removing scratches from old photo

walkies · Post by **walkies** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:45 pm

Scratch remover seems to be quite good at covering up straight lines
but I have a very old photo with thin but jagged scratches in many
places. Whats the best way to remove scratches that really aren't
straight?

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:47 am

I call it perspiration....... this was done in PhotoImpact which is very similar to Paint Shop Pro.

My Photo Restoration by Steve Jones

Joelle · Post by **Joelle** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:55 pm

The Scratch Remover is excellent at removing straight lines, but you can also use the Blemish Fixer, the size of which is easier to adjust by scrolling your mouse forwards and backwards. Hold the Alt Key and the left mouse button down as you do that.
A tiny bit of cloning with the Opacity lowered also works well.
Using the Smudge Brush and the Push Brush can also be helpful.
PSP has lots of useful tools

I fix a lot of old photos and always find that changing the colour removes the age, so I rarely do that.

Adjusting the contrast using Clarify or Curves or Levels helps too.

Working with layers and duplicate copies is good.

Hope this helps.

Jo螔le

michaeltee · Post by **michaeltee** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:41 am

Very informative tutorial Steve! I'd also like to mention an excellent 364 page. full color book entirely dedicated to restoration and retouching in PSP.

Title: Photo Restoration and Retouching Using Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo
Author: Robert Correll

It lists for $40 USD but can be found for much less at popular internet book sites. Great stuff

sweeper · Post by **sweeper** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:17 pm

Thanks for the book info Michael.

In searching at Amazon.ca, I can pick this one up for $28.00 cdn., and new at that !! I have used Jasc/PSP since it's conception and have found it to be everything that Adobe could be. Back in the day, it was a coin toss as to who would win the pop vote. Adobe won as we all know so the difference is in the amount of coin one pays today for the same software (basically). I have done some minor and major repairs to date. A couple of posted examples are seen here:

http://sweeper.smugmug.com/CybArchive%20Division/474441

These were fairly simple to do but time consuming just the same (as they all are).

Again, thanks for the book tip !!

...Steve

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:41 pm

Nice work.
I have a few before and afters (some better than others) here:
Before and After

I did these with PhotoImpact X3.

sweeper · Post by **sweeper** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 12:06 am

Mmm..., Nice work yourself !! I especially liked the repair to the large family pic with the crease down the center. You added the contrast as well which really brought it all out. Not sure about you, but I get a great sense of personal reward just knowing that a photo has been issued with a new lease on life, even if the pic has no personal attachment. At 56, I only wish that all of this digi world had evolved 30 years ago !

Best I can do now is learn all that I can and try to relay my passion for it all, on to my kids.

Take care...
...Steve

walkies · Post by **walkies** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:10 pm

All this has been really helpful, thanks everyone. I have made a big improvement to and old photo that I found in my late mothers belongings