Image restoration

Hope

Hope

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Hi all

This may have been asked here before but I need some up-to-date help in restoring a really old portrait type photo, it was torn and taped back together and is covered in crackles and tears.

Any advise of the best tools to tackle this?

Regards.
 
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Photoshop and a talented retoucher.
 
Hope said:
Hi all

This may have been asked here before but I need some up-to-date help in restoring a really old portrait type photo, it was torn and taped back together and is covered in crackles and tears.

Any advise of the best tools to tackle this?

Regards.
Click to expand...

Well the first step is to get a decent high res scan of the print to work on. After that it sounds like the work may well be a major undertaking from your description. There are no easy solutions to image restoration - it usually involves labour intensive hand retouching and restoration.

Put up a scan of the image for people to have a look at is probably the best idea.
 
I have an 800mb tiff.

I am happy to spend time on it using the clone tool etc and have had good results with my attempts but the crackles all over the picture really complicate things.

siteup.jpg
 
Hope said:
I have an 800mb tiff.

I am happy to spend time on it using the clone tool etc and have had good results with my attempts but the crackles all over the picture really complicate things.

siteup.jpg
Click to expand...

Well it's bad but it looks do-able. The clone tool is useful up to a point but not a complete answer to tackling these sort of images. Basically you just end up painting on the image. When facial parts such as the nose are missing as in this portion of the shot, some artistic ability doesn't go amiss in getting it to look right.

There's no easy way to help you tackle this - it only comes with lots of practice and this looks quite challenging even for someone very experienced. I'd say put up the whole image and see what people can do with it.
 
:O Would people really be that kind to have a go!?

Would you not need the full file to get best results?

Thanks
 
LOL. They'll be all over it! :D

A file at 1024 pixels on the longest side (forum limit) would be OK, although you could link to a larger version somewhere. How big you intend the final print to be largely dictates how big the scan needs to be though.
 
Maximum final size is going to be A4 but I thought zoomed work would need bigger sizes.

I will find somewhere to upload a good sized file and thank everyone in anticipation for their help!

The photo is of the late father of a friend of mine, I saw restoring it as a challenge and that it has proved to be!
 
Well stick up a file and I'm sure people will love giving it a go. I'd just say that when a photo is really badly damaged you may need to be realistic about how big you finally print it.
 
I might have a go at this later if I get time - I've got quite a bit on the moment, but I'm sure you'll get plenty of takers anyway.

It would be a mistake to try to retouch all that fine skin cracking as you'd be highly likely to lose any facial modelling in the process with the thing looking very flat. I'd repair the worst of the cracks and staining and leave it at that.
 
I suspect it would look good enough once the tape and tears are dealt with. The areas around the nose and eye I found to be particularly difficult!

I would really appreciate that, thanks alot CT
 
I'm not promising and we have plenty of people here who can do a good job anyway. The trick is to remember the name of the game is restoration and not do too much just because you can - the image usually looks the worse for it.

The nose is going to be tricky anyway but anyone who wants to do this sort of work will sooner to later have to tackle images like this and worse!
 
Well it's not a top job - a bit rushed to be honest, but apart from the obvious damage, the face is quite badly deformed due to the print being folded in a couple of places, which usually happens when people do sellotape repairs.

I've done my best to undo the distortion to the face which is largely guess work, so I hope it still looks at least something like whoever it was. ..


restore mono by tonky8203, on Flickr

I wouldn't try to take the restoration further than this tbh, and I wouldn't be inclined to print any larger than this - it was extensively damaged so you have to be realistic. Should look OK suitably framed.
 
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I'd say that is a fantastic result...

I downloaded it but scrapped it after 10mins, just wasn't getting anywhere at all with it.
 
Thanks CT :D

I have been working on it all day literally!

I will upload my result now!

Thanks for your efforts though.
 
Seriously - that's a very commendable effort - well done! :clap:
 
Cracking restore CT. I'm very impressed.

Hope: a top restore to.

Never tried this before so will give it a go.
 
If anyone is really interested in this sort of work the problem is getting enough practise on bad prints to prepare you for some of the horrors people will bring you. What I did was offer to do work on prints of friends and relatives for free for ages to get the practise.There was good money to be made a few years ago when photo restoration was still the new thing, but gradually prices have come down to silly levels. One of the local newspapers started offering restoration on any print for 30 quid regardless of condition. Most of the results were abysmal but it comes down to what the customer is prepared to pay and if they're happy with results so prices are forced down.

Everyone knows someone who'll do it for peanuts these days including Uncle Bob - customers who want a proper job and are prepared to pay the price are an increasing rarity.
 
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