The past several months I’ve had a number of enquiries about how to get started restoring old photos.  Over the next few weeks I will share some my thoughts and tips on photo retouching and restoration.  

 About seven years ago I began the journey of restoring old photos.  I had a box of very old family photos and restored one photo and got hooked.  The photo of the three solders was my first restoration and it can be found along with other restorations on this site.  My favorite site is RetouchPro  http://www.retouchpro.com/  The forum provides lots of good information on restoration and retouching, along with some great tutorials.. 

The first information that I got was from googling the web.  I worked with an early version of Photoshop Elements (PSE) and didn’t use layers.  What I learned was by trial and error for the most part.  Very quickly I learned to keep a written record of my photo restoration process.

 If I made a mistake in the early days of my restoration process I had to start all over again as I didn’t use layers.  Learning PSE I found the world of layers.

If you are not familiar with the concept and use of layers, check out the following book.   Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature by Matt Kloskowski  

Using the layers allows you to work an area without disturbing other layers of the image completed in the restoration process.  If I don’t like what have done with specific it can be deleted with destroying your work on the image.  This is where Matt’s book on Layers really helps to improve your restoration workflow.

Equipment:  I work on a PC with a 24 in monitor that is color calibrated and a Wacom Intuos 2, 6x8 tablet.  The use of a Wacom allows me have touch and pressure control on the image as I work on a restoration..    You can do very precise work with whatever tablet you use that is not available with a mouse.  The size of the tablet really depends on your work area. There are many times I wish I had a 4x6 tablet. You don’t need a tablet to do restoring as I was into restoring for nearly two years before I purchased a tablet.

Software:  Currently I use Photoshop (PSCS3} as my primary software.  For almost 4 years I used Photoshop Elements software with my restorations.  Either of these software work very well due the ability use the layers feature in restoring the image

Books:

If you want to two really great books on the subject of repairing and restoring photos these would be my top picks.

The book that is really my  main source of reference is;  Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching (3rd Edition) by Katrin Eismann and Wayne Palmer.  This book was written for Photoshop but the majority of the restoration techniques can be used in Photoshop Elements.  This book next to my computer as I work on an image.

The book,  The Photoshop Elements 5 Restoration and Retouching Book by Matt Kloskowski.  This book works also with PS software.

Both authors have done a very nice job on the subject of photo restorations.  To me Katrin has written the most complete book on this subject to date.

Beginning the Restoration Process:

Scanning the old photo is the key to a successful restoration.  Scanning with a fax, printer, scanning machine will not give you a quality photo to import. The image generally is in not great shape so you need to use a scanner that can produce the best image possible.  Use a photo scanner or get your photo professionally scanned and saved as tiff file. 

After importing the image into Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, save the image as a copy in a psd format.    Always work on the copy during restoration.

Planning Image Restoration:

Before I work on the restoration I  print an image so that I can create a image map as to what I want to do to the image.  You need to determine what needs be restored before you begin the restoration process.

Image Mapping

The idea of mapping came from a book by Vincent Versace called Welcome to Oz: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop.  The book takes you through a detailed process of working an image in Photoshop (or PSE) and also has merit working with restorations.

Once you determined the restoration or retouching needed on an image, the mapping begins.

The largest area to be restored is the first map area to create, the next largest area and so on.  Label each with a number or letter in order of restoration. Once you complete the image mapping  write notes either on the image section or to a notebook of what you want to do to the image.  These detailed notes will of much value as improve your technique and for future restorations. The last mapping area of the image is generally the face.  

Once you have restored a map area, save the layer for going to the next map area.   By using layers you can always go back to a layer for further restoration.

Photo Restoration really takes time and a lot of patience. Practice! Practice! Practice!

Tip # 1

Don’t try to finish the image in one sitting.  When you come back after a period of time you will be amazed at what new things you see in the image to fix and restore. 

If you have any specific questions about restorations send me an email and try to answer your questions. Enjoy restoring old photos into precious memories.

Until next time…

JG