Saturday, November 1, 2008

How to Use Photoshop to Restore Old Photos

By David Peters

Often times people have older photographs in albums or frames that become damaged by the sun or wear and tear. It is easy to restore these cherished photographs thanks to the technology available through the computer and photo editing software, including Adobe Photoshop.

An easy to learn program is Photoshop Elements. This program contains options that can help restore your old photographs. One of these elements is the Dust and Scratch Filter which can be used to remove the marks, scratches and blots on your old photos. The Dust and Scratch Filter can be found on the Menu Bar and then clicking on the Filter Tab. A drop down menu will list your choices at which point you can choose the Noise tab and click on the Dust and Scratches.

After clicking on the Dust and Scratches menu, a window will pop up with two control sliders. The first slider is for the Radius and the other one is for the Threshold. There will also be another window if the preview box will be checked. These are the main options that will be used in treating the picture.

To remove scratches you will want to use the Radius slider. Too much adjustment can result in the edges blurring so please be careful with how much you adjust. If blurring occurs you can adjust the Threshold slider to allow the details to return and make the photograph clearer with the scratches disappearing. Again, you want to be careful not to set them too far or it will create blotches on the picture.

In removing the marks, selecting the whole photo will not diffuse these marks. The option is to select only the part where the scratches are located. He may use the Lasso to do this.

Once you have fixed the areas you may want to use the feather tool to feather the edges of the selected area so that the fixed selection will not be obvious on the picture. To use the feather tool you click the Feather option and choose the Scratch and Dust Filter again. You might want to do the radius and threshold adjustment process again to get the correct texture and make sure all the scratches and marks are removed.

It there are still visible marks on the other parts of the picture, he can do the technique again by selecting the areas he would like to adjust. To finish the process and make the picture presentable, he can crop the image enough to remove the cracks and torn edges of the picture. The canvas may be use to equally crop the image.

You can also add drama to the photograph by adding a drop shadow. Drop shadows make the photograph appear as if it has been lifted off the page by placing a shadow underneath it. You can also remove color from the photograph by using the controls Shift Ctrl U. To make your photograph appear old you can use a little amount of Sepia coloring. This can be achieved using the Hue or Saturation tab. Contrast can be adjusted using the Levels option.

These steps are a relatively simple way to remove any blotches or marks on an old photograph. These steps are also a good way to make a photograph appear new but still look classical. Your family and friends will marvel at your ability and talent as well as enjoy the photograph again. - 16003

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