Photoshop Suggestion

[Loopy Lisa]

Upon the recent wanderings down nostalgia's road, I came across a picture of me when I was a wee lass, all of 3 or 4.

Back in those days, the pictures were like, 5" x 5" and the colour faded quickly which is such the case.

The picture is VERY sepia-tainted. It used to be full colour but from years of being hidden away in damp musty boxes in my parents basement, the tone of colour has taken on a shade of it's own.

My question is...how do I restore it as close to it's original colour? Is there a way I can use a couple of filters or something? I realize this may be one hell of a project in which it will require time and patience on my end, but it's a really cute pic of me and I wanted to restore it best I could so I could scan it in a little larger than what it is, print it off and frame it, and then give my Dad a copy (I didn't meet him till I was 17 and this pic was taken months after I saw him last) so he has a small part of my childhood.

I suppose the easiest way is that I could just black&white it. But the kind of pic it IS, B&W wouldn't be the right feel for the image...

So....any suggestions? I am not the most proficient person in PS, guess I could just take a class or buy a book but this question boils down to a specific thing so...thanks for your feedback.
~Lisa

[Broacher]

Try this:

Change the mode to LAB. Then create a Curves adjustment layer. Go to the A and B curves and stick a 0/0 control point. Go to the A curve, then take the ends (shadow/highlight) point and pull them in about a third-in. Repeat with B, tweaking to adjust for casts.

What this does is compress the colour saturation data in the Chroma channels. You can do the same thing with a Levels layer-- only the tweaking will be a little more restricted. It's good to have the Histograms up to see what you're compressing. By keeping things in LAB, you have more latitude than a conventional Saturation layer control. When you're happy with the results, move back to RGB. Sometimes I find that one colour will go fugitive to a greater degree than another on restorations, and as a result, a 'full band' AB compression will be unbalanced with some colours getting too saturated. That's where you might also want to use a 'select' colour layer to restore the balance--or, well, there's quite a few other things. I'd have to see the image.

[Loopy Lisa]

What I will do is scan the image in and post it...now how do I post images within a text response? Use photobucket and copy and paste the URL?
If so I can let you see what the pic looks like.
I thought of just screwing around with the curves too, but I figured that would just either darken or lighten the image not add depth or some kind of colour range.
What does LAB mean?

BTW thanks for the response. :-)

[morea]

use http://www.the-url-for-the-image.jpg

with no spaces between the link and the tags.

You can host for free at www.imageshack.us or www.tinypic.com

[Broacher]

LAB is great for colour saturation corrections because if you leave the 'L' channel alone, your image won't really darken or lighten--just the saturation of the colours.

L= Lightness (luminance)
A= the colour location along the red/green axis
B = the colour location along the blue/yellow axis

This colourspace encompasses the visible spectrum, one of the reasons it's used as a master space in Photoshop calculations. But that's also why it can be tricky to use: you can easily be working with data that's not even viewable on-screen, and as a result the controls can easily get too 'coarse' for practical use. Still, it's very powerful. Dan Margulis (colour guru) has even written a whole book about it's power in colour correction work (which I am anxious to own!).

[Loopy Lisa]

K let's try....

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o45/loopylisa1/Meat4yearsold.jpg

hope that works, i used photobucket. Thanks Morea :-)

Broacher - merci beaucoup for all the info, it def. helps

[Loopy Lisa]

Woohoo there I am! haha gotta love yard sales in the early 80's...

as you can see the pic is a little grainy (meh) but it's more the colour I am trying to correct. I shall try the LAB option and see how that works out. It doesn't have to be perfect but pret'damn near would be nice, lol.

I'll let cha know how I make out.

[josvandel]

Hey Loopy, that's a cute photo.
I had a wee play with it and came up with this result, not too bad I thought.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4291/me4yearsoldhz6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Loopy Lisa]

Jos, that's effing amazing! I highly doubt I could get it to look like that...so what do I owe ya? LOL...
I love how there is a hell of alot more detail in the background, it's too bad I look muddled...there should be a way to add some more green to that grass eh?

...and look, there's a lil' wee heart in the tree truck or rather it looks to be as such (just above my head).
I know I'm a sap....tree...haha get it?

Anyways, thanks so much for playing around with it. I will try my hand at it this weekend and see what I can come up with. Yer awesome, thanks!

[Ned]

Nice work, Jos, but you need to tone down the sharpening on the child's face. Those shadows are way too harsh (of course, you're also working on a low-res comp, so that's understandable). The colors and background detail is great. I would take the original layer (hope you saved that on a layer), and blend it back in, in the facial area.

Can you post some details of what you did to the photo, for Lisa's sake?

[josvandel]

double post, poo...:mad:

[josvandel]

Hi guys, I applied a few plugins actually. Unfortunately there is no detail in the deep shadows in the eye sockets so they will always be that dark. Some things are gone forever sometimes.
First I aplied Kodak's Digital ROC (Restore Original Colour), then took out the strong linen texture with Neat Image (a noise reducing plugin) then got rid of all the little artifacts with Polaroid's Dust and Scratch tool. Used the shadow/highlight tool to lighten the shadowsas much as I could. Played with the colour balance a little as the yellows had come up very strong, and there you are. Took about 6 minutes.
I do this sort of thing a lot, so I'm pretty good at making some judgements quickly as to what I can do. More time and effort would make the whole thing a bit more subtle of course.
:)

[Ned]

Unfortunately there is no detail in the deep shadows in the eye sockets so they will always be that dark. Some things are gone forever sometimes.

Well, I would have to disagree with that, actually. If you were doing a full restoratin job, all those pieces could be brought back through careful repainting. I have restored completely butchered photographs, where entire faces were missing, and have restored them back.

However, I wouldn't expect you to do this with an image that you're just playing with for free (and again on a low-res comp), of course, but I'm just saying that given the time and effort, anything is possible, and no, there's very little that can be totally lost forever.

It's more the harsh transitions between shadows in the mouth area, and secondly the eye area that I was more concerned about...

Nonetheless, you did a great job. I would not have been able to create such results in that amount of time. It would take me a long time to do a careful restoration job on that photograph. Your work with the colors I'm most impressed with. I looked at the histograms for that image, and it is VERY lacking in color range. Good job!

[Broacher]

A lot depends too, on the scan. I've worked on historical images that seem almost totally washed out that have 'come back to life' when scanned with a good scanner. Many can 'see' a lot more in areas where we see nothing.

[Loopy Lisa]

hey what if i re-scan it in at a much higher DPI would that help with the facial expression to become clearer and more defined as opposed to muddled...

Ned - I assumed he did what was posted by Broacher...but yes any further deets would be muchly appreciated. :-)

[Ned]

hey what if i re-scan it in at a much higher DPI would that help with the facial expression to become clearer and more defined as opposed to muddled...

Absolutely, it would help a lot. I usually scan at 600-1200 dpi (my Harddrive and RAM isn't that big, or I'd go higher), depending on the dimensions of the photograph, for restoration projects. However, you couldn't post a scan that size here, that's just for your own use. :D

The best is if you can take the negatives through a proper negative scanner (a drum scanner, not an adapter for a flatbed scanner). That will produce the best results, but you would have to find a professional with the right equipment to do that, as I doubt you would have it.

[Tea]

I had fun trying to restore the color to your photo and learned a few new things on the way. Unfortunately, it was not quite up to par with the one Josvandel posted. Fun project though.

[Loopy Lisa]

:D
Glad that I could help pass the time by guys...girls...um, ppl.
Well I shall scan 'er in at a higher res and see what kind of restoration I can come up with. If anything, it's a good thing to add to my resume of skills which, ahem, are lacking. (don't know if that was obvious or not)

Either/or, thanks for all the responses!

[Alan G]

Try this Lisa: Duplicate the background layer, then go into Levels adjust the black and white sliders in each color channel (NOT the RGB combined channel) to the beginning of the histogram on their respective sides. This will bring the image into the ballpark, if not totally handle the issue. From there you can adjust curves, tweak the color, sharpen, etc. I'd recommend not trying to get "perfect" color: color wasn't perfect in them there days.

There are plenty of other techniques, including going via Lab if you've the eye for it, but the above works beautifully 99% of the time.

[Alan G]

Lisa: putting my pixel where my keyboard is, here's the result of that one channel move. I like that it retains the original late-afternoon light color.

http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/2148/lisavm1.jpg

[Alan G]

Nice work, Jos, but you need to tone down the sharpening on the child's face. Those shadows are way too harsh (of course, you're also working on a low-res comp, so that's understandable). The colors and background detail is great. I would take the original layer (hope you saved that on a layer), and blend it back in, in the facial area.

I think my main argument with Jos's effort is the loss of the original late-afternoon atmosphere. On my screen the highlights also look totally blown out, but that may simply be a display artifact.

[Broacher]

All scanners are not created equal. Some will give you true 16 bit greyscale, but it's really the dynamic range of the scanner that will get you the best range. Or, you can also try a multi-scan. Two, or even three scans, with different tonal targets, then composited in Pshop (using Layer blending controls).

[josvandel]

This is quite fun, I just blended my version with Alan's and came up with this.
Without getting too fussy I reckon it's pretty good. This is the sort of thing I would charge a customer about NZ40. Including the file on a cd and a 6x4 print. Usually bring tears of happiness to their eyes.

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8379/me4yearsold2bd6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Loopy Lisa]

I'd recommend not trying to get "perfect" color: color wasn't perfect in them there days.

haha it was if you dropped Acid, lol...but I see your point. Nice job BTW. You guys are like (sighs in awe) so talented.

T.Y.

[Loopy Lisa]

This is the sort of thing I would charge a customer about NZ40. Including the file on a cd and a 6x4 print. Usually bring tears of happiness to their eyes.

So what's that (NZ40) in Canadian funds? LOL...doncha love playing Gods of Photoshop to someone who knows so little about? Makes you stroke that ego a lil' bit eh? :-)

[josvandel]

So what's that (NZ40) in Canadian funds? LOL...doncha love playing Gods of Photoshop to someone who knows so little about? Makes you stroke that ego a lil' bit eh? :-)
Yep being a god definitely has appeal!
:)

NZ$1.00 is about US$0.70, no idea how that compares to Canadian though.
I would normally spend quite a bit more time on a job than I did on that little challenge, it was 11.30 at night here when I did that quick one, just couldn't resist it. Even joined the forum to post my attempt.
I am a moderator on the graphics.com forums (http://graphics.com/) and look in on these ones occasionally.
:)

My website:
www.jos.co.nz (http://www.jos.co.nz)

[Ned]

If a New Zealand dollar's about 70 cents US, then it's not far off from the Canadian dollar, which is worth about 80 cents USD.

[Loopy Lisa]

Actually according to xe.com, NZ40 is $32.6913 CAD.

[Drazan]

I actually used to have a shirt just like that when I was little. If I recall correctly is was a real pale pink.

I didn't even know this was about photo correction - or I would have posted a lot sooner. This is something that I have done time and time again, not only for myself but for others who do have that one photo that means so much.

Let me know if you want source files. But to let you know they are all in Jasc PSP 9 format. A cheep program that can do wonders for photos. This is about 3 hours of tweaking it. For the last hour it's mostly trying to recover and enhance details - the difference between #5 & #6. This one was definitely a toughy.

http://jadeadragon.com/shared/thegirl/the_girl_progress.jpg

The final result.
http://jadeadragon.com/shared/thegirl/the_girl6.jpg

If you want it clearer and less artifacts - I can do it, but it goes into the realm of photo painting to restore it. Photo painting can be very time consuming.

PM me if you want source files or even the large version which is interpolated to a larger size to help work with it.

Hope you like.
=)
Jade

[fredrich]

Let me know if you want source files. But to let you know they are all in Jasc PSP 9 format. A cheep program that can do wonders for photos. This is about 3 hours of tweaking it. For the last hour it's mostly trying to recover and enhance details - the difference between #5 & #6. This one was definitely a toughy.

Ah, not only me using Paint Shop Pro. I've got the Corel XI version. I've never really gotten used to Photoshop, because shortcuts and stuff I've gotten used to in PSP makes me work faster in it. Much cheaper than Photoshop, but still nice for photo editing in my opinion.

[Loopy Lisa]

Drazan - wow that's amazing...and yes the shirt was a pale pink, lol...it was my most favouritest shirt to wear. I actually like the 4th one the best. It's a little faded but the shadows are also not so dominate...then again when you are working with only what I posted (which was just a quick photo scan through my Lexmark printer for pete's sake) guess one could only do so much. LOL. But I appreciate you taking the time out to play with the image nonetheless...all of you, thanks.

I'm all poopy cause I spent the last half hour trying to fuss with it and never got it past looking like I just adjusted the curves. Got as far as changing it to LAB but that's about it. I couldn't figure out how to adjust the colour channels or anything, so I put it away until later when I am not so frustrated. I have to keep in mind that I know nothing about PS so I can't expect myself to do it right on the first try. :-(

Oh well I am going to Chapters today, might as well look at buying a PS book or something then reading up on the How To's to become proficient in this program, lol.

PaintShop Pro eh...haha at first I thought you were referring to PlayStation Portable or something (I know DUH) cause I've never heard of PaintShop Pro before...does it work better than CDPP and where could I get it, WalMart?

[Drazan]

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1155872554948

It was bought by Corel as a photo editing software. It has unique filters specifically for photos adjustment.

I used about 30 layers of different things to reduce color fade and pull out the details.

I've used PSP since v3 maybe even earlier, so I have a more intuative know how on what to do. It's not hard to learn at all, there's a whole menu that actually says "photo fix". and it is inexpensive at less than $100. You could probably find it at a best buy store, but I haven't seen it at walmart.


#4 is still just color adjusted, it was a step before I started clearing out the lines.
http://jadeadragon.com/shared/thegirl/the_girl4.jpg

[Drazan]

would you mind terribly if I used this for my portfolio?