retouching old mucked-up photo

I have been asked to retouch this scan of an old B&W (I think) photo. My first idea is to somehow remove the yellow color cast in Elements using a Hue/Sat layer and then to proceed to the touching up process.
Do you guys have any recommendatios on the proper way for me to proceed?

Thanks in advance.

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Use a gradient map to desaturate the image.

Then after fixing the image add the color back... maybe a dutone

Consider the tutorial to convert to B&W found here that may produce a better B&W image. Then go to town with the retouching. It can be slow, methodical work but is definitely worth it when you see the smiles of people as you show them the results.

I'd desaturate and play with the levels then clone and heal out the dirt and scratches. I also think adding more contrast would be a good thing. IMO.

What are the steps in that?

I know what a gradiant is, but a "gradiant map"?

Rad

See attached:

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Be sure to set foreground color to black and background to white...

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Thanks for the tips, guys. I'm using PS Elements, so I'll have to see which functions will work for me.

I can't tell you how many hours I'vs spent on these two pictures of my dad's family..
http://www.pbase.com/t​dragone/restored_pix

LOTS of cloning and undoing.. my Wacom tablet helped a LOT.

I think yours will be a little easier than mine were...

HAVE FUN and SAVE OFTEN so you can check your progress.

I'd recommend using a Hue/Saturation layer after the restoration is finished, Colorize checked and play with a saturation around -34. This will restore the "old" feel of the photo.

Thanks, guys - I'm going to try working on this photo today.

Looking at the old car and style of clothes I'd say the photo was taken in the days before colour so trying to add colour to it might be awkward. I hope you don't mind I messed around a little with it. I just converted it to greyscale to get rid of the yellow, upped the brightness and contrast a little. Cloned out a few marks on the dress and trousers.

Maybe a very lightly damp tissue over the mucky bits of the print to clean off any surface muck, coffee stains etc then rescan might make the job easier.

Killie,
Thanks! That looks really good - and I've got something that looks very similar on my monitor now.

theres loads of vertical lines that look like they are from the scanner. if possible a re-scan might help.

I noticed the vertical lines too and have tried clone-stamping them out. What causes the lines and how do I avoid them in the re-scan?