Something to melt your heart and much help needed.

[Woodyman]

I have been asked to restore & colorize 'as best I can' 39 photos from some very old proofs. The shop no longer exists so this hopeful old gentleman came to me for assistance. I'm doing these for free but they are so deteriorated the work is beyond my ability and too expensive for him to see a professional.
I'm not after a freebie as there are another 38 to go with this one but I seriously need guidance if anyone can help.
I can competently remove the watermark etc, though which route to take has me foxed. He wants these for a surprise to his wife who is totally paralysed and has had to come home to England from there home in Spain to be with family before her time comes to an end.
Any help would be warmly welcomed with personal thanks from the bottom of my heart.

If I can upload two examples I will show the original scan and then one with levels showing the damage.

[Janet Petty]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

The sample you provided is very small and any attempt to upsize was met with the splotchy appearance of your second shot. If you can scan them in a larger size and or format, removing the noise/damage is very easy. This can be accomplished by running the Denoise in Nik software and/or dust and scratches in Photoshop.

Anyway, the steps I took were: 1. duplicate background and change blend mode to multiply; 2. Duplicate multiply layer; 3. Using curves (not levels) create a curve adjustment layer and use that to bring more life to the faces, her dress, and create some contrast; 4. Run the remove noise program of your choice.

As a note, I encountered the same problems you did when I used your small scan. See note above about upsizing the scan.

Good luck.

[Woodyman]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

Thank you for your speedy reply Janet.
When I uploaded I was limited to 100k which is pretty gross. Is there another way to post photos in this forum?

[Wolly55]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

Sent you a PM

[Woodyman]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

Just have to say that this guy Wolly has given me such really good guidance on helping me with this loving couple. Thank you so much mate and I'll pass your name onto them so they know there's people out there that care.

[samfilli]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

I've found a good technique for softening (then sharpening) photos is by duplicating the original image twice as seperate layers, apply the reduce pixelation filter to first duplicate and then apply a high pass filter effect to the second duplicate layer. Place the high pass layer on either overlay or hard light, ensure its above all other layers and then mask each layer accordingly brushing out anything you find to harsh or over the top.

Hope this helps!

sam

[jayp]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

Hello,

I'd be glad to help, if I can. I have quite a bit of experience restoring my own, very old, family photos. If you like me to assist, I can give you a Dropbox link to which you could upload scans.

Jay

[Woodyman]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

I've found a good technique for softening (then sharpening) photos is by duplicating the original image twice as seperate layers, apply the reduce pixelation filter to first duplicate and then apply a high pass filter effect to the second duplicate layer. Place the high pass layer on either overlay or hard light, ensure its above all other layers and then mask each layer accordingly brushing out anything you find to harsh or over the top.

Hope this helps!

sam

Samfilli, thanks' for your time and information. I will certainly give this a try as it sounds very interesting.

[Woodyman]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

jayp,
Would love more assistance if you would like to pm me a Dropbox link. Thank very much.

[loord74]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

I hope you will like it

[Woodyman]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

Holey poop that is fantastic.
So how did you go about it?

[loord74]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

Holey poop that is fantastic.
So how did you go about it?

This is the profession secret...Im Kidding ...it is just a practice knowledge

[Woodyman]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

So can you go through it with me?

[loord74]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

So can you go through it with me?

Go a head ...try to post them with highest quality available

[Woodyman]

Re: Something to melt your heart and much help nee

http://imgur.com/xB5xAZd