Digital Darkroom: Restoring Old or Damaged Photos
From "Digital Photography"
episode DPG-103 -- More Projects »
With a scanner and some photo-enhancing software, you can create duplicate images of old photos and digitally eliminate scratches, cracks or spots that appear on the original. This is a process that until fairly recently would have involved sending your photographs to a retouch specialist. Now you can do the same thing at home on your PC. You may even be able to enhance the duplicate image so that it looks better than the original -- bringing out contrast and detail and counteracting the effects of aging and fading.
The first step is to digitize the image so that it can be loaded onto your computer. To do this, you'll need a scanner -- a computer accessory that acts much like a copy machine but creates digital rather than paper duplicates of images. The scanned image is imported into the computer as a digital file.
Lay your photo face down on the scanner (figure A) and scan in the image according to the instructions that come with your scanning software.
With the image scanned into your computer (figure B), you're ready to begin work restoring and enhancing the image.
Removing Water Spots or Age Spots In our demonstration, the aged family photo had some spots due to aging as well as a prominent crack and some fading. To remove the spots from the digital image: - Use the Zoom tool to magnify the area of the image with one of the age spots so that it is easily visible.
- Select the Clone-Stamp tool, sometimes called the rubber-stamp tool (figure C). This tool allows you to sample a small area from the photograph -- from a location near the spot you'll be removing -- and superimpose this sampled section over the damaged spot.
- The stamp tool works in such a way as to avoid visible, sharp lines, and effectively replace the discoloration with the corrected color, shade and pattern (figure D). With a little practice in sampling, you'll be able to remove most imperfections so that correction is virtually invisible.
Fixing a Cracked or Scratched Photo Surface imperfections like cracks (figure E) and scratches can also be removed from a digitized photo using similar methods: - Use the zoom tool to magnify the area of the image with the crack.
- Select the clone-stamp tool. With that tool selected, we opted for a smaller brush size (figure F) since the width of the crack is fairly narrow. This tool allows you to sample a small area from the photograph -- from a location near the spot you'll be removing -- and superimpose this sampled section over the damaged spot.
- The stamp tool is used in much the same way that it was to remove the age spot, sampling from the areas near the crack and then, bit by bit, replacing the lighter crack area with the darker surrounding areas (figure G). This technique requires a little artistry, but you'll get better with practice. The advantage of doing this digitally is that, if you should make a mistake, you can simply rescan the photo original and try again.
The results are a restored photo-duplicate (figure H) with the damaged areas digitally "repaired."You may want to go a step or two further, however: - Old photographs are sometimes lacking in contrast and definition because of the limitations of early photo techniques, and age may worsen this problem with fading. You may be able to bring out some detail and definition and make for a more dramatic-looking image by adjusting the brightness and contrast (figure I ) under the "Enhance" menu. Make these adjustments slowly and carefully to avoid overadjusting.
- Photoshop also provides burning and dodging tools, which emulate a technique used in real darkrooms. With these digital tools, you can judiciously lighten particular areas to accentuate detail. A common use of burning is to darken the outer areas in a portrait, drawing the viewer's focus to the subject at the center of the photo.
- Another technique you might try is to use the dodging tool -- selecting a very small brush size -- to brighten the whites of a portrait subject's eyes.
The cumulative effect of contrast adjustment and selective burning and dodging can result in a more dramatic photo (figure J). These techniques can be used in a variety of ways in other types of photos as well. Read the manual and documentation that come with your image software for more tips and examples.
RESOURCES :
Rick Sammon, professional photographer
Web site: www.ricksammon.com
Learn more about photography with Rick Sammon's new e-book on CD. More than 100 tips and photographs from Rick's travels around the world.
And check out Rick's column on Kodak's site:
Web site: www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/magazine/tips/2001_10
Rick Sammon
Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520
Email: RickSammon@aol.com
Website: www.ricksammon.com
Special Thanks for DIY's Digital Photography workshop, episodes 101-105
Adobe Photoshop
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PC Photo magazine
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Kodak
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Epson America, Inc.
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Kinkos
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Ulead Cool 360
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The Digital Wallet
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The L.A. County Arboretum
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Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Systems
Buffalo, NY 14240-1034
Website: www.adobe.com
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Digital Photography
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Author: Steven Greenberg
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Prentice Hall
Paramus, NJ 07652
Digital Photography For Dummies
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Author: Julie Adair King
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Hungry Minds, Inc.
Complete Digital Photography
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Author: Ben Long
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Charles River Media
Website: www.charlesriver.com/
50 Fast Digital Photo Techniques
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Author: Gregory Georges, Cris Rys
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Hungry Minds, Inc.
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