restoration of old photos, any ideas ?

[beachy]

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i have a couple of quite old photos taken in the 50's which are fairly damaged, while i do have photoshop myself it is very new to me and i think it may take some skill time and patience to restore these, so i wondered if anyone knows of any companys or photographic shops that could do these for me and what it may cost, any help would be much appreciated.

many thanks.

[ush flynn]

Most big labs will charge you through the nose to do this, im talking small scratches and cracks will cost you around 35-50 where as if there are stains or cracks over peoples faces your looking at 80 upwards. If you find someone willing to do it in thier spare time you might get it done for a lot less. Before i got my job in design i used to do it through the small adds for about 40-50% of what kodak labs charge

[hottstuff]

photoshop does this np.

[richard plumb]

What exactly are you trying to acheive? Do you have an example you could post to show what state they are in?

I think sometimes really old photos have added value from minor things like scratches/fading etc. i.e Its not always necessary to go nuts improving things.

[ush flynn]

Originally Posted by hottstuff

photoshop does this np.

Are you talking about photoshops tools or the program itself?

He already said he didnt think he had the knowledge to use photoshop to take on this task. Sure things like auto levels might take out any orange casts but its not always right, and the clone tool might be handy but it can look a mess if your not careful

[hottstuff]

Originally Posted by ush flynn

Are you talking about photoshops tools or the program itself?

He already said he didnt think he had the knowledge to use photoshop to take on this task. Sure things like auto levels might take out any orange casts but its not always right, and the clone tool might be handy but it can look a mess if your not careful

well i wouldnt consider myself photoshop compatible , but thats one thing i could do easy.

[beachy]

Originally Posted by richard plumb

What exactly are you trying to acheive? Do you have an example you could post to show what state they are in?

I think sometimes really old photos have added value from minor things like scratches/fading etc. i.e Its not always necessary to go nuts improving things.

well these are the pics one of them is just a cropped head and shoulders of the original, i'm basically looking to get them cleaned up and sharpened in 6x4 0r 7x5 if possible.

[hottstuff]

scratch removal and then added sharpness , should make it better.
and there is software out there to add colour too.

[beachy]

Originally Posted by hottstuff

scratch removal and then added sharpness , should make it better.
and there is software out there to add colour too.

i can't upload the other one as it is 254kb, this is the one that is particulurly damaged is there any way of showing it on here ?

[ush flynn]

if you want to sharpen your image do this ... ill try and explain as easy as i can and this applies for PS7 which i have at home and CS2 which we use at work

Open you image and select Image>Mode>LAB colour (color grr)
then on your payers pallette choose the Channels tab
instead of your normal RGB channels your should now have
Lab
Lightness
a
b
if you need to know what these are ill try explain in a pm but for now just select the Lightness channel
now select Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp mask
have a play with threshold and radius to see what you like, over sharpening looks horrible so keep it all fairly low if you can, it should Live preview onto your main image so you can keep an eye on part of it, say a face.
your image will be in black and white but dont worry about that the original cast will come back in a second
Right once your happy with that go back to Image>Mode> RGB or CMYK whatever you work with
and tada, you sharpened your image the proper way!

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by beachy

i can't upload the other one as it is 254kb, this is the one that is particulurly damaged is there any way of showing it on here ?

You have a PM

[stevegreen]

Here's the other picture

[beachy]

Originally Posted by stevegreen

Here's the other picture

thanks steve.

[jaymac]

Originally Posted by beachy

i can't upload the other one as it is 254kb, this is the one that is particulurly damaged is there any way of showing it on here ?

Hi Beachy have a lookat a site called yousendit .com you can upload a file much much larger than that you give them the address of who you want to send it to they notify them and then they download it. If you like You cansend me a PM and I'll go through it with you
Jay

[beachy]

Originally Posted by jaymac

Hi Beachy have a lookat a site called yousendit .com you can upload a file much much larger than that you give them the address of who you want to send it to they notify them and then they download it. If you like You cansend me a PM and I'll go through it with you
Jay

thanks jay but steve already posted it for me on paragraph 12 (see attached thumbnails) i was having trouble downloading it on here for some reason, thanks all the same mate p.s. but if you or anyone else out there would like to restore them for me feel free, yes i know what a cheek