Paint Shop Pro support - Old Photo Repair

Author

Old Photo Repair - Mistakes / Improvements

colin.steadman@gmail.com

2006-05-04, 7:10 am

I've been asked to fix half a dozen old B&W photos by a friend for his
wifes elderly farthers birthday. I've only got a couple of weeks, so
dont have much time to spend on each one (I'll be doing this primarily
in my lunch break). I've had a go at the first couple using the clone
tool quite heavily, the scratch remover and a few of the image
adjustment tools like edge preserving smooth, lighten/darken and smart
photo fix. At first glance I think I've done an OK-ish job. But I
also think I've maybe ruined some parts of the photo. There legs look
terrible! And I think I've maybe destroyed detail in the middle and
lower parts of the photo.

I would appreciate any feedback on whats right and more importantly
what I've completely cocked up, plus any suggestions on what I could do
to improve things.

This image shows the source scan and my progress so far:

http://www.colinsteadman.com/two_ladies.jpg

And this is another image I've had a crack at (the first one I tried
actually):

http://www.colinsteadman.com/sportsday.jpg

TIA,

Colin

W.Madison

2006-05-04, 8:38 pm

<colin.steadman@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote in message
news:1146732915.949635.82390@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
> I've been asked to fix half a dozen old B&W photos by a friend for his
> wifes elderly farthers birthday. I've only got a couple of weeks, so
> dont have much time to spend on each one (I'll be doing this primarily
> in my lunch break). I've had a go at the first couple using the clone
> tool quite heavily, the scratch remover and a few of the image
> adjustment tools like edge preserving smooth, lighten/darken and smart
> photo fix. At first glance I think I've done an OK-ish job. But I
> also think I've maybe ruined some parts of the photo. There legs look
> terrible! And I think I've maybe destroyed detail in the middle and
> lower parts of the photo.
>
> I would appreciate any feedback on whats right and more importantly
> what I've completely cocked up, plus any suggestions on what I could do
> to improve things.
>
> This image shows the source scan and my progress so far:
>
> http://www.colinsteadman.com/two_ladies.jpg
>
> And this is another image I've had a crack at (the first one I tried
> actually):
>
> http://www.colinsteadman.com/sportsday.jpg
>
> TIA,
>
> Colin

The group photo looks quite nice. On the woman's legs- try cloning with a
small soft brush using random sources from the good part. Go here and see an
example:

http://webpages.charter.net/themadisons/legexample.jpg

You may just need to let the shadows on the right hand side of the legs be.
Anything thing I tried to bring the other leg out of the shadows looked
horrible.

Maybe this will help. But next time, tell them you need time enough to
properly work on them, as it is a tedious and slow job restoring old photos
well.

Wendy
C-Tech Volunteer

colin.steadman@gmail.com

2006-05-04, 8:38 pm

Thanks Wendy!

hose legs are very problematic. Although I'm unhappy with the one's on
the left, I think I can live with them. Thought I will try touching
them up as you suggested. Its really the one's on the lady I'm really
struggling with. I'm thinking about bringing the originals back and
just leaving them as they are, perhaps with a slight lightrning and
smooth. At least they'd look the right shape and real. Mine look too
painted on and... weird!

Yes, I think more time would have helped a lot. I'm really rushing
things along to try and finish them and having to leave the smaller
imperfections. I'm trying to remove the big tears and obvious stuff
and letting the rest be.

Regards,

Colin

Dan

2006-05-05, 7:16 pm

On 4 May 2006 12:04:13 -0700, "colin.steadman@XXXXXXXXXX"
<colin.steadman@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote:

>Yes, I think more time would have helped a lot. I'm really rushing
>things along to try and finish them and having to leave the smaller
>imperfections. I'm trying to remove the big tears and obvious stuff
>and letting the rest be.

Didn't catch the whole thread. Sounds like you're doing several
photos.

How about this:
Do one photo completely and give out the others only partially done.
Then tell the folks how time consuming the work is, and mail the rest
as you finish them up. Sounds like somebody put a lot of pressure on
you, and that's not fair! :)

--
Regards,
Dan

__

--

gregfarr

2006-05-07, 3:51 am

On 4 May 2006 01:55:16 -0700, "colin.steadman@XXXXXXXXXX"
<colin.steadman@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote:

>I've been asked to fix half a dozen old B&W photos by a friend for his
>wifes elderly farthers birthday. I've only got a couple of weeks, so
>dont have much time to spend on each one (I'll be doing this primarily
>in my lunch break). I've had a go at the first couple using the clone
>tool quite heavily, the scratch remover and a few of the image
>adjustment tools like edge preserving smooth, lighten/darken and smart
>photo fix. At first glance I think I've done an OK-ish job. But I
>also think I've maybe ruined some parts of the photo. There legs look
>terrible! And I think I've maybe destroyed detail in the middle and
>lower parts of the photo.
>
>I would appreciate any feedback on whats right and more importantly
>what I've completely cocked up, plus any suggestions on what I could do
>to improve things.
>
>This image shows the source scan and my progress so far:
>
>http://www.colinsteadman.com/two_ladies.jpg
>
>And this is another image I've had a crack at (the first one I tried
>actually):
>
>http://www.colinsteadman.com/sportsday.jpg
>
>TIA,
>
>Colin

One thing I do it paint instead of cloning all, make your brush with
soft edges and a fair amount of steps to not fill in everything on a
stroke, the same applies to the cloner, no hard edges, and low on
opacity and the other one. I use around percent.

Greg
http://gregsplace.50megs.com
http://www.picturetrail.com/fugitive1