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Photo Restoration - How They Do It
There are many photographs that we all come across one time or another that needs touching up and there are others that really need to be completely restored. Getting a reasonable likeness out of photographs that have suffered the ravages of time can be done using restoration methods.
The process can be time consuming if the photograph has been damaged a lot. You might have to painstakingly paint in some areas on order to restore it.
First, the image is scanned at a high setting and saved as a .psd. Then it is backed up to a CD. While restoring it is important to keep a record as each step is taken so that if it is messed up for some reason at any stage it will be possible to go back without losing a lot of time. This can be done easily by making a fresh duplicate layer that can be used for the next phase.
The photo can be enlarged using zoom after duplicating the layer. Then the work can be done in ‘replace’ mode using the healing air brush tool. The healing air brush will allow the replacement of the missing areas in most places of the background of the damaged photograph. It is done by merging the pixels with the missing areas in white and carefully coloring it in.
Using different sizes of brushes will have to be done when dealing with different areas. Carefully picking up color and laying it down is the way to go about this. By doing this constantly and consistently the damaged areas can be covered. One way to quicken the process is by cutting out the original background completely and replacing it with another. But, if you need the background for the authenticity of the photograph then it is important that it is restored with care.
After keeping a copy of the work done so far the work can proceed. If there are any shadows these will have to be painted in and any features that need to be reformed can be done at this stage. Time will have to be spent on each area as the face, clothes and any other details so that the final result resembles the original picture before it was damaged. It is important to be able assess what is needed to be done in order to achieve this. So, having a fair idea as to its original condition or how it might have looked is helpful.
After retouching as much as possible in this manner the layer can be duplicated. If any changes are needed to be done to the background in the form of adding anything this can be done now and the overall tone of the photograph adjusted. The adjustments can vary with the look that is needed. Color variations and changes as well as lightening or readjusting the contrast is useful create the final result. The tone can be also adjusted so as to enable better printing.
Photo restoration is painstaking and is an art that only a few have the patience to master. But, it is well worth the effort.
