Restoration

[ZipedX]

Hi guys/gals.

Got inspired to give a photo I recived from a friend about two years back another go.

So I thought I would post the original here and then keep you updated on the progress.
My main reason for this is to learn from critique and to try out any new techniques you might offer.
Also it's a good kick in the butt.

Original:



Stage 1:

* Crop. Not really a crop just covered what I think I will crop using layer mask.
* Contrast adjustment
* Begun scratch and dust removal.

 

[dv8_fx]

So far, so good..... keep going.....

.....

Want some? I usually bring a basket of balut.....

 

[Tom Mann]

If this was a well paying job, I would do things quite differently, especially at the start.

1. I wouldn't take a photo of it with a Canon G9 and save the image as a fairly highly compressed, 8 bits per channel JPG. Rather, I would scan it on a good scanner at 16 bpc, and save the result as a lossless compressed TIF. The reason is fairly obvious if you peek ahead at the masks I developed -- look at all the horrible JPG compression artifacts.

2. My next step would be to bring the TIF into ACR and correct the image for lens (ie, pillow) and geometric (eg, keystone-like) distortions. Doing this instead of immediately masking or cropping will guarantee that you aren't throwing away any areas near the edges of the image. If you had scanned this instead of re-photographed it, this step probably wouldn't even be necessary. BTW, notice that my corrections were designed to restore the rectangular border of the print to a rectangular shape, NOT to correct the keystone and other distortions present on the original image. That can be done later, if it is deemed appropriate from a conservation POV.

3. At this point, I would make two copies. One with only the distortion corrections. This will be be used later. The second copy has the distortion corrections, but also has contrast, clarity and vibrance / saturation cranked all the way up so that it's easy to automatically distinguish between the different types of damage to the print.

The reason for doing so is that the areas that faded to (a) a cool tone have a very different chemistry, and hence, a very different noise / grain character, as well as very different contrast compared to areas that (b) changed to a dark sepia, (c) areas that changed to a light sepia, (d) areas where the surface of the area was pulled off and now stand out as yellow-orange. For the best combination of noise reduction and recovery of detail in each of these areas, they must be treated separately.

Here is the 2nd version, followed by the various masks I created:

1. Distortions corrected, contrast, etc all cranked up to distinguish the various types of damage.



2. Mask for the cyan-blue areas:



3. Mask for the yellow-orange areas (ie, where spots flaked or peeled off the print):



4. Mask for the dark sepia areas:




5. Mask for the light sepia areas:




More later about how one uses these various masks to extract maximum detail (at minimum noise) from the image.

Tom

 

[chrisdesign]

Very interesting approach Tom.

 

[Tom Mann]

I developed this approach after studying Ctein's book, "Digital Restoration from Start to Finish: How to repair old and damaged photographs" back around 2007, particularly the section on how to deal with the various colored glosses and stains that often mar old prints.

There is a newer version of this book. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who wants to learn how to repair old photos. I find it much better than the books by Katrin Eismann.

T

 

[Tom Mann]

BTW, Chris, my approach is quite analogous to the frequency separation approach you use so effectively. The only difference is that here, my initial partitioning of the image is done on the basis of hue, saturation, and brightness, and, only later, after these aspects are taken care of, then, it can be partitioned on the basis of spatial frequencies for the actual repair work.

T

 

[ALB68]

Lazy Sunday afternoon. I took a shot at this one. One of the main things I did was to use Topaz's B&W Effects-Traditional-High Contrast Detailed (I think) I worked on the pixelation with my trusty Mixer Brush tool. Used spot healing, burn tool etc.

 

[ZipedX]

Well I can't really change how the picture got digitized, but I'll take your opinion to heart when I do this in the future. However the format is CR2, if that's any better.

I'll include a link later today, about when I start over trying Tomms approach.

 

[Tom Mann]

Yup, the results you will get from the cr2 file will likely be much better than what you get if you start with an 8 bpc JPG. The reason is that in both the shadow and bleached areas, you are effectively trying to amplify small differences in brightness in each of the color channels. You can resolve such differences dozens of times better when working with a raw file (usually, around 12 or 14 bits per channel) than after the info contained in it has been cooked down to just 8 bpc.

Also, to be honest, even if you do start with a raw file, there's still no guarantee that any differences that you see will actually contain useful information (...vs being nothing but noise), but if useful info is there, you'll at least have a chance to see it.

BTW, I can't work on this tutorial today because I'm shooting a graduation ceremony, but I'll try to get back to it before I leave on a 2 week trip this Friday.

Tom

 

[ZipedX]

Sorry for the late reply. But a man gotta eat.

Tom I'm really thankful for the input I got and will try out your methods as best I can. I will however be a slow poster with the updates due to work, family and what not. So your more than welcome back after your trip. I'll probably still be grinding this then. I'm also going for a one week trip starting the 10th.

Below is the promised link. It includes the original .CR2 + my current .psd.
Restoration

Anyone and everyone is welcomed to have a look and pass critique. I see this as a work in progress and will try out diffrent techniques and weigh speed vs result. I hope to learn as much as I can and post my observations here for you to disagree or agree with.


Thanks all it means alot that you spent some of your precious time here.

 

[ZipedX]

Project Tom Status Report

• Started over my restoration attempt using the steps provided by Tom.
• Ordered Digital Restoration from start to finish (2010) by Ctein for 231SEK or 32,76USD.

Okay so that sums up the latest hour or so. I'll be returning to my first version for some dust and scratch removal and then get back to Toms version if and when he feels like continuing the steps. Included my masks below for referens.

The link below contains all files for this project if anyone is interested. I will link this continuously at the bottom from now on but not make any more reference to it.


Question

• How did/do you go about creating the diffrent layer masks? I looked for the RGB channel I thought most appropiate for the issue I wanted to fix, made a copy and then worked with levels/dodge burn.

Layer Masks​

Cyan-Blue


Yellow-Orange


Dark Sepia


Light Sepia


Restoration

 

[dv8_fx]

WOW... talk about humongous huge psd's, zipedX. I think I'll download in a few more days when my broadband quota refreshes.

I'd love to see how Tom's tutelage looks like in a work file.....

 

[ZipedX]

WOW... talk about humongous huge psd's, zipedX. I think I'll download in a few more days when my broadband quota refreshes.

Terribly sorry to hear that dv8 would have loved to get your input.

Good sir could you point me to the scale down the file size losslessly button?

...
...

Don't tell me there is on isn't it?

 

[dv8_fx]

Lol... it's ok.... I'm taking the plunge as curiosity taking hold.... nothing wrong with just one 120MB.....

 

[ZipedX]

Looking forward to your input.

Hope you get something out of it it's still a work in progress and not to much in it yet, even though the file size is what it is.
I'll be updating it as soon as I'll have some spare time again.

Over and out for tonight.

 

[ZipedX]

My own Trial and error Status Report


Well havn't really had a loads of spare time, and honestly I'm a bit puzzled about how I should proceed.
At the moment I'm almost finished with the basic dust and scratch removal. I still have a huge splotch of something smack in the middle of the picture that probably is gonna cause me some headache...
Also there is something almost like a film with dust covering the picture, which don't want to be peeled of...
Lastly I still have a dog ear at the bottom that I'm just skipping at the moment.



Question for any audience I might have in my struggles.
dv8 pointed out the fact that my psd size isn't so small as I thought it to be yesterday.
So I was wondering if anyone is interested in a version with lower resolution. Say 72ppi or what not?

Anyways here is the current version.


Restoration