Help with tricky restore

[coilte]

I can usually do a fair job restoring old photos but this one of my wife's grandfather is beyond my meager skills at the moment. Everything I try seems to alter the detail in his face to much and make iot look fake. I am using the red channel as a reference since it has the most detail..

Here is a copy of the original scan resized to a web managable size so you can see what I am facing.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have been using Photoshop CS by the way.


Thanks
Coilte

[Duv]

I remember your original post. You didn't get much of a response. The problem is that the damage exists in all channels and the channels themselves are not that unhealthy. I could be wrong (Is that possible?) but I think any corrective work would be interpretive (Is that a word?). Can you post another pic of what he looks like? Perhaps our restore masters can come up with something close.

Cheers
Duv

[Noelf]

I was able to fix it a little bit, it would take a lot more work before I would come close to "happy" with it.

Definitely a nasty fixer, isn't it always the face and body of the subject you want that somehow attracts the most damage

- Noel

[IAG]

wowsers, that's a rough one.

I have no idea what you scanned it with but sometimes a better scan can save the day.

Another avenue to possibly pursue is to make a photographic copy (instead of a scan) Different levels of light can have startling effects. I photograph art occasionally and sometimes even the artists are suprised by what shows up.

Good luck
Ian