Need help with photo restoration

retro · 08-19-2009

I´ve a huge collection of old family photos, mostly sepia and mostly in bad condition. I can usually patch them up using the clone tool but I´m working on one at present which completely defeats me. This is how it looked originally....

....and this is as far as I´ve got with the restoration....

The face and the background aren´t too bad but I haven´t a clue how to remove the stains from the jacket. I´d appreciate advice on this, bearing in mind that I´ve only recently changed from Corel software to Photoshop and am still learning the basics. So nothing too technical without detailed explanation!

**Tamlin** · 08-19-2009

Hi retro,
Unfortunately I'm at work at the moment on a filtered internet connection and photobucket is blocked, so I can't see your images but I'll have a proper look at this tonight and get back to you.

**Kenneth** · 08-19-2009

I think you made a fantastic job, so far!
Well, I can only suggest you to: upon a new layer fill with the darkest colour of the jacket, then try different layer blending mods, like colour, multiply, etc.
I don't think there's an exact recipe for this, you have to experiment.

**Tamlin** · 08-19-2009

OK - this isn't perfect but I only did it quickly. Your results will be better if you take your time:

Method:

The first thing I did was used the Pen Tool to select just the jacket area (although which selection tool you use is up to you). I then copied this to a new layer.
Next I used the Burn Tool to darken the faded area at the bottom. I set Range to Midtones and Exposure to 30%. I used a large soft brush and built the effect up gradually.
Lastly I changed the Blending Mode of the layer to Color Burn and dropped the Opacity to 25%. My Layers palette ended up looking like this:

As Kenneth said, you really need to experiment but hopefully this will start you off on the right track.

retro · 08-20-2009

Thank you for explaining in such detail, also for showing me the result. That´s quite a difference. I´ll have to try that method too. If I manage to improve on it, which I doubt, I´ll post the image.

So far, thanks to Kenneth, I´ve come up with this....

I selected the jacket with the polygonal lasso tool, put it on a new layer and filled it with one of the darker browns from the jacket. I changed the blend mode to soft light and reduced the opacity to 50%. Before I merged the layers I had to fiddle with the curves on the layer below as I found there was too great a contrast between the darker jacket and the rest of the photo. Also, I think the brown I used turned out a little too red.

I think both of these methods have merit. I´ll have to experiment with them some rainy weekend.

Thank you both for your help.

**Kenneth** · 08-20-2009

Nice to hear that it worked out! I didn't try it myself until now and I see you could need some level adjustments in the original layer.
You can also make a black& white adjustment layer on top, then lower opacity, just to get the right amount of "sepia"
I almost forgot about the "burn tool" as Tamlin mentioned, that has really improved in CS4 and now a fully functional tool (Well almost)

retro · 08-21-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenneth

Nice to hear that it worked out! I didn't try it myself until now and I see you could need some level adjustments in the original layer.
You can also make a black& white adjustment layer on top, then lower opacity, just to get the right amount of "sepia"
I almost forgot about the "burn tool" as Tamlin mentioned, that has really improved in CS4 and now a fully functional tool (Well almost)

Thank you. Something else to play around with on a rainy day. No thanks though for even so much as mentioning CS4. By the time I´ve mastered CS2 I´ll be ready to buy CS45. Either that or a wooden box.