Photo restoration tutorial?

[kayofcircles]

I am currently working on an ancient (probably close to 100 years old) photograph which apparently got folded, spindled, mutilated, and WET at some point. There are people in the photo now..as opposed to just "oatmeal"..and the groom has two eyes, two ears, a forehead and hair after hours and hours of effort, and so no longer looks like the villain in Fifth Element. But I have just about hit the limit of my current expertise and was wondering if any of you who work with graphics have come across a good tutorial on photo restoration. I have seen some "basic" ones, but hoping for something beyond that. Something similar to Wayne Fulton's ScanTips , only on photo repair?

And since I am in the After Hours section, let me add: PLEASE take good care of your family pics! One of your great grandkids will want to know what you looked like...

[scroatbagg]

Hi Kay,
I have been using Photoshop for the last 5 years producing brochures etc, however I have never used it for restoration of old photos, wouldnt think most graphics people would unless they are one of the specialists and they dont like to give up how they do things (its money to them!!). I assume you are using Photoshop? You could always try the following you might find what you are looking for. Some might be more Mac than PC so some controlls in Photoshop (or toolbars)might be different. http://people.ne.mediaone.net/dcomto/Z/sites.html http://www.adobeevangelists.com/html...stoplevel.html
I agree, if you can scan those photos and get them onto disk so you have them forever!!

[kayofcircles]

Thanks, scroatbagg. Many of the links off your first link are "dead", but there is an interesting tutorial on repair. I have PaintShopPro..very similar to Adobe, but far less expensive. I KNOW that PSP can do lots more than I know how to do yet..just need some pointers in the right direction. I have brought other pics back from the dead, but this one is in much worse shape than I have ever dealt with before.

I understand what you mean about giving out tips/tricks, but don't feel that I am in competition with anyone so was hoping someone here had stumbled onto a tips/tricks book somewhere. And I admit that I have been busy..and was too lazy to go and search and search for one myself.

[scroatbagg]

Kay, you could always use the old way of getting info!! The Library!! I know its not hip and trendy but sometimes you can find some books that can be usefull, I know there are quite a few on Photoshop but not shure about Paintshop. With regard to Photoshop v Paintshop its what you can do with the image prior to publishing that is the major difference, however if you find a book on Photoshop the techinques should still be the same. Tip and tricks, didnt mean to sound as though I was being defensive but what I was trying to say is that there is a lot of commercial labs around that do this kind of thing, most are small one or two man bands so they are not all that willing to give out or even show you what you can do. I have sat in with some people who have used Photoshop from day one and they will even try to hid from me the things they do, job protection!!!

[BigBlue66]

Hi Kay,

How's it going?

Hey, I just went to Google and typed in:

Photo Restoration, Tips, Tricks, How-To's

I got 166 hits. Looks like at least some of them might be worth taking a look at.

Cheers,

Big Blue 66


------------------
Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?

[kayofcircles]

BigBlue: You will note above, please, where I admitted to being LAZY and wanting to avoid sifting through 166 hits! I have already read through several of the photo restoration tutorials, but they have dealt only with the most basic of changes.

scroatbagg: That's a great idea..it is really..it's just that our local library is smaller than my kitchen. Will, however, just for grins..call and ask. I am a "one woman band" and have no competition in our area for what I do...no one else is insane or persistent enough! And with this particular pic, I am making good progress. Started with a bronze blotch, and now have a bride in a layered wedding dress and a groom with the above mentioned features. If I have more time down the line, I am considering colorizing it. Really helps hide "flaws" in some of the old pics.

Anyway, thank you guys!

[BigBlue66]

Hi Kay,

Well, um, pardon me then.

I just went by your subject line, and figured that you wouldn't mind reading some stuff.

Sounds like you are making fantastic progress anyway.

Have fun.

Big Blue 66


------------------
Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?

[Whyzman]

Hi Kay,

Just thought I'd say Hi, and congratulate you on your progress...and, I'm trying to kill 7 min before the Wizards play ball tonight! OK, I admit it...I'm a Michael Jordan can't get enought bucketball fan!

------------------
May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[Whyzman]

Introductions....blah, blah, blah,

Still waiting for the game to start...found this for you while I was waiting:
http://www.digitalretouch.org/

------------------
May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[kayofcircles]

Whyzman: You have given me the best birthday present! Thank you. How did you find that digital retouch link? And in seven minutes flat..wow. I felt like lazy slime after reading BigBlue's post, so I went to Google and went through the first four pages of results...but didn't see that link. There are a lot more people doing it than I thought though. Cool.

By the way..should have posted this in the other thread..I liked your "changing and growing" posts. I usually have to be hit up side the head with the two by four you mentioned to make changes in "real" life; I prefer to wallow in my comfy little rut whenever possible..for as long as possible. But when it comes to my work..that's a whole different ball game. Am anxious and willing to learn and grow. Thanks again to all!

[Whyzman]

Kay,

Do you have a personal site where one might take a gander at your before and after editing?

When my Sweetie and I were married nearly 25 years ago the photographer messed up our group photo and it is very dark. He did everything available at the time (so he said) to lighten the photo...Well, whatever he knew back then didn't shed much light on fixing the problem.

I said to my self, "Self, one day you will learn not to be so serious." My Sweetie would say to me, "Lighten up a little!" Well, that day is anon...and I'm going to start with our wedding photo!

At least I'll look into it...

Ah yes, the 2X4 Institute of Learning...we'll call it 2X4U Where, classroom training will leave a lasting "impression" on your life...

Later,

------------------
May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[ErnieK]

Whyzman if it is just basic "Lightening and manipulation" of the photo see if you can get a copy of "Vissioneer PaperPort" and scan photo into it you can then manipulate from there. For basic adjustments it is quite good. But be aware that PP is heavy on resources.

------------------
Ernie

[Whyzman]

Ernie,

I think I've got that...Visioneer...Just got a USB One Touch Visioneer! I'll have to give that a try... I'll post back and let you all know what happens...and yes, I think it really is just being able to control the lighting. I think originally the guy just kept trying to lighten, however, the whole photo lightened as per the limitations of 35mm.

------------------
May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[not_fred]

Kay;

There are no fixed rules in image processing (nor in sound processing, either - in case you get to working on your old LP's and casettes). There are several approaches, but most of them are "order dependent" - change the order, and you change the results.

In general, you can break the process into 2 parts: "removal of singularities", and "regional alteration". You will typically want to remove the singularities first - that would be local scratches and spots, the marks of folds, &tc.

After you've cleaned up those localize singularities, you want to go after the regional effects, like overall contrast, brightness, or sharpening.

In a product like Photoshop, you'll find several different ways to do each of the above. You'll have to experiment anew on each photo: each photo has been through a different sequence of imaging, developing, damaging and aging events: the techniques used to compensate for them will depend on that sequence. You will not likely find one process that works acceptably well for all photos.

Also, don't be fanatical about trying to remove ALL of the defects. That last 10% improvement will take 90% of the time. Six months later, when you've forgotten the details, you won't even notice it. Work on being satisfied to have made it a bunch better - you'll enjoy it more.

BTW - I always scan at the highest resolution that will allow the picture size to fit on a CDR. I always save the original scan to the CD, in case I want to try again. Same for the music.

I concur on the "save your photos" warning, and have been working with some of our old photos over the past several months...for what it's worth, current results are at http://www.knology.net/~not_flintsto...Oldphotos.html (Works better with IE than with Nutscape.)

Oh, and try looking at PolyView. As I recall, it had some nice processing features. Been a while since I played with it. If you get really interested, tag me back & we'll go check some of the NASA sites & see if they have spawned any commercial software.

Have a happy.

[This message has been edited by not_fred (edited 11-13-2001).]