dcw03 08 restore a photo

8/6/2019 DCW03 08 Restore a Photo

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he little girl in this picture is Monica Moss,

now a grown woman. Robert Hightower – a

friend of her mother’s – sent me this in the

hope that I could restore it. It has just about everything

wrong with it: there’s extensive damage to the baby's

face and the background where the picture has been

ripped and then repaired with adhesive tape. The glue

from the tape has dried up and separated from the

cellophane, leaving brown stains all over the image.

The photo is also creased where it was folded so that

the white photographic paper is showing through

beneath the colour emulsion. The face of the little girl is

cracked all over and will need to be repaired with

patience, flair and precision.

It’s a painstaking, repetitive job to copy and paste

over and over again. Certain areas are so damaged that

they will have to be re-created rather than retouched;

we will have to guess what the original looked like. The

bow of the dress is a very good example. To gather the

bow, we copied the curve of the left hand side of the

bow and pasted it under the baby's chin, then

transformed it to fit the shape. As always, when

retouching an image, the work you put into it is

supposed to be invisible. Adjusting the colour and

framing the image to hide the missing areas are the

final touches. We must try and keep the tonal range of

the background as near to the original as possible.

Removing years of damageAnother cherished photograph to be saved! Ed Davis takes one reader’s time-worn print and works a littlecreative magic on it. The results are astounding…

YOUR GUIDE ED DAVISEd Davis is a corporate photographer with many years of studio and location experience. Hespecialises in image manipulation and creative solutions that combine photography and digitaltechnology. He is a member of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals)

www.dcmag.co.uk/EdDavis

116 DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE

T

CREATE RESTORE A PHOTO

PORTFOLIOED DAVIS WEBSITE WWW.ED-DAVIS-PHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK

TIPS GUIDE

KEY DETAILS

We combine elements fromseveral photos

NEXTMONTH

SKILLLEVEL

TIMETO COMPLETEHOURS

2

2

2

3

8

EXPERT TIP0

LASSO TOOLWhen you are using the Lasso

Tool and you come to the edge of

the frame but need to go beyondit, press the Space Bar. The point

of the Lasso Tool changes to a

Hand Tool, enabling you to click

and drag the image across. When

you release the Space Bar it goesback to the Lasso tool.

ED DAVISPHOTOSHOP EXPERT

8

Photo is ripped, stained, and foldedand the colours are dullBEFORE Vibrant colours, good tonal range,

shadow detail adds depth to the imageAFTER

01ADHESIVE TAPE MARKSSolution:Retouch the photograph to remove the

brown adhesive tape stains using the Healing brush

and Clone tool.

02MISSING AREASSolution:Replace the parts of the image that have been

lost through surface ‘flaking’ by using various Copy and

Paste techniques.

03DAMAGED BACKGROUNDSolution:Remove the damaged background and replace

with a new one. Also square up the photograph so the

child looks upright.

http://www.dcmag.co.uk/eddavis

http://www.ed-davis-photography.co.uk/

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http://www.dcmag.co.uk/eddavis



DIGITAL CAMERAMAGAZINE 117

Double-click on the Zoom Tool to make your image 100%. Double click on the Hand

Tool to make the image fit the Photoshop work area

4ONE-CLICK

FIX

STAGE1

REMOVE TAPE STAINS

The staining is extensive on the face of thelittle girl. It is the first thing we are going to

take care of before dealing with the fading and bringing

back the colour. Find an area on the less damaged side of

the face to use to repair the damage on the other side.

EXTENSIVE SURFACE DAMAGE

Enlarge the image to 200%-300% using theZoom tool (Z). Click on the image. The small

cracks and defects on the photo surface will become more

apparent. Select an area without damage to use as your

source to clone from. Go to the next step.

02

USE THE HEALING BRUSH

Select the Healing brush (J) from the Toolbar,move the cursor over an undamaged area,

hold down Alt, drag the mouse to a damaged area and

release. The damage has now disappeared. Work outward

from the centre of your selected area to avoid stepping.

0301

LARGER AREAS OF DAMAGEUse the Lasso tool (L) to make a selection

around the newly repaired area, then Copy and

Paste it over the more extensive damage. Make sure thearea you select is of similar colour and tone. The new

section is on its own layer.

04 FLIP THE IMAGEThe right-hand side of the face will be used to

replace the left-hand side. Click on Transform

(Ctrl + T), move the new selection across the photo, clickthe right-hand edge of the box; drag it over to the left,

until it is in place. The image is now flipped.

05 MAKE IT FITNow we can correct the eyes and extend the

jaw line. Lower the Opacity slider at the top of

the Layers Palette to 50%: this will enable you to seethrough the new layer to the image below. Use this

method to align the two layers.

06

EYES RIGHTThe eyes are very important in a photograph as

they give a point of focus. The little girl's eyes

look odd. Copy and Paste the centre of the eye then flip it

with the Transform tool (Ctrl + T). The eye is now in its

own layer and can be moved to match the other eye and

give the subject a natural look.

07COPY AND PASTECopy, Paste and Transform sections of the newly

retouched area to create the other missing parts

of the face. The area around the eye needs to be

extended; the cheek, forehead and jaw line will have to

be stretched to match the original image. Flatten the layers

before the next step.

08BLEND THE SEGMENTSNow we must blend the new segments using a

combination of the Clone tool and the Healing

brush. There is still some damage around the hairline so

click the Clone tool (S) on the Toolbar, select a soft-edged

brush. Click on a good area of the hair and drag the cursor

to a damaged part of the hair to remove the damage.

09

REMOVE THE STAINSThe photograph has been

damaged and then repaired

with adhesive tape. The first

task is to remove the

yellowy brown stains which

have been left behind and

appear across the image. The

Healing brush and Clone tool

will be used.

2

STAGE2

REPAIR THE FACEThe face is stained, cracked,

has been folded and has

faded over time. Our task is

to find a good area of the

face to work from and

re-create the missing

parts using the Copy and

Paste tool.

2



118 DIGITAL CAMERAMAGAZINE

PATCH THE DRESS TEXTURE

There’s some damage to the texture of thedress. The Patch tool will clone it and retain the

clarity. Click Patch tool (J) on the Tool Bar. On the Options

bar set the tool to Destination, select a ‘clean’ area with

similar texture and drag the new piece over the damage.

CLOSE-UP ON THE DAMAGE

The surface of the whole photo is pitted andcracked. This part of the retouching will be

time consuming. Use the method in Step Two. Repair a

section using the Clone tool and the Healing brush then

use the section you have repaired to clean up the rest.

11

DRESS AND BOW

The neckline and right side of the bow arebadly damaged and must be re-constructed

from good sections. Use the Clone tool (S) to repair small

bits of damage. Then Paste the repaired area over the

damage. Move into place with the Transform command.

1210

CREATE THE BOWTo create the loop at the top of the bow, Copy

and Paste part of the large bow then using

Transform, (Ctrl + T) move the new section into positionand adjust. Continue doing this with as many parts of the

existing bow and surrounding dress as necessary.

THE DRESSMake a selection around the damage with the

Lasso Tool (L). Click inside the selection and

drag it to a repaired area. Now click Copy then Paste tocreate a new layer. Click the Move tool (V) to move the

new section over the damage you need to repair.

14 CONTINUE UNTIL DONEAs you add new layers the whole picture starts

to look better. Continue until the girl is finished.

Before moving on to the next stage, merge all layers. Clickon the small arrow at the top of the Layers palette and on

the drop-down menu click on Merge Visible.

1513

SELECT THE GIRLClick the Lasso tool (L) on the Toolbar, set the

feather setting on the Option bar to 2px and

go around the little girl. Don't worry if your selection is

not perfect, it can be added to and subtracted from,

once the selection is complete.

CORRECT THE SELECTIONIn Photoshop 6 and 7 you have a set of icons

on the Options bar that let you add to and

subtract from the selected area. Click on the icon required

and draw around the area you want to add or subtract.

Release the mouse, the selection is now correct.

17REMOVE THE BACKGROUNDDouble click on the Hand tool (H) – this fits the

whole image on the screen. Copy (Ctrl + C)

and Paste (Ctrl + V) – the little girl is now on her own

Layer. Turn off the background layer by clicking the eye

icon next to the background layer on the Layers palette.

1816

CREATE RESTORE A PHOTO

STAGE3

THE BACKGROUNDThe background is very badly

damaged and discoloured. It

is not of great interest and

can be replaced. Select thelittle girl using the Lasso tool

then Copy and Paste her

onto a new layer, and insert

a new background.

2

EXPERT TIP0

CLONE TOOLYou can either use the Clone

tool to clone from all the

layers or just the layer you

are working on. Click the

Use all Layers box on the

Option bar.

ED DAVIS

PHOTOSHOP EXPERT


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Pressing the Alt key when clicking the Bin icon in the Layers palette will delete the

active layer, instead of having to drag the layer into the Bin

STAGE4

PRESENTATION

Both the subject and thebackground have now been

retouched so we need to

think about the presentation.

2

BACKGROUNDSHowever you want to create your background

Photoshop has a wide variety of choices. Youcan use: Filter8Render8Clouds or Edit8Fill8Use Pattern or

Edit8Fill8Use Foreground Colour. I decided to go with a

similar background to the original.

22

FINAL COLOUR ADJUSTMENTSThe photograph was slightly washed out and

the image had lost contrast. To adjust these go

to Image8Adjustments8Colour Balance. Move the sliders

until correct then: Image8Adjustments8Brightness/

Contrast to increase the contrast a little.

23

NEW BACKGROUND

Create two new layers. Click twice on the NewLayer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

One is for the new background, the other for the seating

area. Pick two colours similar to the original background

in the Background and Foreground colour selector. Open

Filter Menu8Render8Clouds and click.

SEATING AREA

On the original photograph the little girl wassitting on a rug. We are going to sit her on the

background. Highlight the layer, click the Rectangular

Marquee tool (M), set the feather setting to 10px and

make a selection from knee level to the bottom of the

image. Follow step 19 to change colour and create texture.

20

CREATE SHADOWS

Set colours to black and white. Press Alt andclick the mouse on the layer with the girl. Click

the Create New Layer icon. Press Alt + Back Space to fill

new selection with black. Move the shadow a little to the

left of the girl, open the Filter Menu8Blur8Gaussian Blur

which you set to 25. Reduce opacity to 50%.

2119

INFOCUS Final presentation

FRAME THE IMAGE

The photograph was shot withthe girl's feet cut off. We can

square up the photograph as per the

original, or present it in an oval vignette.

24 ADD A BORDER

An oval-shaped border cunningly hides the

missing feet

CUSTOMISE IT

Turn to p62 for moreadvice on printing out

photos with borders

4ONE-CLICK

FIX

EXPERT TIP0

YOUR PROGRESSKeep a copy of the original

photograph untouched on

the computer so you can

refer back to it. It will help

you to check your progress.

ED DAVISPHOTOSHOP EXPERT

dcw03 08 restore a photo

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