Any tips on how to restore this

IS there anything that can be done to improve this.

Do you have the original print, or only this scan?

Only this scan, which I think is of a slide. I may have the slide unsure.

Topaz Photo AI perhaps but it is pretty expensive. Maybe someone you know has it?

skeeeter56 wrote in post #19533526
Only this scan, which I think is of a slide. I may have the slide unsure.

You HAVE to find the slide. You need to get a better scan of it than this.

There are a few things you can do such as remove the color cast, color balance properly, adjust the contrast, recover whatever you can from the highlights and shadows but the highlights are pretty well blown and you can't recover what's not there. ZYou can make it look a bit better but the best option is find the original and start with a decent scan.

As said everywhere above if you can get the original re-scan it.

That said and if this is all you have at this resolution there's not a whole lot you can do.

Because it was originally a slide it will have its own colour characteristics and casts, and with the limited data available, just setting a white point will probably not suffice.

Depending on your software I'd recommend applying any available film styles you may have to see if one of those will get you a colour balance you like. Otherwise you'll have to work on colour balancing different ranges separately which would be a pain. At that point were it me I'd probably convert it to Black and White (Greyscale). Maybe even re-colouring after the fact.

Then depending on your software you may want to play with Clarity and Vibrance, and if you have photoshop you could try Hi-Pass sharpening and/or frequency separation.

I have found a better version

*Scruffy* wrote in post #19534081
As said everywhere above if you can get the original re-scan it.

That said and if this is all you have at this resolution there's not a whole lot you can do.

Because it was originally a slide it will have its own colour characteristics and casts, and with the limited data available, just setting a white point will probably not suffice.

Depending on your software I'd recommend applying any available film styles you may have to see if one of those will get you a colour balance you like. Otherwise you'll have to work on colour balancing different ranges separately which would be a pain. At that point were it me I'd probably convert it to Black and White (Greyscale). Maybe even re-colouring after the fact.

Then depending on your software you may want to play with Clarity and Vibrance, and if you have photoshop you could try Hi-Pass sharpening and/or frequency separation.

There is a quick and dirty way to remove color cast without guessing. It works great on film where the whole image has a p[articular color profile. I tried it on the above photo and it did pretty well. Try this, these are the steps for PS but should work with any photo editor though the tools might be in different locations.
1. Open photo and duplicate two new layers. You now have three identical layers. This lets you keep the original untouched so you can compare with it. You'll only be working with layer 2 and layer 3.
2. on the third layer, use the "Blur" filter and select "Average". The layer will turn all one color, the average of the whole picture.
3. Under "Image" select "Adjustments" then "Invert. You now have the opposite of the average color of the whole picture.
Under "the "Adjustments" window, blend using "Color" and change it's Opacity to about %50.
4. Merge the 2 layers. Then bump up the saturation until it looks good.

The color cast should be gone. You can check by flipping between the original and the processed.

You can also play with Auto tone and Auto Color. They do pretty good job sometimes but have trouble if there is a color cast over the whole image.

skeeeter56 wrote in post #19534108
I have found a better version

Hosted photo: posted by skeeeter56 in
./showthread.php?p=195​34108&i=i254588505
forum: RAW, Post Processing & Printing

That's very workable.

skeeeter56 wrote in post #19534108
I have found a better version

Hosted photo: posted by skeeeter56 in
./showthread.php?p=195​34108&i=i254588505
forum: RAW, Post Processing & Printing

This image is perfectly fine - so the question now becomes, what do you believe you need to do to "restore" this image? What is the intended end goal? Print output?

The color cast is retro and somewhat nostalgic, so maybe there is no point to "correcting" it. The image quality is pretty terrific. Maybe you might want to lift the shadows slightly, but that is a matter of taste as well.

K