Renovation of a photograph

Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World War.

Here is a copy of same:- https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

How best can the image be improved?

--
David B.

On 01/21/2018 01:10 PM, David B. wrote:
Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World War.

Here is a copy of same:-Â* https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

How best can the image be improved?


First, scan it with a flatbed scanner rather than photographing it, so
you won't have the shadows.
Second, those creases may show up less depending on which way you turn
the photo in the scanner, so try four scans rotating the photo a
quarter-turn for each one. Pick the best.
Third, I've seen much worse photos than this one. You are lucky to have
one that has held up so well. Convert it to black and white, increase
the contrast just a bit, and use cloning to get rid of the creases. Or
just leave it as is- it's an old photo, let it look old.
Finally, make (or have made) good quality prints for both you and your
sister. Go to an art supply store and get a low-acid envelope (or other
container) for the original, and store it someplace safe for your
grandchildren.

--
Ken Hart

On 01/21/2018 03:30 PM, Ken Hart wrote:
On 01/21/2018 01:10 PM, David B. wrote:
Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World
War.

Here is a copy of same:-Â* https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

How best can the image be improved?


First, scan it with a flatbed scanner rather than photographing it, so
you won't have the shadows.
Second, those creases may show up less depending on which way you turn
the photo in the scanner, so try four scans rotating the photo a
quarter-turn for each one. Pick the best.
Third, I've seen much worse photos than this one. You are lucky to have
one that has held up so well. Convert it to black and white, increase
the contrast just a bit, and use cloning to get rid of the creases. Or
just leave it as is- it's an old photo, let it look old.
Finally, make (or have made) good quality prints for both you and your
sister. Go to an art supply store and get a low-acid envelope (or other
container) for the original, and store it someplace safe for your
grandchildren.




Excellent advice.

I agree. Fix it up a bit perhaps but do not over-do it.

Some imperfections will help show the age.


Were I doing it, I'd increase the contrast a bit and reduce the creases
and that would be about it.

On Jan 21, 2018, Ken Hart wrote
(in article ):

On 01/21/2018 01:10 PM, David B. wrote:
Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World War.

Here is a copy of same:- https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

How best can the image be improved?

First, scan it with a flatbed scanner rather than photographing it, so
you won't have the shadows.
Second, those creases may show up less depending on which way you turn
the photo in the scanner, so try four scans rotating the photo a
quarter-turn for each one. Pick the best.
Third, I've seen much worse photos than this one. You are lucky to have
one that has held up so well. Convert it to black and white, increase
the contrast just a bit, and use cloning to get rid of the creases. Or
just leave it as is- it's an old photo, let it look old.
Finally, make (or have made) good quality prints for both you and your
sister. Go to an art supply store and get a low-acid envelope (or other
container) for the original, and store it someplace safe for your
grandchildren.

Here is a fix from a flatbed scan.
The big caveat is to be patient and meticulous with all the correction work
in PS, and use layers.

Original scan with fix:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jsx3yqdarmf39js/screenshot_275.png

Fix without matte:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uoci40wrucsolgl/E-05AACV1440.jpg

Fix with matte:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjkbwdw0xg71x0b/E-05AACV1200.jpg

--

Regards,
Savageduck

In article , philo says...

On 01/21/2018 03:30 PM, Ken Hart wrote:
On 01/21/2018 01:10 PM, David B. wrote:
Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World
War.

Here is a copy of same:-* https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

snip

Were I doing it, I'd increase the contrast a bit and reduce the
creases
and that would be about it.

Just wondering if there is a way to make the detail in the photo more
visible besides increasing the contrast. Some fancy image processibg,
not sure if that exists.

By the way, seems that the lens which was used to take this photo wasn't
of very high quality. Or perhaps it's the combination of the lens and
the printing process which further reduced the detail.
--
Alfred Molon

Olympus E-series DSLRs and micro 4/3 forum at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/
http://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

On 1/21/18 5:54 PM, Alfred Molon wrote:
In article , philo says...

On 01/21/2018 03:30 PM, Ken Hart wrote:
On 01/21/2018 01:10 PM, David B. wrote:
Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World
War.

Here is a copy of same:- https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

snip

Were I doing it, I'd increase the contrast a bit and reduce the
creases
and that would be about it.

Just wondering if there is a way to make the detail in the photo more
visible besides increasing the contrast. Some fancy image processibg,
not sure if that exists.


image stability varies according to conditions,

for instance, if you knew the cycle of temperature, humidity, and light
exposure, you might be able to back out the keeping if you had an
original palette of the media and a palette of the media following the
same keeping conditions

might be a good invention to keep a small palette on an image and
original palette color data just for this purpose

next best thing would be some tuning "dials" from the media manufacturer
derived from typical keeping conditions

I might be coming at this from too much of an idealist point of view,
the "dials" might not have to be so specific to a media, just figure out
which "dials" fit best for ... stain, fade, etc.

hard to back out stain without selecting specific sections of an image,
hard to figure out what was somewhere when there was fade ...


By the way, seems that the lens which was used to take this photo wasn't
of very high quality. Or perhaps it's the combination of the lens and
the printing process which further reduced the detail.



--
Not a professional opinion unless specified.
dale - http://www.dalekelly.org/

In article , Ken Hart
wrote:

Second, those creases may show up less depending on which way you turn
the photo in the scanner, so try four scans rotating the photo a
quarter-turn for each one. Pick the best.

even if that did make a difference (it won't), only two orientations
would be needed.

On 21/01/2018 21:30, Ken Hart wrote:
On 01/21/2018 01:10 PM, David B. wrote:
Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World
War.

Here is a copy of same:-Â* https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

How best can the image be improved?


First, scan it with a flatbed scanner rather than photographing it, so
you won't have the shadows.
Second, those creases may show up less depending on which way you turn
the photo in the scanner, so try four scans rotating the photo a
quarter-turn for each one. Pick the best.
Third, I've seen much worse photos than this one. You are lucky to have
one that has held up so well. Convert it to black and white, increase
the contrast just a bit, and use cloning to get rid of the creases. Or
just leave it as is- it's an old photo, let it look old.
Finally, make (or have made) good quality prints for both you and your
sister. Go to an art supply store and get a low-acid envelope (or other
container) for the original, and store it someplace safe for your
grandchildren.

I appreciate your comments, Ken.

Thanks. :-)

On 21/01/2018 22:43, philo wrote:
On 01/21/2018 03:30 PM, Ken Hart wrote:
On 01/21/2018 01:10 PM, David B. wrote:
Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World
War.

Here is a copy of same:-Â* https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

How best can the image be improved?


First, scan it with a flatbed scanner rather than photographing it, so
you won't have the shadows.
Second, those creases may show up less depending on which way you turn
the photo in the scanner, so try four scans rotating the photo a
quarter-turn for each one. Pick the best.
Third, I've seen much worse photos than this one. You are lucky to
have one that has held up so well. Convert it to black and white,
increase the contrast just a bit, and use cloning to get rid of the
creases. Or just leave it as is- it's an old photo, let it look old.
Finally, make (or have made) good quality prints for both you and your
sister. Go to an art supply store and get a low-acid envelope (or
other container) for the original, and store it someplace safe for
your grandchildren.




Excellent advice.

I agree. Fix it up a bit perhaps but do not over-do it.

Some imperfections will help show the age.


Were I doing it, I'd increase the contrast a bit and reduce the creases
and that would be about it.

It's good to read that you are in agreement with Ken! :-)

You have my permission to play with the image I've already posted should
you wish to do so.

--
David B.

On 22/01/2018 00:55, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Sun, 21 Jan 2018 18:10:00 +0000, "David B."
wrote:

Hi

My elderly sister managed to send me a photograph today of our
grandfather. It was taken before he was killed during the first World War.

Here is a copy of same:- https://imgur.com/a/7XRdW

How best can the image be improved?

I suggest you post it at https://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum/ .
Requests like this are handled routinely in that forum, and some of
the results are spectacular. Make sure you title your post to include
that you want an old photo reconstructed.

In your post, specify that you would like to know what steps were
taken in the reconstruction, and that you would like to be able to
follow those steps yourself. State what you will be working with (eg:
CC2018, PS6, Elements, Lightroom, etc)*

Some of the "gurus" there will do the reconstruction, but if you ask
to be informed of the steps they'll provide screenshots. Even if you
want to take on this project yourself, you'll pick up some tips from
this group if someone takes on your project.

What you start with is going to greatly determine what you end up
with. The better your scan, the better starting point you have. The
higher the resolution at the scanning, the better the result. It
takes longer, but this isn't an issue with one photograph.

Hi Tony

Thank you so much for your link. I've been there to have a quick look
and have also enroled on the forum. I'll be returning for sure!

I've always thought that Photoshop is for 'professionals', not for
everyday 'home users' like me. Is it something that would make a world
of difference over the facilities now included with Apple's 'Photos'
software?
This looks like a photograph of a photograph, not a scan. The
lighting is poor and too much to the right. The depth of field is too
wide open. The focus point seems to be the lower right edge. Unless
you have a copy stand and the right lighting, a good scan is a better
starting point.

You are quite right! My sister took a photograph of the old snapshot
with her new iPad Pro and, after a number of failed efforts, was truly
delighted when she discovered that I'd received the image!

She's never used a computer nor a smart phone - EVER! It's a
considerable learning curve for an 81 year old! ;-)

Actually, you have a good subject to start with. Except for your
grandfather's lower left leg (on the right viewing the image), there's
no real need for reconstructing damaged or missing areas. The crack
across the face is a simple fix with the right software.

At Photoshop Gurus you aren't guaranteed that someone will work on it
unless you offer to pay, but most free requests get good responses.

That good to know, Thank you for your advice. :-)

*This is something you should do even in a newsgroup post. Without
knowing what tool box you'll be working with, people can't really give
useful instructions.

That's something I'll try to remember. I haven't any additional tools
above and beyond those included with Apple's High Sierra.

I did once experiment with GIMP on my old iMac but found it rather
complicated to use. Perhaps it's an age thing! ;-)

Once again, thanks for helping.

--
David B.