Stray light across photograph

[bxgti4x4]

Dear all,

I am new to Paintshop Pro (I have a copy of the 2020 version) and to the forum so please forgive me if I am asking a question that has been asked before.

The attached photo is spoiled by what appears to stray light across the front right hand four people. I have been trying in vain to get rid of the imperfections but have been unable to find the right tool to do it. I would be very grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.

Kind regards
John

[Jean-Luc]

The image is very bad. Could you make a better scan (600 PPI in color) with no correction? If I can't see the details of the uniforms it will be difficult to give retouching advice.

[bxgti4x4]

Good morning Jean-Luc
Thank you for the reply, I have attached another copy of the photo which I scanned as you requested. The original was 16x20cm and was taken in 1960. I am the person on the right hand end of the front row.
Kind regards
John

[bxgti4x4]

Help!! I'm trying to upload a new scanned photo but appear to be unable to do so. Could anyone please tell me what I am doing wrong.
Thanks a lot
John

[Jean-Luc]

Upload size is limited on this forum. Put your image somewhere and give us the link.

[bxgti4x4]

Thanks Jean-Luc
Please forgive my ignorance but could yo please tell me how to send a link.
Kind regards
John

[bxgti4x4]

I think I found it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1yu8oktw6xqk4 ... o.tif?dl=0

[lata]

Hi
It appears that the original photo had another photo laying next to it which has contaminated the image.
At least that’s what it looks like.
You can see the outline of that paper, it goes vertically through the 4th guy from the left, there appears to be another through the third man.

A lot of cleaning up to do

[bxgti4x4]

Hi Trevor,
Thanks very much for the explanation. The photos had been stored loose for many years so I'm not surprised that some damagae has occurred. I am new to this game and am wondering if there is anyone out there who would be prepared to give me some tutoring using TeamViewer and the internet. I'm not sure how to go about asking so any advice you can give me would be much appreciated.
Kind regards
John

[Andy2011]

I don't think there any magic wands so it will be a mostly manual exercise. Before starting anything it is good practice to duplicate the base layer and so work on a copy.
Useful techniques are (in V2020 at least)
1) The median filter (Adjust/Add-Remove Noise/Median Filter) set aperture to 4 or 5 - will help with the noise
2) Adjust the tone to show the uniform structure better - (Adjust/Brightness & contrast/Local Tone Mapping - the defaults are woth trying)
3) the makeover/blemish fixertool will deal with quite a few defects
4) for the worst bits you will need to 'borrow' uniforms using the clone tool. Work from a 'clean' uniform, copying to a 'dirty' one. For example, set the copying area on the right lapel of one 'clean' uniform and copy to the same area of the uniform you are tidying up. Since the right side of the image is worst affected, start from the left. At least there are lots of similar uniforms to work from. A smaller sized tool will take longer but give better control.
It will be a large job and there will be some inevitable loss of detail.
Hope this helps.

[bxgti4x4]

Hi Andy,
Thanks very much for the very helpful information. I will give a try over the next few days.

[Joelle]

Hello Storrington, we're almost neighbours
I am in Hassocks

Great photo

On my list of useful settings:
First of all use Hue/Saturation/Lightness and set the Saturation slider to -100, which will Desaturate the image, then Local Tone Mapping. then Adjust>Add/Remove Noise> Despeckle to lessen those white spots.
The Scratch Remover Tool is good for tidying the fold at the top right.
Then when you have a few weeks to spare, the Makeover Tool>Blemish Remover set to small, is good for getting rid of those tidy white spots the Despeckle didn't remove.

Have fun.

Joëlle

[Jean-Luc]

I asked to do a color scan because you will get more information in the image. Sometimes, it will help to recover some areas or to split the RGB channels and retain the best image. I desaturate at the end of the retouching process.
Joelle's advice to use Despeckle and the Blemish Remover tool is good.
Will do a video tomorrow.

[Jean-Luc]

Here the link:
http://ovh.to/NcbwKhG
I worked with the Blemish Fixer tool set to a unique Size. You may vary it (decrease) if you want more precise work.
When the result is not correct, I undo with Ctrl+Z (not visible in the video).
I think most of the work can be done with the Blemish Fixer tool.
You will probably get "impossible" areas to correct. I suggest to paint over with the same color or to Clone some parts from the surrounding.

Good luck !

[bxgti4x4]

Thanks very much Jean-Luc & Joelle, particularly for the video, that was most kind of you.
I will work on it over the next few days and get back to with the results.