Repairing old photos

EOS_JD

EOS_JD

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Name
Jim
Edit My Images
Yes
Any comments on what could be done to make this any better or is the edit ok as it is?

Before

TS.jpg


After

TS_10x8.jpg


Cheers
Jim
 
That's excellent. There's a bit on her back just beneath her hair which looks like it might still need a bit of attention?
 
Her chin doesn't look quite right to me m8.
 
What a first class repair job :thumbs: Must have taken you hours!

My only crit would be that it could do with being a bit more sepia toned, it looks quite green on my monitor
 
Pretty good job but you could do with putting the skin folds back in on the neck , also you've got a 'blob' just above the necklace next to her hair :thumbs:
 
dod said:
That's excellent. There's a bit on her back just beneath her hair which looks like it might still need a bit of attention?
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Yip I see it now :)
 
hypnotic said:
First rate bit of cloning and healing. :clap:

Looks a bit green on my monitor
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Thanks appreciate the comments.
I tried to make it sepia. Perhaps B&W would be best.
 
Steep said:
Her chin doesn't look quite right to me m8.
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Yes I've thought this too and it's tough trying to make the changes look natural. I'll keep trying though.
 
Grendel said:
What a first class repair job :thumbs: Must have taken you hours!

My only crit would be that it could do with being a bit more sepia toned, it looks quite green on my monitor
Click to expand...

My colour blindness obviously doesn't help!!! :)

Took me about 30 minutes
 
mrgubby said:
Pretty good job but you could do with putting the skin folds back in on the neck , also you've got a 'blob' just above the necklace next to her hair :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Thanks MrG..... I'll try that :)
 
That's not bad. You've lost the line of the chin, and there's still evidence of retouching just under the hairline. I've done lots of this work for the trade for many years, and it's labour intensive painstaking work. It's always more difficult where there's lots of facial damage, and although it's not too bad in this case, there's enough damage to lose the likeness of the person if you're not careful. A lot of labs would turn this job down as not being practical to restore, or would charge a price which reflects the actual time and work involved in it, which generally people just wont pay.

The restoration business has become very cutthroat in recent years, with people offering to do the work for less and less money. Often the results are not really very good but as long as the customer is happy (and the price suits) everyone is happy.
 
Thats a good job but the jaw part looks slightly flat but cloning and patching on photoshop (?) is quite tedious but its worth it in the end.
 
Theres some glaring problems, noteably the loss of her her jawline and neck creases/shadow but overall I think youve done a nice job.
I started to play with the original & got fed up very quickly!
Im impressed by the creases in her bottom lip ... you had nothing at all to work with there! :thumbs:
 
You need to have a really good look at these pics before you start and often the secret is not to do any more than you absolutely have to to stay true to the original. In this case I'd have kept the original toning, and I'd have repaired the existing background which isn't too bad and would have enabled you to retain some of those stray hairs around the subjects outline. Once you've lost those stray hairs it's all too easy for the subject to look pasted onto the background

I normally wouldn't change a background unless it was really badly gone, and to save hours of tedious work.

This shot is actually well worth doing, it's a professionally taken shot and there's a worthwhile image under that damage. All too often though you get presented with a crappy snapshot which was oof to start with, and which has kicked around in someone's wallet for 30 years or more. It's only when they see it's going to disintegrate altogether, that they realise it's their only memory of dad, or whoever, which is when you get the call and are expected to perform miracles. :shrug:
 
CT, Id kept the background when I was playing, infact I wasnt rrying to totally transform it in to a 'as new photograph', more I just tried to undo some of the damage.
I even left a few subtle minor creases in, do the pro's ever do that, or do they go for a total repair?
 
Normally, you want to lose all evidence of the creases Glo. People assume that all the work is done with the clone tool. In fact the clone tool is only really essential when there are underlying textures or patterns to preserve. A lot of work can be done with smear type tools which just push pixels around. The problem with that is you tend to lose any grain in the original shot and the restored areas look a bit smooth in comparison. It's easily cured though by adding the right sized noise to those areas with a feathered mask so they blend in.

The problem with the cracks is that the emulsion starts to lift from the backing paper, and crap and airborne contaminants get under the emulsion, resulting in sharp contrast changes either side of the crack, so often apart from repairing the crack you have to work on a whole area to smooth out the tones.

If anyone has any old pics they value, by far the safest way to keep them is in a frame with the back properly sealed against airborne contaminants getting in and doing their worst. Site the frame on a wall where it doesn't get direct sunlight, as ultra violet light is what fades them, and they'll outlast your kids kids. :)
 
Thanks for the useful info CT:thumbs:

My poor effort was merely working with the Clone tool, Ive not really got used the Smear Tool yet, so thats something for me to have a practice with.

I do always try to work from the furthest outside part of the damage/problem & move inwards, coming from different angles, but my success is pretty hit & miss.
Looks like its time to click the on Smear Tool. :gag:
 
InaGlo said:
Looks like its time to click the on Smear Tool. :gag:
Click to expand...

One of the reasons I stick with PSP is it has the finest, best behaved tool of this type I've ever come across. It's called the 'Push' tool and it simply picks up whatever colour pixel you click on and you can smear lighter areas into darker ones and vicky verky. By setting the opacity of the tool to suit you can build up the areas gradually to blend in. Once you get used to this technique you can save yourself loads of time compared to cloning where it isn't necessary.


If you really want to get into this the problem is finding pics to practice on. Most people have pics with a few simple creases, but not enough heavily damaged ones to really get the experience. What I did was let it be known that I'd do peoples pics for nowt. I did that for ages before I started charging - but be warned - it wont prepare you for some of the horrors people will bring you. :eek: Sometimes you just need to know when to say "No" ;)
 
He! he!
Im a woman CT ... I awlays say no ... though I dont always mean it :D

When you have some time on your hands, maybe you could show us one of your before & after's from the days back when, if you kept records that is.

While I like to play in this area, I dont think Ill ever have cause to give up the day job! ;)
 
InaGlo said:
He! he!
Im a woman CT ... I awlays say no ... though I dont always mean it :D

!
Click to expand...
Hmmmm. so "Maybe" then :naughty: :D

I've got loads of 'em somewhere Glo, but it's finding the CD with 'em on. I did this one years ago. The customer had been turned away by a pro lab as not a feasible job to do. In actual fact it wasn't too bad - an extensively damaged pic which is still intact can be a lot more work just due to the sheer volume of creases.

restore.jpg


Actually looking at it now makes me cringe a bit - I'd do a better job now, but that's life I suppose. :shrug:
 
Looks pretty damned good to me CT :thumbs:
Think Id deepen the shadow on the suitcase under his eye but thats about all I can spot for now.
I love picking over this type of stuff, I would imagine it to be ver satisfying when you feel youve completed & done a good job ... blimmin tedious work though eh!
 
Sometimes its rewarding Glo when you look at a photo taken by some tog 100 years ago on very basic kit and you can see it will be a knockout job when done. All too often though it's far more recent stuff and wasn't even a good snapshot to start with and then it's difficult to get motivated into it.
 
CT said:
All too often though it's far more recent stuff and wasn't even a good snapshot to start with and then it's difficult to get motivated into it.
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He! he! tell me about it!
My mom keeps presenting me with pics of my dad that taken on a crappy 110 while fishing... on the opposite side of the riverbank!!!
Cant count the times Ive told her to come back with a better one now! :D
 
thanks for the comments here guys....sorry I missed the chat :-0

Regards the lip, i searched for a nice lip in google images believe it or not. Found a lovely model with a nice smile and bright red lips. i selected the area I wanted and copied it into mine. Without this the lip was very flat.

Regards the background, i made a selection, copied it as a layer, went into the transform tool and just enlarged it across large areas. I know there's better ways of doing this but it took me about 20 minutes to get it like this.

Thought it was worth it because there was so few stray hairs.

CT - that's a great job on that image above. He looks very like my father! :)

Most of my work was with the patch tool although there was obviously a lot of healing brush and clone tool use.

i've not had the chance to revisit this but my girlfriend has more for me to try out! I'll have another try on a new one :)
 
The bottom lip was where I fell flat with it too.
I had pressumed you might have given her a 'lip transplant' ... wouldnt be brave enough for that myself, :lol:
Look forward to seeing your next project, Jim.
 
Excellent job guys, and Jim its only if your really looking for things like we are that you notice them, so I'm sure whoever you have done this for will be really chuffed.
 
InaGlo said:
The bottom lip was where I fell flat with it too.
I had pressumed you might have given her a 'lip transplant' ... wouldnt be brave enough for that myself, :lol:
Look forward to seeing your next project, Jim.
Click to expand...

thanks for the nice words.

i actually enjoyed it but it's tough when staring for so long. Didn't take a huge amount of time but I really should try again.

Ta
Jim
 
EOS_JD said:
CT - that's a great job on that image above. He looks very like my father! :)
Click to expand...

You never know... some funny stuff went on around then, and they just used to shrug and say "There's a war on!" ;)
 
lee said:
Excellent job guys, and Jim its only if your really looking for things like we are that you notice them, so I'm sure whoever you have done this for will be really chuffed.
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Lee yes I know that. it's also only when you stand back and look that these things start to hit you.

It's my girlfriend's mum and she and her sister were delighted - so delighted I've more to do!!

this isn't the first I've ndone though. A friend gave me a primary school photo in a bit of a state. She got it back and couldn't believe the difference. I don't do it for the money - nice to get great feedback however I'm starting to make money from shooting weddings and portraits so I might add this into the arsenal to see if I can get some work.

thanks for the kind words too.

regards
Jim
 
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