Cleaning up old pictures.

CoiltoSoil · Mar 14, 2014

Does anyone know any good programs to clean up and reprint old photos? I found this photo of my GGG-Grandfather, I assume it's 1870's or 1880's by the clothing and his age, from what I know he was born in Ireland in 1846, came to America in 1863 with his brother and father, enlisted in the Union Navy with his brother immediately after arriving, possibly spent time in the west as a soldier during the Indian wars, then ended up as a Phila. Fireman in the 1880's.

digginupbones · Mar 15, 2014

Photoshop or GIMP. If you're looking for a click-click-done solution, I think you'll be disappointed. Cleaning up old photos, depending on how damaged they are, can be a long, tedious process. If you don't have patience and familiarity with photo editing, you might consider hiring someone to do it for you. If you want to try it yourself, I'd suggest GIMP 'cause it's free and you won't be out anything if you don't like how it turns out.

Silversmith45 · Mar 15, 2014

We had a member that had restored an old picture a while back. I don't remember who it was but he did an excellent job. Maybe someone else knows.

Dirt Nuker · Mar 15, 2014

I'm pretty good at Photoshop and even now, restoring a photo is a very long process. Even the smallest photo can take several hours to do it properly. My longest job on a family photo took about 20 hours. That photo had many deep cracks, a big scar from some old scotch tape and even a chunk of one person's head was missing. For that I took the ear from a similar person in the pic and slapped it in the hole. You can't tell if you don't know what I did.

I don't do it for money. I do it to help out family members and to keep my Photoshop skills fresh. That program is just wonderful and there is always something new to learn.

Feel free to post the pic here. Someone might take a whack at it.

PhotoRob06 · Mar 16, 2014

Hi Coil, can you post a picture of it?

Rob

CoiltoSoil · Mar 17, 2014

Thanks guys, and Photo, I'll repost the pic when I get home. Maybe I'll give Photoshop a shot, even if it takes awhile, and besides I can't mess up anything I can't undo in Photoshop

CoiltoSoil · Mar 17, 2014

digginupbones said:
Photoshop or GIMP. If you're looking for a click-click-done solution, I think you'll be disappointed. Cleaning up old photos, depending on how damaged they are, can be a long, tedious process. If you don't have patience and familiarity with photo editing, you might consider hiring someone to do it for you. If you want to try it yourself, I'd suggest GIMP 'cause it's free and you won't be out anything if you don't like how it turns out.

Thanks for the advice, I also have a 2nd one of him from the same place sitting in a chair but it's in even worse condition, they're probably too far gone but it's worth a shot.

Silversmith45 · Mar 17, 2014

I did a quick search and I believe it was Ozarks that restored the picture. You might contact him.

PhotoRob06 · Mar 19, 2014

This was 16 hours in Photoshop. Created the right image from the left image, using only the bottom image and parts of the original. By far the most extensive retouching job I've done.

If you have Photoshop, you can fill cracks by sampling nearby areas with the clone tool, and drop them over the problem areas. It gets more difficult when dealing with complicated detail areas.

If the photo looks flat (lack of contrast) simply use levels to increase contrast and provide a white and black point in the image. Flat images are easier to fix than overly contrasty images.

If you have Photoshop and need help with it shoot me a PM.

Cleaning up old pictures.

CoiltoSoil

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digginupbones

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Silversmith45

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Dirt Nuker

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PhotoRob06

CoiltoSoil

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CoiltoSoil

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Silversmith45

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PhotoRob06

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