What's new
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Restoration Really dark and damaged needs a restore


Paul Boyo white

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Likes
13
Hi its been a long while since I have been here .
Life gets in the way these days to even think about playing with photos
My wife discovered this very old photo of her grandmother in a shed of all places it was not flat and its very very dark .

I would be very happy if someone could make it better than it is now and try to get her grandmother back as at least something legible

old photo .jpg
 

thebestcpu

Guru
Messages
2,988
Likes
2,747
I like Gary's rendition.
I also wanted to point out thought that when significant restoration work is required, the quality of the end result is dependent on the quality of the original scan/shot.
In particular, the image thought great resolution is in highly compressed JPEG format. That is 8 bit depth quality and a lot of information is lost. In the attached picture I have put the original in the UL corner, the luminosity component in the UR corner (tone adjusted), Saturation component in LL corner (tone adjusted), and Hue in the LR corner.
In particular, with the Saturation and Hue component you can see major blocking on the order of 16 pixels by 16 pixels and larger. This limits the range of restoration techniques that will work on the image.
You may not be able or have the time to get a better original yet wanted to put that option out there. There are two much better options
1) Scan to TIFF format in 16 bit depth at the same resolution that you used.
2) Have the image photographed at high resolution on a copy stand where the side lights can be adjusted to avoid having the light reflections on the silvering on the image.

Just depends on much time and effort you want to put in as well as how important the best final quality you desire.
Just some thoughts for consideration
John Wheeler

old-photo-components.jpg
 

Paul Boyo white

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Likes
13
I did leave the photo inside the scanner to try get it to flatten down a bit over the past few days .
Its really hard these days to get thngs done as we have an Autistic son who in this lockdown we are in is fully demanding constantly .later today I will try get the scan redone in tiff format if I can work out how the damn thing works .
 

thebestcpu

Guru
Messages
2,988
Likes
2,747
Having seen my daughter deal with three demanding kids in lockdown I have a little sense of the stress and issues. There is no rush as forum members will be around to help if and whenever you have enough time freed up. New posts pop up to the top of the stack so it won't get lost. If you have scannng difficulties and need help with the scanner software, there might be forum members that could provide advice there as well. Gary has already provided a nice restoration of your image so you can look at something down the road as a possible enhancement to consider. Take care of yourself and all the best.
John Wheeler
 

ph_o_e_n_ix

Well-Known Member
Messages
119
Likes
138
If reflections still occur when scanning, then simply scan the image several times (rotated 90/180/270 °). You can often create a pretty good picture from it.

Some days ago, I explained another solution (which can destroy your photo)

 

Paul Boyo white

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Likes
13
Ii have rescanned them in different places on the scan bed now and are in tiff format if this helps .
 

Attachments

  • Scan.zip
    11.2 MB · Views: 4

thebestcpu

Guru
Messages
2,988
Likes
2,747
The TIFF image helped yet still some issues with the scan. Here is a partial restore with the best I can do for now. I tried to focus on keeping some detail (hard to know what is supposed to be there and not) and also remove (paint over) some defects. Much left to do yet hope you appreciate the attempt
John Wheeler

old-photo--Partial-repair.jpg
 

thebestcpu

Guru
Messages
2,988
Likes
2,747
BTW - there are some more advance scanning techniques that might help the repairs yet would involve through the print scanning by specialized scanner, scanner software, and techniques. I suspect much of the additional detail is hidden by what appears to be silvering on the surface of the image with the detail hiding right below the surface. So don't get rid of the original in case you one day want to take that next step.
 

Top