Help restoring a old photo

[billysew]

Hi, I've recently started using photoshop and have been given some old pictures of family members. Is it possible to restore images to a perfect picture and maybe even add colour?

Thank you in advance

 

[Zeealex]

try and use this tutorial to help you out with the cracks...
Repair Old Photos with Photoshop-Photoshop Training
and post it up, we will be able to help out with the recoloring from there.

 

[Sierraccr]

Yes, it is.

It's very time-consuming and exacting work - it takes days of work to do justice to a photograph like this one. The photo restoration class at my local college is a full semester just on black and white.

I love restoring black and white photographs and if you want me to do this one to show you what can be done, I don't mind. Just PM me.

I'm crap at colorizing, though. I can't seem to get the hang of doing it so that it looks natural, but there are others on the board who are WAY better at it.

 

[Zeealex]

i can recolor the image if need be i love recoloring photos, the possibilities are endless.

 

[hawkeye]

It takes a lot of time and patience. You'll need to use many tools (clone, healing, painting, copy/paste, etc.). The clone tool will be used a lot, I advise you to do all work, including cloning, on separate layers.

Where parts are missing, look to other areas to copy or clone the missing parts. Sometimes there won't be any, so look to other photos if possible for the missing parts.

Take your time work slowly, and save often

 

[Steve]

Convert it to grayscale first.

Then I would suggest you at least double the size to at least 6X4.5 to smooth out some of the jagged lines.
Do all your cloning on a separate blank layer with the clone tool set to Current and below.

 

[HillyBill]

my concern is with the scratch or tear on his face. its terribly big. it could be done np but would be hard to make it genuine. do you have other pictures of this man?

 

[Steve]

Exactly Bill.
I'm playing with this image and that's the problem area.
A whole new face needs to be dropped in.

 

[HillyBill]

well even if you had a diff. photo of him it might work. you might be able to guess better what the jaw area looks like. i guess the only good thing is that its very dark in that area. but since we dont know what the face looks like no matter how well it turns out its just a guessing game.

 

[Steve]

I was playing with this.
I dropped a mouth and eyes in but the whole face needs to be replaced.
I Couldn't figure out what I was looking at with the mans left arm and hand, so I left it as is.

 

[HillyBill]

looks good! i think that is about the best you could do on the face. If his head was angled correctly one could cut the jaw out and flip it. but not a good angle for that either.

 

[Paul]

I like to leave some of the old stuff in, adds to the originality

 

[Paul]

All filled in with a hint of colour

 

[fenix]

adding another one to the collection

 

[billysew]

Wow im very impressed these are excellent

 

[Sierraccr]

I have two versions. The first one has a small blur on the background. The second does not. Let me know which one you like and I'll send you the file.

 

[billysew]

Please will you send me the second one?

 

[Steve]

Please will you send me the second one?

You said you have PS and several old photos.
We all posted images to show you it can be done.
Even though Sierraccr was nice enough to offer you a copy of her edit I would have expected a few questions on how to do this.

That's why we're here, to help you learn and improve your Photoshop skills.

 

[jacksondeli]

here i think you get your best answer, and i also learn..thanks also to all

 

[fenix]

Oh My God! It´s Yul Brynner!