Help: restoring old photos

Subject: restoring old photos
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 08:43 AM

I've got the software, but not the know-how, and it's not in the manual. Also, it's not too high a priority compared to music. But I can't find anything on the subject on the WWW, only lots of people who say they'll do it for a fee, or they'll teach me to do it for a fee. Any Catters know where I can find out, or offer any advice?

Steve

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 08:56 AM

What software are you using? And what exactly are you trying to do to the photo?

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 09:41 AM

I bought Serif PhotoPlus 5 (and other Serif products) very cheap. All the manuals are on the CD, and one of the demo pics is a "before and after" photo. I've used a few other paint apps from time to time, and I know the basics of things like the clone tool and adjusting contrast/brightness/gamma and so on. I'm thinking particularly of a B/W photo with creases and dog-eared corners, but I'll probably get a few old family pix to fix if word gets around. Did I say "a few"? Mom and Dad have literally hundreds, going back to c 1900--I'd better keep quiet!

I don't have as much time as I'd like (and I'd spend most of it on ther things!), so I'm not expecting to become an expert in the next couple of weeks; still, I'll happily accept such crumbs as may fall from your table.

Steve

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 09:42 AM

"All the manuals are on the CD ..." but not much in the way of instruction, I meant to add.

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 09:43 AM

Steve,
Scan the photo, open the scanned image file with your software and start experimenting. Some photo editing programs have good introductory tutorials. Some automate the process (more or less). For example, my Adobe Photo Deluxe has a button marked "Get & Fix Photo." All the programs have help available through a structured menu system.
If you are interested in a new hobby, teach yourself. Might take a while. Photo editing programs tend to be less intuitive than a world processor for example. However, photo editing can be a lot of fun. I enjoy designing labels for homemade CDs. If you want good results immediately, get someone else to do it or have someone teach you.

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Watson
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 10:08 AM

A world processor?
Now that's a tool worth having!

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 11:05 AM

Tell Stephen King, it sounds like a good idea for a story!

I certainly intend to teach myself, just for fun: "I taught myself everything I know"! But I'm not too old a dog to learn new tricks (or steal them, for that matter). Anything you'd care to pass on for free will be gratefully accepted.

Steve

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 11:27 AM

Hi, Steve

You might take a look at the following URL:

http://www.digitalretouch.org

It's a site touting a book geared toward Photoshop users, but it does have an extensive set of sample tutorials and feedback from readers with examples of restorations they have done. You may be able to glean some or all of the techniques you need from the free info offered at the site.

Good luck

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 12:07 PM

Steve, do you use a scanner to feed your photos into the computer? Or do you work directly from a photocard?
Adobe Photo Deluxe Business ed. came free with my scanner, Acrobat format. I printed up the 120 page manual because it was frustrating to use it directly. It took several weeks before I learned the full capabilities. I can now remove and replace parts of images. I can restore damaged heirloom photos, filling holes, replacing cut-off corners, removing scratches and stains. Lots of things can be done that are not discussed in the manual. Make trial prints on cheap paper and keep adjusting. Finally got to the point that I don't use the manual. I think Russ has the same or similar.
Never heard of the one you bought, so can't advise on it.
The book by Eisman (Mountain Dog) is for one of the more complete, professional Adobe systems (they cost $500 or more); much more complex than the one I got for free. I looked through the manual for an older full-scale Adobe program; for parts of it I would need a tutor.

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: GUEST,Terry
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 12:46 PM

It's a little hard to offer exact advice without seeing the photo.

If you want to email me a copy, I'll have a play with it, send you back the 'improved' version and explain what I've done.

Terry
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 26 Mar 02 - 03:23 AM

Thanks for all the advice folks, I'm following it up as fast as I can. I think the main requirement is ging to be patience (I'm renowned for that!) and lots of time. The www.digitalretouch.org site is pretty good, isn't it? Encouraging too. Terry, the photo is in a "safe place"! It turned up again in our recent move and has been put somewhere I can easily find it again ... I use a scanner: I didn't get a particularly brilliant one, just one that'll get the job done; I spent the money on a good sound card!

Steve

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Mr Red
Date: 26 Mar 02 - 10:14 AM

Photoshop 4 but then a lot of newer software can. You have to marquee an area for editing, use the pick tool for a single colour or the rubber stamp to crib an adjacent area and dab it in the scratch or smudge. It does take time but just changing a white scratch to a black one can reap dividends. The magic wand tool can pick an area of single colour (adjust for tolerance to intensity) but to cover the scratch "enlarging" the area helps. Enlarging the whole picture often impresses people.
I did one for Joy's mother that had a biro "X" to identify a person. I took out the blue, only to find mom had put it back in to identify the person. She didn't understand that if I could remove blue I could have done an oval marquee (selection area) and upped the brightness to halo the person !

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: Watson
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 11:41 AM

Just a thought - why not pick up one of the digital photography magazines from the newsagent - they often have basic tutorials, and I'm sure I've seen one currently on the shelf with some stuff on image editing.

Subject: RE: Help: restoring old photos
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 04:13 PM

The "gold standard" for graphic/photo editing is PhotoShop, but it is too expensive for we mere mortals. For those who may be actually working on such things, though, the following, from PC Magazine April 9, 2002 may be of interest:

Rescue Poor Images with Science Fiction
BY LES FREED
Everyone knows that Adobe Photoshop can work miracles with old faded and poorly exposed images, but fixing the color and tonal balance of such in image takes time. Two new Photoshop plug-ins ($50 each) can make the fixes in just a few clicks.
Applied Science Fiction's Digital ROC and Digital SHO install as Photoshop filters. Digital ROC operates primarily on the images color balance and it works well with images that havc a strong color cast, faded colors from aging, or incorrect colors from poor lighting conditions. Digital SHO operates on the images exposure balance restoring detail lost because of strong over- or underexposure Installation takes only a few minutes, and both filters work with all versions of Photoshop from 5.0 on (Including Photoshop Elements) as well as with Adobe PhotoDeluxe 4.0 and later. Operation couldn't be much simpler. To repair an image just open thc image filc and select Digital ROC or Digital SHO from the Filters menu. Both filters provide a preview window so you can see the effect of the filter before you apply the filter to the image.
Our first impression was that these filters don t do anything that a skilled Photoshop user couldn't do, but we were wrong: Both filters consistently produced better images than we could produce manually—and in a fraction of the time. Both are excellent and affordable tools for your Photoshop arsenal.
Digital ROC and Digital SHO
Direct price: $50 each. Requires: 64MB RAM; Microsoft Windows 98 SE, NT 4.0 with SP6A, 2000, Me, and XP.
Applied Science Fiction Inc., 512-651-6200, www.asf.com.

I've found PC Magazine to be a reasonably reliable source for information of this sort, but *usual disclaimer* have no personal knowledge about these programs. Since PhotoShop 7.0 lists for $609 (US) it's not likely that I'll get any experience with them soon.

John