Restoration challenge. My mother took this photo

[alfredo]

at a relative's farm. It's probably he most artistic image.
It is a mess, so you can sharpen your skills on this one because it has a lot of differnt types of challenges to overcome.

Show your stuff folks. Break out your healing brush.

[Ms. Toad]

1. Don't want you to think I'm ignoring you...

I've saved the image, and when I get a chance I'll try my hand at it.

Photo restoration is what got me back into photography after a couple of decades absence from serious photography - so I look forward to the challenge, but probably won't have a chance to work on it for a couple of weeks.

[alfredo]

13. This group moves slow enough so you don't need to

hurry anything. Just do a key word search of "challenge" subject only for this group if it has dropped out of sight.

[ET Awful]

2. Oooooh, that's a hell of a challenge.

I'm no expert at restoration and repair, but I'm going to give this one a shot just because it's such a challenge.

I'll start my attempts tonight or maybe this weekend depending on my schedule.

Did you scan it and do you have the original? A larger and higher resolution scan to work from would yield MUCH better results in any clean up we do.

[alfredo]

6. it's not the end product that is important,

it is the process. I can post a bigger original, but I wanted two things. The first was to challenge people to work on their skills, and show mercy for the fellow dialup users.


I did scan it at 300 dpi. It's not a big picture to begin with.

[DS1]

3. what do we win?

[alfredo]

7. A night on the town with

John Ashcroft

[bvar22]

4. I wasn't able to do much.

I increased the contrast attempting to bring out detail on the subject's face, but lost detail in other areas. :shrug:
There appears to be creases in the photo from the center to the upper right edge, but these could also be in the original canvas. I removed some from the door, and softened a couple of others.

Despeckling was done with the eyedropper and air brush.

If someone is able to retrieve detail, or sharpen the facial features, please tell me how you did it.

I used CorelPhoto/Paint 10.

[alfredo]

8. You did good. Does CP have something like

Photoshop's healing brush. I found it worked well with the creases. Maybe the eye dropper and air brush would work on the creases.

In some ways, leaving the creases in doesn't harm the photo. The impact of the image doesn't suffer.

The contrast is difficult, but the light and shadows are what make this photo. The grey background is pretty difficult. So is the upper part of the door.


My wife is sure it is my dad, but I am not. Assuming the Pall Mall cigarettes belong to the subject, that couldn't be my dad. The pose and the nose seem to be what makes her think it is my dad. I need to see the chin, but that is hidden in shadow.

[tenshi816]

5. Here's my attempt.

I got rid of the dust and scratches, but at the expense of clarity, and failed miserably at bringing out more detail in the subject's face. If anybody knows how to do that, I'd be very grateful if you could give some advice, because I'm hopeless.

[alfredo]

9. I wonder what would happen to the image if some of the

area above the subject was cropped out? Or what would happen if you made that area more uniformly dark like it is behind his head? It's hard to clean it up without making it obvious that it has been cleaned up. My editing shows on my copy. It seems the more you clean the more it shows. Maddening at times, but fun.

I found that using the unsharp mask helped with the clarity. See what it does for you.

The background is very difficult to clean up. I left the near vertical lines that pointed toward his head. They seemed like light streaming down, and they directed the eye to his head. So instead of trying to get rid of it, I am keeping it as part of the composition.

the milk can lid came out really well. I see you removed the very bright spot below and to the left. That was a good idea. The lower door cleaned up nicely, and so did his clothes and face. His hair is cleaned up much better than what I have done to date.


I still have a lot of work to do in my image and will be putting it up later.

As far as pulling up detail in the face is concerned, I am not sure if it can be done without causing other problems. It comes down to knowing when to say screw it, this is as good as it is going to get. I still have to learn that lesson.

[tenshi816]

10. Thanks for your advice

and encouraging words. I've only recently started working on some old family photos, a few of which go back to the early 1900s and need a lot of work, as you can imagine. It's such a steep learning curve for me; as you say, maddening, but so much fun (and it makes me feel a connection with family members I've never met - in fact, it makes me want to know more about the man in your own photograph).

I'm pleased about the way the milk can came out too, and thank you for mentioning it.

I love doing this with old photographs, although I've got so much to learn about the process. It breaks my heart to think of the number of old pictures rotting away in boxes and photo albums everywhere (not just in my family!). I sometimes feel like I'm on a little crusade to save other people's photographs as well as my own family ones, just so the people in them aren't forgotten.

[alfredo]

11. Learning is fun.

what graphics program are you using? You might be able to get pointers if you google the terms "photo restoration (enter name of graphics program)."

eg. photo restoration corel or photo restoration GIMP.

this is a good site for retouching/restoring

http://www.retouchpro.com/

[alfredo]

12. Here's my image so far.

Still want to work on the milk jug lid, and some minor work on the background and door.

[BeTheChange]

14. I didnt have as much time as I would have liked..