What’s Your Preference?

Grumby · #1 (**permalink**) 02-13-2010, 12:52 PM

I have just come across some 100 year old photos of my grandparents as youngsters. Here is one of them. They aren't bad quality considering, but I'd really like to tart them up and present them to my mum as a surprise.

I've had a bit of a play in photoshop and was able to repair the hole in the corner, but I really don't know how to go about improving the quality of the image itself. Can anyone give me any PP advice on this one?

Cheers
Grumby.

Dunk · #2 (**permalink**) 02-13-2010, 09:52 PM

This shot is great just as it is..I think! We would try hard to get a shot to look lik this one in photoshop..:-)

At least it is digitised for the future.....

Will watch with baited breath!

Dunks

mirt741 · #3 (**permalink**) 02-13-2010, 10:01 PM

I'm certainly no expert but I agree with Dunks. Great as is. Seems like it needs it's present character to convey it's age. Beautiful!

autofocus · #4 (**permalink**) 02-13-2010, 10:16 PM

Grumby, it looks like it's in pretty good shape, and she was a very pretty young woman. When I'm tasked with doing some photo restoration work the tools I tend to use most are: auto color, (works wonders in bringing back a faded and yellowed image) levels, clone tool / healing brush, dust and scratches tool, unsharp mask, etc. Re-doing a black and white particularly if it now has a color cast to it, and maybe doing a re-sepia treatment. It can be time consuming, but the results are often rewarding and will amaze your friends and family too!

Vince

Kaye · #5 (**permalink**) 02-13-2010, 10:50 PM

Love it just the way it is. Wish I had photos of my grandparents that were still in that good shape. You are very lucky and so is your Mom.

Grumby · #6 (**permalink**) 02-14-2010, 07:09 AM

Many thanks Vince for your advice on what tools may help, and everyone else for your comments. I'll give it a shot and post an 'after' for you in a few days

Cheers
Grumby

Grumby · #7 (**permalink**) 02-16-2010, 12:05 PM

Well, after a lot of work with the patch repair, healing brush, cutting and pasting, a little rotation, a pass through a sharpening filter, and then some desaturation and conversion to black & white, I've come up with the following.

BEFORE

and AFTER

I'm quite pleased with the result. I was toying with the idea of vignetting it - but I quite like this as it is.

Cheers
Grumby

Degilbo · #8 (**permalink**) 02-19-2010, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumby

Well, after a lot of work with the patch repair, healing brush, cutting and pasting, a little rotation, a pass through a sharpening filter, and then some desaturation and conversion to black & white, I've come up with the following.

BEFORE

and AFTER

I'm quite pleased with the result. I was toying with the idea of vignetting it - but I quite like this as it is.

Cheers
Grumby

Your parents are going to love that! Well done!

Cheers!

Lance

edbayani · #9 (**permalink**) 02-19-2010, 01:25 PM

i duplicated the layer and darkened the top layer to bring out details in the washed out areas and the carpet and the upholstery of the chair. applied layer mask and filled it with 30% gray to lighten it and used the brush to brush away the dark areas. flattened it and cloned the spots and tear at the top. desaturated and used color balance to ad the slight sepia tone.