two images, the original RGB scan and the post channel mixer version. Any help or directions you could give would be appreciated.

[KevinBE]

Attachment 1

Should have been attached to original message.

[KevinBE]

Original RGB scan

Here is the original scanned at 360 DPI as an RGB image.

[Mike Needham]

I will look at it briefly before I goto bed, but I am sure members in different time zones will answer back before me.

Just a few things, have you tried converting the image to CMYK etc and checking the channels, discarding the one (if any) with damage. Channel Mixer also could help.

[Mike Needham]

Ok, I did a quick channel surf in RGB and the damage is all in the Green and Blue channels - so discard them.

However I thought the best result was found in CMYK, where I opted to KEEP Cyan and Black and bin Magenta and Yellow.

Hope that help somewhat to be going on with

[KevinBE]

Thanks for your input Mike. I'll check the CMYK as well, I hadn't thought about checking that. The first attachment was a post channel mixer image with the blue and green thrown away. Any ideas on the linen texture?

[Scott Rudy]

John Brown Sr

I'm kind of new to restore and retouch myself and I looked at the first photo and I'm not really seeing any major problems, I may not know what I'm suppose to be looking for though.

I played around a little with the b/w and came up with this, I'm sure that there will be someone here that can help you out better than I can.

Good Luck.

[KevinBE]

Thanks Scott. The problem is there is a linen texture pattern that the scanner picked up real well. It may not be as obvious on the reduced copy I uploaded. The scanner "descreen" function has helped but it is still very evident in the skin, which is the real problem. Thanks again.

[Jakaleena]

Kevin,

Questions about textured paper seem to be some of the most asked ones here, especially recently.

Check out THIS POST from yesterday to see if you find anything useful there.

[KevinBE]

Jakaleena, I 'm sorry I didn't do more searching. I admit that I thought that at first I had a moire' problem. But some textures might not fit that definition. I should have searched on texture, which it really is. You've given me a lot of reading to do. Thanks.

[Jakaleena]

I hope you find something useful in your reading, Kevin

I played with your image a bit. Unless it's lost quite a lot in the resize to post, the texturing in this one appeared fairly minor on my screen.

I deleted the Green & Blue channels, and then ran Despeckle once.

(If the texture you're seeing is much worse than on the image you posted [I used the original yellowed one], perhaps you can just post a section of it so that we can get the whole effect)

[Mig]

There's a ton of ways to do this. What everyone suggested will probably work. An easy way is to duplicate the bg layer, select the bg, run the median filter (edit>fade filter if it's too strong). Then, with curves (or brightness/contrast), reduce the contrast in the bg. Maybe add some texture in the bg too. I kinda like the linen look in the original and I don't think anyone would notice it. It's kind of nice.
Mig

[KevinBE]

Thanks to all for the help.

After looking at your tutorial Jakaleena, my texture problem looks small. I think that I might try to clean the picture up and see what I can do without removing the texture. If I can clean up the imperfections and keep the texture I will be OK. My objection to the texture was in part due to it making it difficult to clone the imperfections out. The descreen function of the scanner has broken up the pattern somewhat. I'll play around with both the descreen and the non-descreen images and see what I can do. Now back to the reading.

[Mike Needham]

hehe Mig, you seem to have pipped me to the post. Your retouch has kept all the elements, like sharpness and contrast and got rid of the blemishes. Good work

[KevinBE]

Here is where I am so far. I'd like some comments as to whether I am going in the right direction. Also what else might be done to improve the image. I haven't had a lot of time to work on it lately, too many other things going on. Anyway let me know what you think please.