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The photograph above shows
several of the
problems that can exist in vintage photographs. It can be seen
that the picture has darkened over time, and the original
image is virtually lost. This tutorial will take you through
step-by-step instructions on how you can digitally restore a photograph
like this one, and bring "New Life" to the old picture.
I use Adobe Photoshop to do the restoration. I feel
Photoshop is the most powerful tool for enhancing old
pictures. I am using Photoshop version 7.
Step 1) Crop the image.
Use the Photoshop cropping tool to remove
the excess part of the image.
Use the cropping tool to select just the
region of the photograph that you want to keep. Once the
image is selected, the cursor can be used to rotate the
selection. This is useful if the original image is not
completely square. This is the point that you can "square
up" the image. Once you have the image area selected, and
square, click on the cropping tool again. You will then end
up with just the section of the photograph that you want.
Cropped Image
2) Convert the Image to Grayscale
At this point, you will want to convert the
image to grayscale to continue the restoration. In
Photoshop, point at "Image" in the upper menu, select "Mode"
from the drop down list, then select and click on
"Grayscale". This takes the color out of the picture, and it
will now look like this:
3) Adjust Levels in Photoshop
Now this step is where you really bring the
photograph back to life, and get the image to "Pop". In the
Menus at the top of the Photoshop window, select "Image",
select "Adjustment", click on "Levels". You will get a
screen pop up that looks like this:
Notice that you have a hill-like histogram
graph, and then three slider bars below it, which I have
circled in red. For each photograph, your histogram will
look different, but each time you will have the three slider
bars beneath it. To adjust the levels, slide the left slider
bar to the left edge of the "hill" in the histogram. Then
slide the right slider bar to the right edge of the "hill".
Then move the center slider bar back and forth between the
other two, until you like the way the photograph looks.
After adjusting the slider bars, the window would look like
this:
Notice how we moved the slider bars to the
edges of the "hill", and then moved the middle one to the
position that makes the picture look the best. Remember that
the "hill" will look different for each photograph you have,
but in each case, move the slider bars to the edge of the
hill for dramatic improvements in image quality. Below is
the result of this adjustment.
WOW, that was a big improvement, don't you
think?
4) Give the Photograph a Rich Sepia Tone
Now the photo above looks great, but I love
the rich sepia tone of vintage photographs. I want the
picture to have that rich tone, conveying the age, and
giving it that "vintage" look. To do this, go to the menus
at the top of the Photoshop window, select "Image", select
"Mode" from the drop down menu, and then click on the "RGB
Color" option.
Now, you can add sepia toning by going back
to the top menus, select "Image", select "Adjustments", then
click on "Color Balance". You will get the following pop up
menu:
When this box comes up, there will be a "0"
in each of the color level boxes. To get that rich sepia you
have come to expect in a vintage photograph, set the first
box to 30, as seen above, and the third box to -23. Then
click "OK". Now the picture looks like this:
5) Remove Dust and Scratches
The photograph is much improved. The
improvements thus far reveal that the photograph has a
rather significant issue with scratches and dust spots.
Photoshop has a useful tool for removing dust spots and
scratches. It is the "Healing Tool". On the tool pallet, it
is the icon that looks like a little band aid. I have
circled the tool in the screen shot below:
Select this tool by clicking on the band aid
icon. Now if you pass the cursor over the photograph, the
cursor forms a "circle". This is the size of the healing
brush. The circle, or healing brush size should be about 4
or 5 times bigger than a typical dust spot of defect on the
photograph. The top menu of Photoshop now should show an
option for setting the brush size. Adjust the brush size
until the circle is 4-5 times bigger than a typical dust
spot. Now, you need to find an area of the photograph
similar to the area you want to repair, but an area the size
of the circle, that does not have a dust spot or defect in
it. place the circle there, press the "Alt" key, and then
click the mouse. This copies this pattern. Now place the
circle over a dust spot, and click. Poof! the dust spot
disappears. Go to the next dust spot, and zap it. Continue
doing this until you have removed all the spots. The key in
using this tool is to always select an area that is similar
to the area you are trying to repair. For example, if you
are removing a spec from the hat, choose a region on the hat
to "Alt Click" that has a similar pattern to what you are
trying to repair. So, you "Alt Click" to set up the healing
brush, then zap the dust spots in that area, then move to
another area, "Alt Click" again, and repair dust spots in
that area. Keep doing this until the image is cleaned up,
and free of dust spots and scratches. This healing brush
works much better than the cloning tool in my mind.
I recommend that you save your work often as
you are repairing a photograph, and don't forget to save a
copy of the original scan, and the final product.
Notice that we have removed the most
noticeable dust spots and scratches. In photos like this one
with major dust spot issues, I try and focus on the worst
dust spots, and the ones in the most critical regions of the
photograph, like people's faces.
This photograph is a pretty major
improvement compared to the original. |
