Restoration

[1cowabunga]

Hello, I've attempted to restore an old family photo that belongs to a friend of mine. The original was falling apart and had taped over holes in it. The original is an 8 x 10. I adjusted the levels and then used the clone tool, paint tool, and a little smudging. I'm happy with my results but I was wondering if anyone could spot any problems with it or had any suggestions? Also, where is the cheapest website to order photo prints from? Thanks

~Sam

[shrty]

Very nice.

[PDG]

Looking good! I can't see any issues. You may want to wait for Silkenfairy's stamp of approval. She can spot stuff only visible to fairies and other supernatural things. Plus she happens to specialize in this field.

As for cheap prints, just go through Walmart. I believe you can upload via internet and pickup in person later.

[TrinityOfOne]

Nice job! Maybe give it a proper monochrome too?

[Silky]

You did a REALLY nice job in fixing the flaws from the original photo...very nice, 1cowabunga!

[snowflakejen]

Great work!!!!

[youngloopy]

Excellent work! Looks great.

[Silky]

[QUOTE=youngloopy]Excellent work! Looks great.[/QUOTE]

Hey, youngloopy! Welcome to PA!

[dschmittle]

Look good to me. If yor looking for a lab I would suggest Mpix. They print with E surface paper, Black and White stock and also Metalic, which is real cool. They're not expensive and they ship quickly. I believe you can have a print up to 20x30. Oh, all you need to do is save your photo to level 12 Jpeg and send it to them over the net. Works great! Hope this helps.

[1cowabunga]

Thanks for the comments everyone. It was difficult to rebuild the baby's foot but I think it turned out alright. Thanks PDG for recommending walmart. I had no idea you could order online then pick them up at the store. I'm suprized its cheaper to upload it online instead of taking it to the store too.

[TrinityOfOne]

Maybe you should write a basic restoration tutorial?

[Silky]

Oooooh I totally agree with Trin! A basic "How to" restoration tutorial would be fabulous!

[TrinityOfOne]

Ooops! I awakened the tutorial pimp :)

[Silky]

[QUOTE=TrinityOfOne]Ooops! I awakened the tutorial pimp :)[/QUOTE]

Uh huh...calling me a tutorial pimp. I think I awakened the tutorial god in you at one point too...and it was a very GOOD thing. ;)

[TrinityOfOne]

Hardly a god! Possibly a minion :)

[1cowabunga]

[QUOTE=dschmittle]Look good to me. If yor looking for a lab I would suggest Mpix. They print with E surface paper, Black and White stock and also Metalic, which is real cool. They're not expensive and they ship quickly. I believe you can have a print up to 20x30. Oh, all you need to do is save your photo to level 12 Jpeg and send it to them over the net. Works great! Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]

Thanks dschmittle, that's another awesome site. Great prices too!

Hmm... I'm not a tutorial god or a minion. I think you could consider me an "etch-a-sketch elmo"? :) I've never created a tutorial but I'll think about it.

[Scott]

Nonsense "Courtney" :) You do just great! terrific job 1cowabunga!

[1cowabunga]

Haha. Thanks "administrator" -gee that's original. :) If I found some spare time to make a tut. how would I go about uploading it?

[Scott]

Just write it out in a text file indicating where images go. Like this:

Step 1
Do this.

[image 1]


Step 2
Do this

[image 2]



Then pack the text file and all images into a zip file and email it to me. I'll handle the rest.. and you do get 50 credits for each tutorial that's accepted.

[1cowabunga]

Alright. Cool! I'll see what I can do.

[burndog]

Looks pretty good 1cowabunga, only possible problem I can see is that the higlights appear yellow and the midtones appear red. Only slightly but you may find that it will be more noticable when printed as many printers will have trouble with highlights.

You could try just a colorize in the Hue/Saturation dialog...click colorize and try amounts of about 35 and 20...this will give a decent sepia effect, and guarantee that the colour will be basically consistent across the board.

As far as the retouching it looks fine, but you will want to go over the entire image viewing at 100%. A high res file printed on photographic paper is very unforgiving compared to low-res web images. Especially if you have used the smudge tool, look closely for mismatching texture, as it is usually a tell-tale sign of manipulation. I can understand that the bootie would have been difficult because of it's shading, the clone tool will not be easy to use there.

Nice work!

[1cowabunga]

That is very good advice burndog. I tried to use the colorize funcion but couln't find the right levels that looked right. I'll try the amounts you suggested. thanks.

~Sam

[1cowabunga]

One more question - If I'm wanting to make a duplicate of a photograph (same size and everything) what should be the resolution when I scan it? I scanned this one at 300 dpi, is that sufficient? Also, if I'm going to have it printed from file, is it best to save as bmp to save the resolution? thanks

[Scott]

Kind of depends on what printer is being used.

For most inkjet printers 150ppi is sufficient.

For commercial presses 300ppi is a minimum.

Saving as a tiff or psd are your best options. They are loss-less formats that will retain the most image information. EPS is another alternative. I wouldn't save a file as a bmp unless it's a black and white line art piece.

Scan resolution will also effect how much data you get when scanning. If you want to have as much information as possible to work with scan at a very high resolution (600ppi - 1200ppi) then work on the file. When you're done working save it, then save a copy at 300ppi for output. The higher resolution will pick up more little details and allow you to correct some things a little easier.