Restored old photo...

[DrDavid]

Here is the original photo (scanned at 300dpi)
http://www.wolfsnap.com/photos/246009234-L.jpg

And, after some work... It's still not perfect, but, I think it's pretty good :)
http://www.wolfsnap.com/photos/246009212-L-1.jpg

It took me about 30 minutes or so.. Which isn't bad, but, I've never really done anything like this before..

The photo is probably about 50+ years old, and was mounted with GLUE on black paper, then, ripped and torn. The photo is already being eaten by the acid in the glue, so, it's never getting any better than it is now.

Is it a good attempt?

David

[SloYerRoll]

Hey David,

This is very good for 30 minutes and not having done this before! You were fortunate to not have any major damage around the high detail areas.

There are some remnants of your clone work in the b/g though. You could easily get rid of this by adding a dup layer and using gaussian blur to blur the b/g a bit then reveal the foreground and detail w/ a layer mask.

Don't take this bad though. You did really good for your first stab at it! :thumb

[DrDavid]

Hey David,

This is very good for 30 minutes and not having done this before! You were fortunate to not have any major damage around the high detail areas.

There are some remnants of your clone work in the b/g though. You could easily get rid of this by adding a dup layer and using gaussian blur to blur the b/g a bit then reveal the foreground and detail w/ a layer mask.

Don't take this bad though. You did really good for your first stab at it! :thumb
It will end up being a present for my mother.. She's the little girl on the left side.. She's now in her 60's. Her mother (my grandmother) thought she did a good thing by gluing it onto a piece of black paper.. <sigh> So, this is a bit of a walk down the family tree for me.

Do you know of a good tutorial re: what you describe above? or, can you describe how to do it a bit more so I can try it myself?

David

[DrDavid]

Other question... Would you play with the levels at all? I really didn't want to change the photo composition at all.. Just fix the rips, tears, etc.. Or, should I be trying to improve the photo too? Or, is that just taking away all the charm of an old photo?

David

[SloYerRoll]

I'm gonna request this be moved to finishing school. You'll get way more visibility there since you want help w/ technique as well as a critique.
I'll be happy to help you, but there are pro's in there that put my skills to shame. And I think I'm pretty good!

Hang on..

-Jon

[DrDavid]

I'm gonna request this be moved to finishing school. You'll get way more visibility there since you want help w/ technique as well as a critique.
I'll be happy to help you, but there are pro's in there that put my skills to shame. And I think I'm pretty good!

Hang on..

-Jon
I'm *always* trying to get better with Photoshop.. I figure, by the time I'm 80 or 90 years old (I'm in my 30's now), I might know how to use every feature of PS! LOL

[SloYerRoll]

I'm *always* trying to get better with Photoshop.. I figure, by the time I'm 80 or 90 years old (I'm in my 30's now), I might know how to use every feature of PS! LOLNot even then bro! Ps is even used by forensic scientist. So to be able to say you've mastered Ps is a BOLD statement that you usually can't back up.
Just go for the stuff you need to know, master that. Even that is pretty intimidating!

[DavidTO]

I'm gonna request this be moved to finishing school. You'll get way more visibility there since you want help w/ technique as well as a critique.
I'll be happy to help you, but there are pro's in there that put my skills to shame. And I think I'm pretty good!

Hang on..

-Jon


Moved! :thumb

[DrDavid]

Not even then bro! Ps is even used by forensic scientist. So to be able to say you've mastered Ps is a BOLD statement that you usually can't back up.
Just go for the stuff you need to know, master that. Even that is pretty intimidating!
LOL.. Completely off topic, and I *really* don't want to derail this thread, but, Ps is an insanely complex piece of software. It amazes me that anyone can EVER master it.. I doubt the programmers fully understand everything it does! But, I'm continually learning, and love learning more about it. Anyways, sorry to have gone so far off topic....

David

[Mrs F]

Nice work, your mom will be thrilled with this.

If you're looking for a great reference on restoration, check out the book Photoshop Restoration and Retouching by Katrin Eismann. It's a lot of information to digest but it's a great read.

Kari

[MarkR]

Katrin Eismann's Photoshop Restoration and Retouching 3rd edition (http://www.digitalretouch.org/) is an invaluable reference, and I'm not just saying that 'cause one of my pictures is in her before and after section. :D

Also www.retouchpro.com (http://www.retouchpro.com) has a lot of free tutorials and an active user community.