Please help me

[vignette]

I need some kind experts help in restoring my personal wedding photos,which have been damaged by bad storage.
I am fairly familiar with photoshop 5.0 which I would be using in the restoration.The point I am at now is --the task seems ominous and I am considering just cropping out the good bits.This would be a shame.
So if any kind person out there can help me, and possibly restore a photo, and guide me through the steps they used ,maybe I can use the same techniques on the rest.
Thanks,Gerry.
P.S.---The guy in the photo is my father-in-law.

[Ed_L]

Hi Gerry,

It would take me a month of Sundays to get it right, but I'd bet that you'll get plenty of help from the good people here. This is a great bunch!

By the way, you made a *very* pretty bride for some lucky man.

Ed

[DJ Dubovsky]

Hi Gerry,

Just looking at it in small form like that it's hard to really zoom in and see the extent of the damage but from what I can see, it would appear you would have to do alot of cloning work. What is that anyway, mildew spots?

Someone else had trouble with her wedding photos and asked Doug to put it into the restoration challenges and see if everyone could help her with some good ideas to fix them. She got good results and was able to go on to fix all of hers herself. Doug is always looking for good challenges if you wouldn't mind strangers working on your photos. It's worth trying to fix rather then crop out most of those beautiful dresses.
DJ

[Doug Nelson]

Let's pretend it IS a challenge, you already did it, and now you're writing up your description of what you did for this nice person.

Don't wait for me to save the day, you all surprise me daily with your cleverness. So jump in, here's an honest cry for help.

[thomasgeorge]

Hi Gerry, Right off the bat, things arenot as bad as they look. DONT look at ALL the photos at once as the task will seem completely overwhelming. Take ONE photo at a time. The one you posted will require a bit of work but its not too bad. I would begin by adjusting the tone,contrast etc. just to get a better view--leave the sharpening for later. Next go to channels pallete and look at each channel to determine where the worst damage is--I suspect the Blue channel is pretty bad. Here you can either replace it with a "cleaner" greyscale image then go back to the full RGB composite view and correct the color shift which will occur or you could go back to the RGB view, having done nothing but look and try this: without duplicating any layers etc., try adjusting the Dust and Scratch filter to get rid of as much of the damage as possible--The photo will look horrible after doing this but dont worry-its temporary. Next in the History pallete click the little Rt. pointing arrowhead at the top of the pallete and select "NEW SNAPSHOT" then press CTRL>Z to undo the D/S filter. Put a check in the box next to the new snapshot in the history pallete,select the History brush and begin "Dabbing"away as much of the damage as you can. I fear that if you try to paint the damage away you will get too much softening and fuzzy lightening of the dark areas such as the suit. Liberal use of the clone tool on a new layer above the background will be necessary, also try masking problem areas and adjusting things like tone etc., try running despeckle and so on. When satisfied flatten. Duplicate the background layer and apply the High Pass filter found in the FILTERS>OTHER menu.set to about 3.5 to 6 , change the blend mode to either "OVERLAY or SOFT LIGHT" ( see which sharpens the best for you) then flatten.( That method of sharpening gets mostly the edges and wont sharpen the "junk" too badly). Do any little cleanup you notice needs doing and quit. Sometimes the temptation is to give it "one more tweak" and its real easy to overdue it. Just get it to where you are happy and call it good. Hope this is of some help. Its hard to give a blanket approach as each photo is different as regards damage etc., and will require you to study it before starting. When you start feeling frustrated, "STOP DOING AND START THINKING". Take a break, relax then go at it again. Tom

[thomasgeorge]

I know what you mean. I feel the same way after reading the directions for a technique I am not familiar with. What I do is to print the list, read it at least 4 times, then go step by step, not caring at first about doing a super job, simply doing it to get familiar with the flow of the work. I will repeat the process start to finish until I feel fairly comfortable with it, then begin the serious work. Another way is to take each step, like opening, duplicating the background, apply any effect you want, make a new snapshot,undo the effect you applied and practice using the history brush. Do this on several different photos. I think you see my drift here. Learning to run any image processing program requires lots of time "playing in the sandbox" but the results are worth it and as you do this you begin to get ideas of your own about how best to use the skills you are developing, in fact you are developing your own personal style. After all, this work is just as much about the intuitive sense as the technical. I am hardly qualified to teach much of anything except perhaps the proper way to avoid being a contributing member of society, but thanks for the complement!! Tom

[vignette]

Thanks

Thank you one and all,
I will set about the task and let you know how it goes.

[thomasgeorge]

Dont get overwhelmed with the seeming enormity of the task. You have a SUPER learning tool there. Just take it slow and enjoy. You might check out Katrin Eismanns book, the particulars of which are elaborated on over in the REVIEWS area of the site. It is excellent and worth every penny. Tom

[DJ Dubovsky]

I second Tom's advice on the Eismann book. It's a real good guide to doing restoration work and she covers stuff that pretty much deals with everything that can be wrong with a photo.
DJ

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