Suggestions for blotchy photo?

[kathiep]

Okay here's another one I did of my Great Grandma. Does anyone know what causes these blotches? Should anything have been done that I didn't do? Thanks again! Kathiep

[KenB]

Hi kathiep,
I think you should post a bigger version so we can see better the blotches.

Ken

[kathiep]

larger photo

Thanks. Here's a bigger one. I'll enlarge my other submission also.
I have alot of these old family photos and most of them have these. In fact they are in pretty good shape except for these blotches. I have to wonder if it has something to do with the environment in which they were stored. Kathiep

[kathiep]

ditto

Here's Grandma again. Kathiep

[jeaniesa]

You did a good job with this - a very tough clean-up! I would guess that the splotches on this picture are from mold. A very common affliction with old photos.

It looks like perhaps you scanned this picture in as a grayscale image? You might find it easier to fix photos if you have all three RGB channels to work with, even if the photo is black and white. The reason for this is that if you look at the individual channels, sometimes one contains a lot more damage than the other two and you can simply throw it out - saving yourself a lot of cleanup effort.

It looks like you completely replaced the background of this image - a smart choice. You may want to add just a small amount of noise or a slight gradient when you replace backgrounds though - it gives them more "texture" that way. The goal is to make it look the same texture/grain as the rest of the photo.

Also, be careful with your selections/masking. The top of the hat and left side of the hair look a lot softer in your cleaned-up version than the original. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I wanted to point it out in case it's not what you intended.

I'm guessing that you painted the new background with a soft brush? It looks like the "shadow" is a bit sharper than the original. You might try recreating the shadow as well, but that's a nitpick.

This is a really tough photo to start with and you've done a good job with it. The tonality/contrast looks good and the softness of the blouse softens the whole picture.

BTW, if you haven't got it already, Katrin Eismann's "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching" is invaluable for learning techniques for restoring photos. Yes, it's Photoshop based, but you should be able to "translate" most of it for PhotoImpact. And of course, feel free to keep asking questions here!

Jeanie

[kathiep]

thanks to Jeaniesa and KenB

Thanks Jeaniesa and KenB. Here's my new work thanks to your suggestions. Any other suggestions? kathiep

[kathiep]

Oops - wrong file

Thanks Jeaniesa and KenB. I accidently sent the wrong photo last night. Thia is the completed one. Does anyone have any other suggestions for these? Thanks a million. kathiep

[jeaniesa]

I think you've done a great job with this one!! The background noise you added is perfect and the shadow is a lot softer.

The only nitpick (and it really is a nitpick) is that I might choose to recreate the mat around the picture. Unless the mat has a special meaning to the owner (you in this case), it might look nicer to have crisp edges of a new mat. You'll need to consider lighting and probably bevel/emboss to get the same look, but it's possible. If you were doing this for a client, it would really depend on what the client requested/expected.

Jeanie