can someone help me save this photo,or tell me how

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

03/25/2007 09:32:55 AM · #1

I have this photo of my Mom and her Best Friend that was taken 25yrs ago on a polaroid. It actually is the 'only' photo of them together. (Danny was killed in a car accident a couple months after this was taken)

As you can see it is cracking and falling apart. I have scanned it and photgraphed it to at least preserve it in this state before it completely falls apart. I have tried to repair it but I am not doing it justice. I have been using the healing brush on Elements. That is the only thing I know to do.

Can someone help me, either lending your hand or directing my hand and telling me what steps I should try instead. I don't need the whole photo I will crop it to just include Mom and Danny.

I appreciate any advice given.

darnok

Nikon D850

03/25/2007 09:39:39 AM · #2

I have found that the healing brush does not work so well on continuous lines, if you only heal the middle of a line it will use the rest of the line to match blend to. You should use the clone tool, zoom in to 200% (maybe even more), and clone out the cracks using samples very close.

I don't know a quick and easy way to do this, you will have to work very slowly and meticulously to get it right. Also clone onto a new layer so that you can reverse and bad clones.

I would also take the photo to a place that can scan it professionally, higher resolution photos are easier to clone on.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

03/25/2007 09:41:40 AM · #3

Thats just the kind of advice I need.....I was finding the 'healing brush problem' you described but didn't know what else to do...

I also didn't want to spend weeks trying to make the healing brushe work if there was another way.

Thanks.

darnok

Nikon D850

03/25/2007 09:44:33 AM · #4

I find that the healing brush works best on an isolated object, such as a patch of dust or mark. As long as there is relatively uniform area around the spot, the healing brush works very well, much less work than the clone tool. For complicated jobs the clone tool works best, the automation with the healing brush doesn't always blend the way you want it to.

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

03/25/2007 10:07:24 AM · #5

As others have said, for the best results, the cloning tool is going to be the tool of choice. That, and a lot of long, meticulous work.

If, on the other hand, you're in a hurry and don't need perfect results... here's a pretty quick method to clean up most of the cracks and scratches:

1) Duplicate the layer
2) Click Filters | Noise | Scratches and adjust the pixel radius to take out most of the scratches (in this case, the rest of the image will be severely blurred as well). Click Ok.
3) ALT-click the mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette. This creates a black mask and hides everything you just did (so the scratches become visible again).
4) Now with a small white brush, go back and trace over the cracks. This will take some time ... but nowhere near the amount of time necessary to use the clone tool.

Here are the results I got after just a few minutes of work:

Now, beware, this technique works on this photo because there is not a lot of detail anyway. But on a highly detailed image, I think the "blurred lines" would actually be more distracting than the crack lines! So this isn't a cure all... just a quick band-aid that works for some kinds of images.

Message edited by author 2007-03-25 10:07:52.

Louis

Nikon D800

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

03/25/2007 10:12:37 AM · #6

A patient combination of cloning and healing will fix this, but it will take time. Consider this image:

The photographer is no longer a member, but scroll down about 3/4 of the way down the page to find his own comment on this picture, and you'll see a thumb of the original. In the original, there is a netting enclosure between the bird and the photographer. Your picture instantly reminded me of his as far as the necessary steps to correct it go.

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

03/25/2007 10:48:27 AM · #7

dwterry....WOW....omg... Thank you....that is a fabulous 'few minutes'. Much better than my attempted hours over the last month..

I will now try to mix and match with your process....

Louis, what another fabulous referenced example.

You all have now let me know that it is not a lost cause and is salvageable.

Thank you!

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

03/25/2007 11:18:57 AM · #8

PS CS2 and above has a tool designed specifically for this job: the "spot healing brush". It works especially well if you have a pen tablet, though you can mouse with it fine also. You just set the diameter to slightly larger than the cracks and draw over them. The following, half-done example took less than 3 minutes.

I left it half-done on purpose, btw, for comparison. If you enlarge it you will see details around his eyes that could benefit from a little reconstruction, but in the main this is very fast and efficient. BE SURE to do your work on a new layer!

R.

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

03/25/2007 12:51:08 PM · #9

Here's a quick take, using the standard clone tool. Details on the photo description. I still prefer this tool to the other available tools. It requires care in the distance and direction, but usually yields much better results where specific patterns and/or light and shadow have to blend in certain directions or at a specific repeat frequency.
My recommendations are:
- Carefully clean the surface of the print of all loose dust. this is *very* important. Even dust that you cannot see with the naked eye will show up on the scan.
- Scan at at least 300 DPI preferably 600
- Clone carefully on the large-size file, and later resize downward as required.

Edit, OK, LOL, let's get the correct image number :-P

Message edited by author 2007-03-25 12:53:29.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/25/2007 01:40:46 PM · #10

Kirbic and Bear...
Thank you....I'm sure my version will not come out as good as your quick fixes...but I am very grateful that you have all pointed me to the proper tools and processes.

My Mom will be SOOO happy! Thank you everyone!

Message edited by author 2007-03-25 13:58:16.

Artifacts

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

03/25/2007 02:03:22 PM · #11

There is a bit more to image restoration we might be oversimplifing it a bit. Here are some considerations you might want to keep in mind:

1-Image restoration generally is not a quick and dirty 5 minute task and will, at some level, require time consuming closeup work for images you care about.

2-Image restoration is more an artform than a static technique that corrects everything.

3-As a first step you want to save your image in .tiff or another lossless format to prevent image digital artifacting like you get with multiple saves of a .jpg file.

4-Though there are great techniques, like dwterry described, that can aide in the process and help speed it up you will usually need to use a combination of tools to make an acceptable final result. Every image is unique with it's unique needs.

5-Always preserve your original in the BG layer. Make a duplicate layer or layers to work with.

6-Learn layer masking like is used in dwterry's example. Layer masking typically is one of the fastest and most easily recoverable ways to work on an image for fine detailed work, especially when it involves real data layer changes.

7-You want to work on your image at 200% magnification or more for fine detailed work.

8-72 dpi monitor resolution is deceptive. What looks casually acceptable on a monitor at can and often does show up like a sore thumb on a print.

9-Individual PS tools commonly used in image restoration for one thing or another are:
Clone
Blur
Healing (and/or Spot Healing)
and to a lesser degree..
Sharpen
Eraser

You will want to experiment with each tool to get a feel for how to use it and determine which works best for specific needs. You likely will use more than one in your restoration work.

Message edited by author 2007-03-25 14:07:49.

LindaLee

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

03/25/2007 04:11:36 PM · #12

Here's my try at it, took about 15 minutes:

crop
duplicate layer
90% spot healing brush
some low opacity cloning
fix red eyes
Noise Ninja - smooth/sharpen
adjust color
add layer w/soft light to burn edges a bit (now that I look at it again, I probably should have done something with that light, oh well)