Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

[Smudger7]

Hi, can anyone help me please? I have been asked to restore a photo dating from @ 1910 (of a wayside inn with some people sat outside). My main challenge is to clean what were originally the whitewashed walls of the building and some of the aprons & pale clothing which have become very dingy and grey over the years as shown in the attached section from the picture. Can anyone suggest a way that this could be done please whilst retaining as much "texture" in the image as possible. Many thanks for your suggestions.

[Tony W]

Re: Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

From the sample posted the white washed wall appears to have no texture left.

You may be able to hide dirt by using the Lens blur (or other blur tool on the background only) - leaving a not an inconsiderable amount of work looking at the face details.

First I would increase contrast then mask off the people and invert the mask and apply blur to the area and also add back in some noise. Probably gone too far with the example but it may serve to help you and you can always reduce the opacity as required

[Smudger7]

Re: Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

Many thanks for this Tony, I will give it a go.

[0lBaldy]

Re: Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

Smudger7, for the most part I used Polaroid Dust and Scratch Remover on a copied layer Ctrl+J using the Dark setting first using a black mask and painting white over all the unwanted dark spots then after a Shft+Ctrl+Alt+E and copying that layer Ctrl+J running again using the light settings repeating as often as necessary.. finishing off with Imagenomic Noiseware

A little Smudging (as your name states) and painting would help loads..

[Smudger7]

Re: Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

Many thanks OB and apologies for the delay in replying, I've been offline for a couple of days. I will give this a go too later today.

[skoobey]

Re: Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

You just need to paint it, you can't reveal detail that's not there.

[Smudger7]

Re: Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

Thanks for your suggestion Skooby.

[Luma]

Re: Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

I have to agree with Skoobey. Without seeing the image in its entirety it's hard to tell how much of that texture is part of the background and how much is just damaged print. If it is damaged print, I would repaint. Trying to blur or mask the texture will just make it look 'Photoshopped'.

[Smudger7]

Re: Removing "Ingrained Dirt"

Thanks Luma, that may be the route I take in the end. I am sure it's my PS skills but I haven't got a result I am really happy with yet using the other techniques very kindly suggested in reply to my post (though I am still trying!)