Need Help with Photo Restoration

[Baadil]

Hi,

I am in the process of restoring an old photo and need your help. I am posting original and my modified version to see what you guys have to say. For some reason the modified version is not giving me full satisfaction. I am sure I am missing something here. I am using Photoshop CS.

Thanks for any help.

[PacAce]

Here are my first of two versions. The first one was done very simply.

1. Apply USM: Amt=15%, Radius=50, Thrsh=0
2. Create a duplicate layer and change the blending mode of this layer to soft light with Opacity of 55%.
3. Flatten the image and apply USM to sharpen the final image to taste. I used Amt=80%, Radius=.8, Thrsh=0

[Baadil]

Thank you Leo for the suggestion.
Just to be clear, I should apply that to the original image, not my modified one, right?

Thanks.

[PacAce]

Here's my 2nd version.

1. Create a New Adjustment Layers Curves and set the curves to bring out some of the highlight details (see attached image of curve I used).
2. Flatten image.
3. Apply USM to increase local contrast: Amt=15%, Rad=50, Thrsh=0
4. Apply USM to sharpen image to taste.

BTW, in both version, I first converted the image to 16-bit before doing any work on them.

[PacAce]

Thank you Leo for the suggestion.
Just to be clear, I should apply that to the original image, not my modified one, right?

Thanks.
That is correct. I took the first image you posted and edited that.

[mickle]

Hi,
While I know you'll get good advice here, I would also suggest you pop along to

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/index.php?

[Baadil]

Thank you again Leo. Looks really good, specially the 2nd version.
One more question though, Is there a way to seperate the background from the individual to increate depth a little? Background seems to be blending into the shoulders a lot.

Thanks.

[PacAce]

Thank you again Leo. Looks really good, specially the 2nd version.
One more question though, Is there a way to seperate the background from the individual to increate depth a little? Background seems to be blending into the shoulders a lot.

Thanks.
Yes, but you'll have to select out the background manually and then maybe blur it so that the details on the wall isn't so distracting.

[Baadil]

I shall give it a try. Thanks.

Mike, Thanks you as well for recommending the site.

[Duder]

how does this look?

[Baadil]

oh man, much better with all the details,,,, what steps did you perform :D :D Thanks.

[walkien]

let add some color :-)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v498/HenryW/color.jpg

[Baadil]

Ok,,, now you guys are way too amazing. duder/Walkien please let me know the steps you used so I can apply them to the full high res image, pleeeeez................

[walkien]

I copy this technique from a website( I don’t remember the name of the site) to word document long time ago for reference. I bet you there’re many different way to do this. So here we go.

The first thing you should do with any image is clean it up. Dust, scratches, and uneven tones all need to go before you start working on it.

Then change the image mode to CMYK color THIS IS IMPORTANT. IT WON'T WORK IF YOU DON'T DO THIS, SO DON'T FORGET. click Image > Mode > CMYK mode.

What you need to do now is select an area to color. Just pick one (hair, skin, background, etc.), it doesn't really matter what order you do it in, you will get to everything eventually, let start with the skin first.

Using whatever selection tool you desire, select all of the skin in the image, making sure you subtract things like the eyes and mouth. If you have a Tablet this step is probably much quicker. Get it close, but don't worry about getting it exactly exact, we will take care of the rough edges in a second.

Now go into quickmask mode (just type q ). This will turn anything that you didn't select pink, and your brush palette will turn to white and black. Now you can edit it just like any regular mask (white brushing reveals, black takes away). The first thing to do is get rid of the rough edges by applying a Gaussian blur to the quickmask (usually around 5 pixels, but play around). You might want to apply some selective gaussian blurring to areas where the skin mixes with another element such as hair, to give it more of a fade instead of a harsh line. Then go around with your brush tool fixing any overlaps (the only thing that should not be pink is the skin).

Hit q again and it will become a selection again (but smoother and with some feathering). It's a good idea to save this selection as a channel, in case you need it for something later. Leave the selection up.

Now for the coloring...

Now that you have your skin all selected, and your in CMYK mode (you are in CMYK mode right?), it's time to color.


click Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Curves

Name the Adjustment Layer "Skin" and click "group with previous"

This will bring up the curves dialog box, and it will add a layer to your layers palette.

This is where all the magic happens. As I mentioned before, since this is an adjustment layer, you can always go back and edit it by simply double clicking on the curves icon in your layer palette. The black and white image to the left of the curves icon is your mask layer, which can also be edited (if you need to reveal more or less skin for some reason).

By adjusting each color curve individually, you will add color to your selected area. Now you can memorize exactly which values of curves give you what color, or you can just play around and eyeball it. Raising the curve up and to the left gives you more of a color, and down and to the right less. You can also add points to the curves, and tweak the highlight and darks to be different hues

Now your task is clear, use the same technique is used for every other object in the picture (with different curves and layer of course).

[Duder]

Ok,,, now you guys are way too amazing. duder/Walkien please let me know the steps you used so I can apply them to the full high res image, pleeeeez................

pretty simple really. I don't remember the exact values I used, but after straightening/cropping, I first adjusted the levels, until there was good overall contrast. then I applied a little bit of shadow/highlights adjustment to balance it up a bit. then I gave it a sepia tone, and finally a small amount of USM.

on the full high res image, I'd suggest trying something similar using adjustment layers, although it's probably a good idea to clone out all the scratches/marks first. ;)

[Baadil]

Thank you very much guys. It is very helpfull. I will defo try it out and post results hopefully in a couple of days. Thanks again to everyone.

[Baadil]

Hi guys,


I finally got the image finished (or so I think). What do you think?

Thanks.:D

[PacAce]

Hi guys,


I finally got the image finished (or so I think). What do you think?

Thanks.:D
Wow! You did an excellent job there, Baadil. Great job! With the color added to the picture, I'm seeing more details in the picture I never noticed before in the monochrome picture. Congrats! :)

[Baadil]

Thanks Leo. I worked hard on it and tried creating some DOF with colors. Hopefully it shows through. :-)

[walkien]

Great job, Baadil.