100 Year Old Photo

I came across this photo earlier today which I totally forgot that I had, and I am wondering if there is anything that can be done to bring this back to life or has the past 100 years completely damaged this photo for all time?

Below are two images, first being a scanned copy of the original photo and second being an attempt which I made 10 years ago with microsoft paint, long before I was interested in photography and the definition of "photoshop" to me meant "the store downtown which sold camera equipment & film"LOL. I know that it isn't the best repair to a photo, but I was young and it was only Paint.

Now that I have photoshop (the kind which is a computer program) I am interested once again (although I am new at this program and my skill is VERY limited!!). Would this be a waste of my time, or is it possible to repair this photo back to its original condition? As you can see, the photo has become VERY washed out and damaged!!

I don't know why you couldn't restore it, especially since you accomplished it in MSPaint. The tools in Photoshop should make it much easier and better.

D Thompson wrote in post #11701675
I don't know why you couldn't restore it, especially since you accomplished it in MSPaint. The tools in Photoshop should make it much easier and better.

I just don't know how to replace the washed out portions of the photo, and wasn't sure if it could be done. Fixing and repairing the tear in the photo was easy, but what do I replace the missing texture with...such as the litle girls hand on the right of the picture? and the white shirts of the two people in the picture which have zero texture now...This I do not know how to do.

I think you could restore this photo to a very usable point using photoshop! And I am very impressed with your previous restoration, doing that only with MS Paint is incredible to me! I am sure you will be able to do an awesome job with something more powerful than paint.

If you did that with paint my suggestion is that you watch some Youtube restoration clips for PS to get an idea and consider a job in professional retouching.

hb96tuner wrote in post #11701726
I just don't know how to replace the washed out portions of the photo, and wasn't sure if it could be done. Fixing and repairing the tear in the photo was easy, but what do I replace the missing texture with...such as the litle girls hand on the right of the picture? and the white shirts of the two people in the picture which have zero texture now...This I do not know how to do.

I think you'll find that there is a lot more detail in that photo (and the white areas of those shirts) than you're anticipating, and with some image processing software, you'll be able to do much more than you ever could in MS Paint.

As for the little girls hand that's missing? Perhaps you could do a slight manipulation, and have her arm appear to be behind the small of her back, effectively hiding her hand (or the lack of her hand, in this case). Admittedly, it's modifying an old photo, but I'm thinking it won't affect the sentimental value of the recovery.

Maybe post a link to the original file and give some POTN members an opportunity to try and improve it.

I think you did a good job restoring it with mspaint. I know you will be able to restore it using photoshop. You just need to know how to use all the tools. I recently restored a old picture using photoshop Restore Photo

ChasP505 wrote in post #11703841
Maybe post a link to the original file and give some POTN members an opportunity to try and improve it.

http://i693.photobucke​t.com …s/vv291/hb96tun​er/old.jpg

I uploaded this picture to photobucket yesterday...I think this is what you are asking for.

ChasP505 wrote in post #11703841
Maybe post a link to the original file and give some POTN members an opportunity to try and improve it.

Not sure but i think this is what you are looking for...

http://i693.photobucke​t.com …s/vv291/hb96tun​er/old.jpg

unless there is somwhere else I can upload it to.

I'd recommend scanning at at least 300dpi (with no automatic processing by scanning software) so you have more data, more detail to work from--It will also result in a better print in the end.

Different scanners provide varying qualities of images. If that was scanned on an All-in-One, I suggest paying for a higher quality scan or if you're so inclined purchase a better scanner yourself.

The difference between my HP All-in-One and Epson V500 is night/day. A commercial scanner should be able to provide even better quality then the Epson. Just double check on what the company uses for scanning & their process -- I've seen some crap which people have paid good dollars for. One person's high-res scan can be another person's crap.

Starting with the best image possible might give more detail to start with. Then give the restoration a go yourself. There are numerous instructional videos online to help guide your skill set.

You can also try some simple colourization using Photoshop; this was my first attempt:

I had already fixed the damage on the image below -- this was the starting point for the colourization.

You did this in MS Paint? Jeez. That's impressive!

As far as acquiring re-touching Photoshop skills is concerned, here are some thing to look for and learn about (not in order except for layers); layers, healing, levels, curves, cropping, opacity, adjustment layers, selecting, pen, masking, and feathering. There's many other features worth knowing but these will get you up and running.

Layers is the big one -- learn this one first. Photoshop wouldn't be Photoshop without layers. With layers, you'd be able to recreate things and still be able to leave the original intact at the same time.

You must have worked on that picture at the pixel level in MS Paint and with a lot of patience. Imagine what you can do in Photoshop!

If you want to look into this in some detail and get some specialist advice I'd recommend heading over to the RetouchPro forums.