Is this photo restorable?

[elliotrobinson]

Hi everyone,

This is a photo taken behind the scenes on the set of the show 'Little House on the Prairie'. I'd love to restore this photo as it is special and very rare. I only have about 2 years of experience restoring photos (as a hobby) on Adobe Photoshop, but I have never worked on an image with this level of damage. I am unable to repair the dark patches (e.g. the man's shirt on the left), as the dark patches are very damaged and unrepairable to me. I am able to remove most of the white specks/dots and some of the scratches. The dirt smudges are the main difficulty here in the dark areas.

I'd love to hear some advice on how I can restore this photo with greater ease. Any advice is very much appreciated in advance.

Elliot

[Gary]

Re: Is this photo restorable?

You might try the Dust & Scratches filter (in PS..) adjusted until the marks are blended, and use the history brush tool in lighten and/or darken mode.

Cheers.

[Wolfman]

Re: Is this photo restorable?

Here's my take.....did so many different things...d&b, frequency separation painting, cloning, healing brush & color correction....not really finished.

[lurch]

Re: Is this photo restorable?

Y'all are working too hard on this one. It just needs a denoise. Just apply Topaz Denoise to taste, followed by a healthy dose of Lightroom (Detail section) color smoothing (100%). That's it! Follow up with a 50%, normal blend. The original problem is noise with banding, complicated by splotchy color noise.