Restoring Old Photos Using Photoshop
You will find that there are times you may have older photographs that you would like to restore in order to preserve the memories. It is common for photos to become damaged through the passing of time. At times the pictures may become blurred, the color might fade and the surface of the picture might acquire marks and scratches. Fortunately we have the technology to restore these photos. People are now able to save and even restore their old photographs with the help of Photoshop.
The person may use the Elements in Photoshop, which are Dust and Scratch Filter to remove the marks, scratches an blots in the photo. The Dust and Scratches Filter is located on the Menu Bar and click on the Filter Tab. A drop down will list elements and then he can choose the Noise tab and select on the Dust and Scratches.
After selecting the Dust and Scratches menu, a dialog box will pop up with two control sliders. The first slider is for options regarding Radius and the second one is for options regarding Threshold. There may also be another window if the preview box is checked. These are the two main options that can be used in fixing the picture.
You can try to adjust the Radius slider which may remove the scratches. Please be aware that overdoing it may make the edges blurred as well. If blurring happens you can adjust the Threshold slider. This should allow the details to return and make the picture clearer with the scratches disappearing. You should be careful not to set the sliders too far or you will only create blotches on the picture.
To remove any marks on the photograph you will want to select only the part where the scratches are located, not the entire photograph. To select these areas you can use the Lasso tool.
Once you have fixed the areas you may want to use the feather tool to feather the edges of the selected area so that the fixed selection will not be obvious on the picture. To use the feather tool you click the Feather option and choose the Scratch and Dust Filter again. You might want to do the radius and threshold adjustment process again to get the correct texture and make sure all the scratches and marks are removed.
You will want to continue to follow these steps if there are still visible marks on the other parts of the picture until all the marks are removed. To finalize the process and make the picture presentable, you can crop the image enough to remove any cracks and torn edges on the picture. The canvas may be use to equally crop the image.
You can also add drama to the picture by adding a drop shadow. Drop shadows make the picture appear as if it has been lifted off the page. You can also remove color using the controls Shift+Ctrl+U. You can then add color by putting a little amount of Sepia by using the Hue or Saturation tab. The contrast may be adjusted using the Levels option.
These steps are a relatively simple way to remove any blotches or marks on an old photograph. These steps are also a good way to make a photograph appear new but still look classical. Your family and friends will marvel at your ability and talent as well as enjoy the photograph again.
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Filed under Photography by David Peters
