"Fogged" Areas of Image

[dtjones1987]

Hello all! I am currently in the process of archiving my photo albums and have fairly moderate experience with Photoshop. I recently purchased an Epson V550 to help me accomplish this (I have scanned before but I want to do it "right.") Something I noticed is that the scanner picks up everything, including any "fogging" on images that aren't noticable with the naked eye. I have attached an example of this and you can see it in the lower right hand corner with a bluish/greenish tint.

I am trying to figure out a way to rectify this. I know I can use the patch tool, etc. but I am trying to preserve as much of the photo as possible. Is there a way to get rid of this through adjustment layers potentially? Is it even the way it's being scanned? Several of my photos have areas like this. I've even tried manually cleaning it but to no avail.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!

[Tony W]

Re: "Fogged" Areas of Image

Assuming you mean lower to mid left of the image the artifacts that you see are in the main the result of physical damage to the print with some fading of paper dyes. Typically incurred by storing prints on top of each other without any protective paper in between.

Brightening the presented image reveals virtually nothing of value in the shadow areas so you may consider any method of disguising (dodge and burn, patch, healing etc) to get something that satisfies you.

Be aware that manual cleaning (wet methods) could make the problem worse, so make the best scan you can first as a fall back if all goes horribly wrong.

It is possible that the scan light direction is exaggerating the problem and you may wish to consider scanning twice:

• First scan the image normally
• Then rotate the image 180 degrees and scan it again.
• Place both scans on different layers, rotate one of the images so it is right side up
• Carefully align the scans. Auto align should work or use DIfference mode and manually adjust top one to lay precisely over the other
• Set the top layer to Darken blend mode or try adjusting opacity.

[mikemorrell]

Hi, you're right of course. A high quality scan (zoomed in) highlights imperfections that weren't so noticeable on the original photo. There are various tutorials on YouTube about photo restoration. The vast majority deal with repairing spots and cracks.

A method of removing 'color tints' is to create a new layer and set the blending mode to 'color'. Use the colour picker in each area to select the "right" color and in the the new layer, paint over the distorted colors. with the 'right' color. Of course, there may still be differences in luminosity that have to be dealt with through patching/cloning.

[roger_ele]

If the fogging is from light reflecting off of the print in the scanner copying with a digital camera using a polarizing filter will see past the fogging