Photos on paper have the unpleasant property of fading, fading, and becoming covered with small cracks and scratches over time. In general, lose its original appearance. Almost every person has old ones in their home. black and white photographs from the family archive, damaged by time. However, they are dear to the heart and it would be a pity to throw them away. Today there is a way to restore not only damaged color photographs, but also very old black and white photographic images. To do this, use the tools of Adobe Photoshop, a powerful program for working with photographs. In this article, we will tell you how to restore time-damaged or damaged photo images.

To restore photographs on paper, you will need a computer with the appropriate software and a scanner for scanning images. In fact, there are many methods for restoring photos using a variety of Adobe Photoshop tools. the main task is to understand what needs to be corrected in a photograph and select the appropriate tool to solve a specific problem.

The most commonly used Adobe Photoshop tools used for photo restoration include the Clone Stamp Tool, Healing Brush Tool and Patch Tool. Although there are indeed many ways to restore photos, we offer you the most common and simple sequence of actions for image restoration:

1. Scan photos

The first stage is one of the most important. To restore a damaged or damaged paper photograph, you must first scan it with high quality. Before scanning, be sure to wipe off fingerprints and old dust from the photo. When scanning, follow these guidelines: Firstly, in the scanner settings you need to set the highest resolution - at least 300 - 600 dpi. A lower resolution will not allow you to print the restored photo. Secondly, you should scan black and white photos in “color” mode (RGB) rather than black and white, because color mode allows you to capture more detail. When scanning in grayscale mode, the result may be of lower quality and with more noise.

Thirdly, those photographic images that have enough a large number of small scratches and cracks, it is recommended to scan several times (two or four times, changing and rotating the paper in the scanner). Thus, you will receive two or four scans of one photo, which will allow you to get rid of a significant amount of excess “garbage” by adjusting the opacity of layers in Adobe Photoshop.

If you set yourself the goal of eliminating embossing or large artistic grain in a photograph, then it is better not to scan the image, but to photograph it with a digital camera under evenly diffused light. Or again, use multiple scanning to reduce the graininess of the image. In principle, in Adobe Photoshop, as practice shows, you can work even with poorly scanned photographs and get good results during restoration. However, compliance with the above rules is still highly desirable.

2. Image analysis and framing

In the process of scanning and converting a photograph from damaged paper into digital form, many small cracks, scratches and specks of dust appear, which are sometimes completely invisible in the original photograph. This is understandable, because the scanner enlarges the photo when scanning. After scanning, it is important to analyze the image to determine whether dust needs to be removed, which areas of the photo require restoration, and which can serve as donors for lost areas.

In a word, you should immediately assess the extent of the damage that you will have to repair. Next, we frame the image in accordance with the laws of composition. Worn corners of a photograph can be removed if they do not contain any valuable information and do not harm the overall compositional decision.

3. Color correction

Finally, you get started with Adobe Photoshop. And the first task is color correction of the photo image, because in most cases, old black and white photographs can no longer boast good contrast and a wide dynamic range. To do this, just use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+L to bring up the Levels dialog menu. First, you can use the Auto button and look at the finished color correction result. Most often, the Auto Levels algorithm fails when working with old images, and the result is far from what you want to see. Therefore, you may have to adjust the tone manually.

When working with Levels, the white and black point sliders will need to be moved to those points in the image where the histogram displays the beginning of areas with dark and light pixels. To increase the contrast and color saturation of a photo, you will also need to use the Match Color menu. Here you can increase the intensity of the color using the Color Intensity slider, and you will need to check the Neutralize checkbox to neutralize the emerging midtones.

4. Removing scratches and dust

The next stage of photo restoration is removing various scratches and dust. To remove dust, use the Dust&Scratches filter, followed by applying a layer mask and restoring areas undamaged by dust. Remember that dust is always more visible in the shadows and, accordingly, it will be much easier to remove it automatically there. When removing dust, work at 100 percent zoom in order to subsequently obtain a clean, restored photo, the printing of which will not show any scratches or specks of dust that went unnoticed by you.

To eliminate cracks, you will need to switch to Lab Color mode, where you can correct the image both in relief and color. Cracks and scratches are removed from the photo using the Clone Stamp Tool. You can also use the Healing Brush Tool for this purpose. When using these tools, take extra care to remove scratches and cracks from faces in your photo.

Hair, clothing and some other details are often the only areas on old photograph, which can be called clear and detailed. Therefore, when working with them, extreme care should also be taken. If necessary, you can additionally remove bags under the eyes, wrinkles and other imperfections from the photo using the same Clone Stamp Tool and Healing Brush Tool.

5. Restoration of missing areas

Some areas of an old photograph may be so damaged that they will have to be restored using other, similar areas in the photo. To restore missing or damaged areas, you need to use the Clone Stamp Tool. Here you only need to select an area in the photo from which you can copy some of the pixels and, thus, restore the damaged area with their help. The cursor is placed on this area, after which you need to click the left mouse button while pressing the Alt key. Next, you need to move the cursor to the damaged area of ​​the photo and click the left mouse button again. You may have to create a new layer to correct every major detail in the photo.

In order to close large damage, it is better to use the Patch Tool, which provides for the creation of a kind of patch with which you can cover the damaged fragment of the image. To restore symmetrical details of the face, use the Flip Horizontal function from the Transform group to display the copied fragment as a mirror image horizontally. Then use Warp to transform the fragment so that it complements the photo. However, here you need to take into account that a person’s face is very rarely symmetrical, as a result of which a face restored in this way may look unrealistic. So, you will probably have to perform additional correction and shading of the restored fragment.

6. Minor corrections, clarity improvements and general photo correction

At the last stage, you are engaged in eliminating minor shortcomings and improving general view photographic images. In particular, if there are shadowed areas in the photo, they can be removed using the Shadow/Highlight option. To correct dark and light areas, you need to select the right settings so as not to lose detail in the image and not “kill” the contrast. To achieve a truly high-quality result, it is recommended to use Curves, with which you can further refine the dark and light areas of the photo image.

To improve the clarity of your photo, use the Unsharp Mask tool. Don't get too hung up on removing noise when restoring photos. Firstly, noise elimination is a rather complicated task and often you will not achieve the desired result without deteriorating image quality. And secondly, grain in old photographs looks quite impressive, adding a peculiar spirit of the times to the image. Finally, you can try to make the photo more interesting and colorful by additionally adjusting the contrast and color saturation of the image using the Hue/Saturation option, which is called up by pressing Ctrl+U.

Today, many photo salons offer the service of restoring old, time-damaged photographs. However, you can save your money by restoring photo images yourself. Do you have old, faded photographs in your archive? Then use the tools of Adobe Photoshop according to the scheme described above and the result will pleasantly surprise you.

To edit such photographs, you need to scan them with the highest possible resolution. I used this photo as a basis:

First you need to remove the scratches. For this we create duplicate layer.

Now let's use the tool Patch( Patch Tool)

and remove all bumps or scratches/stains.

The difference is obvious

We create duplicate layer and apply it to him Image>Adjust>Brightness/Contrast ( Image > Adiustments > Brightness / Contrast )

And set the following parameters:

Brightness/Brightness: -10

Contrast: +25

If the Photo is pale, then increase the settings.

Create a duplicate layer and apply it to it Filter>Noise>Median )

We do this in order to remove ripples and smooth out the outline. On large size photos you can use radius more than 5. In my case radius amounts to 10 . Just keep in mind that the photograph should not lose its outline.

We create duplicate layer and use it on it Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur ( Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur ) . Radius(with a Median radius of 10) set at least 15 .

Next, on the same layer, clickCtrl +Shift+F.This weakens the effect of the filter. Set the Opacity parameters from 50 to 30%.

Select a tool Eraser ( Eraser Tool)

And carefully erase the blur from the person. Leaving the background untouched.

Now we will clean up the hopelessly damaged sky in the photo. What was there... I couldn’t understand, but I was afraid to draw clouds... So I decided to simulate the sky. To do this, create a new layer Layer>New>Layer (Layer>New>Layer), or Shift+Ctrl+Nand select the color (mine is light gray).Then select the tool Gradient ( Gradient Tool) and in the gradient panel set from Gray to Clear.

Fill the layer like this

Then create a new layer Layer>New>Layer (Layer>New>Layer) , or Shift+Ctrl+N and a white brush paint the highlights. Then apply it to the layer Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur until the layer merges with the previous one.

Unite Layer 1 and 2 in a single layer Ctrl+E or Layer>Merge Layers ( Layer>Merge Lined ) .

Let's take the tool againEraser Tool) and erase everything that has nothing to do with the sky.

Now we need to add definition and shadows. This should be drawn. And we will be the tool to drawLasso (Polygonal Lasso Tool). Create a new layer Layer>New>Layer (Layer>New>Layer), or Shift+Ctrl+N. Once you have selected all the areas that need to be marked, fill them with the desired color.

Then apply it to the layer Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur ( Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur ) so that the features are not very noticeable, but at the same time so that they fulfill their function: they indicate the missing shadows.

Add a few touches at your discretion. And if everything triples you, save.

Questions in comments.
My lessons are posted .

Old photographs, rusted with age, have always aroused genuine interest not only among lovers of historical values. After all, they capture moments in the lives of our ancestors. And, although, in the historical and cultural aspect, it is these originals, crumpled and half-worn, that have the greatest value, in some cases it is quite difficult to get a full idea of ​​who (what) is captured in the photograph.

All kinds of software are designed to help the modern researcher, allowing him to restore the image as much as possible without losing information content. For example, the capabilities of just one Photoshop editor already allow you to approach this issue creatively, correcting not only all kinds of damage to the photo card, but also restoring the approximate color scheme that corresponds to a specific situation.

First, you need to scan the existing rarity and save the resulting jpeg file.

Having opened the original image in the editor’s working window, let’s evaluate the complexity of the work ahead. The fact is that the file in question has minor damage (fold lines, partial abrasions and a torn edge). We pay attention to the faded (weakened) photo layer last, since mandatory color correction will help get rid of the sepia tone.

If part of the face is missing on a portrait photograph, then it makes sense to look for some other images of this person. Only in this case can you count on a reliable final picture.

All attempts to complete the missing (eye, ear, for example) parts of the face by sequentially selecting, copying and reflecting (editing \ transforming \ reflecting) the selected area do not in any way contribute to obtaining a believable portrait.

Without going particularly into the physiological features of the human structure, it is worth noting that symmetrical faces do not exist.

So the file is open.

(click to enlarge)

The next step (mandatory) will be software recoding to another (LAB) image mode. This measure is necessary because the separation of channels in LAB is based on a different principle than in RGB. And in our case, such a division into an independent brightness channel and two independent (red-green and blue-yellow) color channels from each other allows us to reduce the brightness of the kinks without affecting the color palette at all.

Image recoding in LAB occurs after selecting the appropriate mode in the submenu of the “mode” line of the “image” tab.

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Leave it visible and select the “brightness” channel. Since the main color axes remained hidden, the image in the working window of the program is displayed without a combination of RGB colors, only white and possible shades of gray.

To remove breaks and scratches, use the “stamp” tool,

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defining (clicking with the left mouse button while holding down the alt key) as the starting position for copying, the point above the break, on the border of the frame and the image. To avoid sudden transitions, the “pressure” value should not exceed 50%. By moving the working brush of the tool along the fold line, we get rid of the unwanted defect. In the same way, we remove other scratches and small cracks from the scanned photograph.

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We get rid of the dull white stripe that occurred on both babies using the “dimmer” tool (exposure no more than 15%).

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Having returned visibility to the remaining channels, we immediately see the difference between the image and the frame (deliberately left without adjustment).

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In a way already known to us, we return to the RGB mode and using the “blur” tool, with an intensity of no more than 20%, we get rid of pixelation and specific grain on the faces.

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The next type of this tool is “sharpness”. Allows you to select eyes and lips by briefly pressing the left mouse button

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After correcting the texture of the image, through the “image” tab we convert it to a simplified black and white palette.

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We adjust the exposure, giving the photo the necessary sharpness at the boundaries of black and white.

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Frankly “littered” dark tones, at the bottom of the photograph, a torn edge and useless frames - we remove them by cropping the image with the “crop” tool. In fact, the restoration of the rare source can be considered complete.

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Additional processing, which allows you to colorize a black and white picture, also does not present any particular difficulties, but it will require much more time.

To do this, you will need to turn on editing in quick mask mode under the “selection” tab and select the “brush” tool. We shade, for example, an open area of ​​skin, excluding eyes and jewelry.

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Uncheck the edit box under the quick mask and invert the resulting selection. Coloring the selected area can be done in several ways, among the most common is the use of a photo filter (the “image” tab, the submenu of the “correction” line)

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and using (under selection) an adjustment layer, oriented by color (in this case, the “overlay” mode is required).

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Highlights are created for each part of the image, presumably having differences even in halftones. And gradually the entire photograph is colored.

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Restoring a print, even one made from color photographic film, is a fairly simple process and is performed using automatic correction tools in Photoshop.

The proposed image clearly shows a color mismatch (most likely due to an incorrectly selected film).

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The “image” section of the tab, which includes auto-tone, auto-contrast and automatic color correction, is capable of correcting the proposed image in the shortest possible time.

Cropping will give the image a finished look.

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Opening an old family album, we are momentarily plunged into the past, sometimes so distant that it is already difficult to remember, and only old faded and rather tattered photographs remind us of events that once happened, of people with whom we once crossed paths, of the long gone into the oblivion of time. And sometimes we find ourselves not in our past at all, but in the past of our grandparents, and we can only imagine them as young judging by a photograph.

Retouching old photographs is a way to return photos to their original appearance. This is especially valuable for photographs from the times of the Great Patriotic War, which have enormous historical value both for descendants and for history precisely in the state in which they are. It is highly recommended not to modify such photographs, add color to them, or add any objects. But sometimes such photos are so damaged that it is difficult to make out what and who is depicted on them; here, of course, various programs - inventions of the modern world - come to the rescue. One such program is Photoshop, a program that includes a huge set of tools. She is able to solve the most complex retouching problems.

Restoration of an old photograph - breathe a second life into a photo

When restoring old photos, the main thing is to preserve its uniqueness, while removing all the flaws that have appeared over time: various abrasions, creases, cracks, specks of dust and damaged areas. Each Photoshop master probably works more intuitively, like an artist, manually completing lost fragments, correcting defects, and is guided solely by his vision for each specific photo, what it should look like after processing. Restoring old photographs in Photoshop does not have any clear step-by-step instructions, since all photos are different, the damage on them is very diverse. But there are a few of the most commonly used techniques and tools that are worth talking about.

Restoring an old photo

We will consider the restoration of an old photograph using this photo as an example, we will try to restore its original appearance, the photograph has quite a lot of obvious cracks and creases, this is a scan, and we will work with it.

• Let's load it into "Photoshop" - "File" / "Open".
• Our photo of the girl is loaded into the Photoshop workspace.
• First you need to remove the white edges of the photo, to do this we will use the “Crop” tool. This tool is located on the toolbar on the left side of the workspace (by default). We click on the tool, an editing area appears around our photo, we move the mouse over this area, up and down arrows are displayed, by pulling which we can hide the edges of the photo, areas with obvious defects. After we have completely adjusted our photo, we simply press the Enter key.

When an old photograph is being restored, the eye gets used to processing one photo for a long time, and then you can simply ruin the image. In order to be able to see the original at any time and compare it with the working layer, you should make a duplicate layer at each stage in order to compare the final image with the original one.

Removing photo defects - “Spot Healing Brush”

• Duplicate our photo - keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J.
• After cropping, we still have parts of the photo with defects in the corners; they can be corrected with the Spot Healing Brush tool, since in most cases this will not be difficult in damaged areas. We set the brush size depending on the size of the damage and simply paint over the area, lightly, as if creeping onto the edge of the background. Moreover, after processing, if the background is uniform, the brush will replace the torn corner of the photo with a similar tone and texture to the adjacent area. Step by step, you should paint over all the small defects in the photo with the “Spot Healing Brush”.

Correction of temporary losses - “Patch”

• Another tool is “Patch”, which does an excellent job of tasks such as restoring and restoring old photographs. We select a tool and circle the problem area, trying to capture only the defect. To create a selection of the area for the patch, you need to close the circle. Then grab the selected area and drag it onto the area nearby, try to avoid excessive contrast when selecting the area for the patch.
• After processing with these tools, this is what we got.

When working with areas of the central object in a photo, you should be extremely careful, as the Spot Healing Brush tool creates a “blurry” effect. In order not to lose the texture and detail of the image, you need to make the brush size slightly larger than the size of the defect and not overdo it.

The “Stamp” tool for restoring old photos

Another great tool that Photoshop artists often use is the Clone Stamp tool. Its principle is based on the transfer of color and texture to the damaged area from an area specified manually. Thus, with a correctly configured tool (the settings are individual for each photo) - brush size, opacity, pressure - the texture located next to the damage is transferred to the damaged area, which allows you to restore old photos with sufficient quality and return them to their original appearance. The program for restoring old photos "Photoshop" has a huge amount tools and settings, as well as extensions in the form of built-in plugins for a wide variety of purposes.

Levels - adding depth to a photo

In addition to scuffs, cracks and tears, a photograph will fade over the years, so it's worth making at least one correction.

• Create an empty layer Ctrl N.
• Select “Image” / “Correction” / “Levels”.
• On the histogram, we move the sliders so as to exclude from the photo areas where there are no pixels - move the right one to the left, the left one to the right, the middle slider slightly to the left, but here you need to look at the lightening effect. When processing photographs, you should be guided not so much step by step instructions, as much as with your vision of a specific photo and a sense of the golden mean.

In principle, the restoration of an old photograph from cracks, temporary creases and breaks is complete; for slightly damaged photographs these tools will be more than enough. We have corrected most of the shortcomings, and you can leave the photo in this state, or you can also adjust the tone and saturation, remove noise, make the photo brighter and more interesting. It all depends on your imagination.

Before you fix a photo, it's important to understand the causes of blurriness. Each cause has its own way to eliminate it, and finding the right method means choosing the most correct, fastest and most economical path to a good result.

The easiest way is to send the photo to a restorer who will tell you what to do with the photo, but it doesn’t hurt to know the basic principles.

Photo restoration means that we carry out all improvements using a digital copy of the paper original. Let's take a photo and look at it closely, zooming in to 100% or more.

Case 1: Faded colors.

The contours are even, in the enlarged portrait you can see small details, such as the outline of the lips, the shape of the eyes, eyebrows, and sometimes you can see individual hairs.

Causes.

The photograph has faded, discolored and faded over time. The most common reason: what always happens with paper photos.

A simple solution.

A faded photograph is restored using color correction. However, this is not always enough: as soon as we make the image clearer, defects immediately become more noticeable. Paper photographs not only fade, but are also easily damaged. This is clearly visible when magnified: stains, scratches, cracks, abrasions in places. All together spoils the impression, as if the image is poorly visible through a layer of dust and dirt.

Professional restoration will restore colors, remove centuries of dirt and make the photo look like new. To do this, you just need to send the photo by mail, pay for the work and wait for the result.

Difficult decision.

Do-it-yourself photo restoration is a complex and exciting task. If you have a lot of pictures, time and patience, you love painstaking and neat work - this path is for you. However, for this it is not enough to watch a few lessons. The same technique can fix one photo and ruin another, so without systematic knowledge and experience, a good result will not work, except in simple cases. If the photo shows severe damage, especially on the face, then without experience and some artistic skills, independent work It’s better not to take it on at all. Correcting mistakes and redoing the work, a beginner will spend two to three times more time than an experienced restorer. At the same time, it’s a shame when the result of hellish work turns out to be much worse. Here are just a few typical errors: traces of processing are visible, “blurring”, old spots are not removed and new ones appear from somewhere, the face is distorted beyond recognition, etc. All this can be avoided if you order the work from a specialist. Is it worth restoring a photo yourself? To answer this question, you need to make a choice: savings or results.

Case 2. Bad scan.

The contours are uneven and blurred. Kinks, grain, stripes, nicks, or small squares are visible.

Causes.

1. Broken contours with jagged edges and squares are a clear sign that the photo was scanned incorrectly, with low resolution or compression, so the borders have lost their clarity.

2. Grain, streaks and other artifacts that do not appear on a paper original indicate that the scanner is unsuitable for digitizing photographs. Sometimes graininess occurs due to the texture of the paper, matte, rough or grooved.

Smart decision.

1. Rescan the photo. Photographs on embossed paper are digitized. Compare the results. If cracks and scratches clearly appear in the photograph, this is normal. If nothing has changed and the contours do not appear, move on to the next point.

2. Take the paper original to a photo center where there is a professional scanner or other modern equipment. Compared to basic restoration, digitization is very inexpensive and costs five to ten times less. Of course, it will take more time, but isn't it worth spending it to ensure that your family's faces are clearly visible in the photo? Some centers will also offer restoration along with the digitization service. But, alas, the presence of normal equipment in a photo center does not mean the presence of a good restorer, so always carefully look at examples of work. Fortunately, the Internet knows no boundaries: now you can find the best restorer in any city, and sending a file will only take a few minutes. In addition, ordering photo restoration online is very convenient: you do not have to come back for the finished photo a second time, you will simply receive it by email.

Why can't you save on good digitization? When scanner distortion is added to paper damage, the photo loses its original appearance even more. You can only restore a photo from what you have. If the contours have lost clarity during scanning, then they can be returned either by proper scanning or by artistic means. Whether the resemblance will be preserved, the photographic quality will be preserved, or the faces will become drawn and flat - here you will have to rely solely on the abilities of the restorer. Before ordering a drawing, look at its examples. Scanning is cheaper. For comparison, the average market price for scanning is 60 rubles. and the most primitive rendering – from 3,000 rubles.

Wrong decision.

You sent a poorly scanned photograph to an artist who agreed to restore it inexpensively and did not offer to improve it through digitization. What does this mean? The performer is unprofessional and does not know what good result is impossible without proper digitization, or quick earnings are more important to him than the result.

Case 3. Blurred photo.

The contours are blurred, despite the fact that the photo was digitized in accordance with all requirements and in high resolution. This happens when a photo is initially taken out of focus. So, in this case, make clearer contours in simple ways will not work. What was never in a photograph cannot be restored by digitization or Photoshop. Using special filters, you can only create a visual effect of clarity, but it is impossible to reveal details. The only way to correct the blurriness is through artistic restoration.

Examples of restoration without artistic restoration.