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Thread ID: 47660	2004-08-02 03:53:00	"Retouching Old Photos using Photoshop"	rockwood (3244)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
257451	2004-08-04 01:41:00	> the PhotoShop 7 WOW Book was one > of the better purchases i've made. That sounds like a good tip - I'll have to see if I can get it	Greg S (201)
257452	2004-08-04 03:37:00	Thanks for all your nice compliments people... you'll make me blush twice in 30 years :-) and thanks Greg for your offer once again! Maryanne I think with a bit of patience you can get a reasonable result from an old photo, but it very much depends on what's there to start with. By that I mean that if you start with a photo like Gregs that is reasonably sharp but has scratches and marks it is easy enough to get rid of the marks. Rather than using the 'dust and scratch' tool it is better if your program has a 'clone' tool where you can completely replace small areas of the image using a sample of an area close by... this looks much more authentic because it will give you the same grainy effect as the rest of the image. It is much harder to sharpen up a blurry old photo because the information is not there to begin with. (it's a bit like trying to make a picture done in chalk look like it was painted!) Also if you use the 'sharpen' tool in most photo programs it tends to pixilate the image and it just looks like- well... a pixelated old photo. As Metla says the advantage of digital medium is that you can have a go with different effects and if it doesn't look right you can go back a few steps or start again from the original. Generally speaking, the larger the scan of the original photo the better because you can zoom in and work on small areas and it tends to 'blend in' better than if you tried to retouch a larger area. Yes, it is labour intensive to retouch a digital photo, the one I did for Greg took about 3 hours I think. You can do all sorts of things to try and make an old photo look better, but keep in mind that it is an old photo and that is part of it's charm that you don't want to loose by over doing it... otherwise your great grandmother might end up looking like one of those airbrushed models on the front of a magazine (this may not be a good thing!) if you need any advice I'll do my best to help out, just let me know Joe	joe90ak (3042)
257453	2004-08-04 10:42:00	check out the author of Scott Kelby. He has some v good books, some which has been sold at record numbers. He's part of the Adobe education team or so .... Photoshop : photo-retouching secrets / Scott Kelby He has other books like digital photographers book on PS ie.. pictures. Down and Dirty Tricks for PS. Bit more like design ie.. logos etc.. Also a book with PS Elements, digital photographers guide to... looks like the first suits you. all his books in recipe style. so you don't need to read cover to cover to understand. its all in picture and step/step. u can go to the last technique in the book and understand it without reading the intro page. the photographers guide books covers. converting to black/white, resizing, crop, color space, how to print, resize, re-resolution, plastic surgery digitally 0 nose jobs, changing hair color or eye color, whiten eye or teeth, make the butt slimmer, slim the biceps, soften skins take away skin bleminshes etc.., convert to jpeg, duotone, dodging, color correction, masking ie .. adding someone else into your pix you prefer, changing the color of the top, fix flash or take away flash or add flash, add shadow deliberately,, sharpening. you would find like 4+ sharpening techniques, 4+ in converting to black/white. i have yet to see his retouching secrets book. but from all his other books it certainly looks good. i'm going to get a copy myself.	nomad (3693)
257454	2004-08-04 10:52:00	discarding color space means you are using another type of color space. for instance, on the computer you may had set up color space of AdobeRGB but the file you are importing from the digicam or from another software was done with sRGB you are then saying would you discard this sRGB and work with the color space set up on your software you are using .... generally speaking from pro's AdobeRGB is the best to use. you can get heaps of info from the web on this. generally pple set the digicam to AdobeRGB and on their PS.	nomad (3693)
257455	2004-08-04 11:43:00	you mentiioned highlights and shadow . go to adjust -> curves . double click the left dropper and choose 20, 20, 20 at the R G B values . do the same for 240, 240, 240 with the right dropper . the middle dropper, use 128 128 128 click ok to get out of curves . on your layers palette side, down there is a circle - one half is white and one half is black . click it and choose threshold . basically now you are going to drag that pointer to the left - it would be all white then slowly drag to the right until you see detail . now click ok, choose the color sampler icon at the icon bars and click on that area . now click the layer back on your original one . again choose that half circle black/white and click threshold . pull it to the right side - it would go all black . slowly pull it back til you see some white stuff . clikck ok . coilor sampler it again and click again . now delete the two threshold things in your layer paletter box, drag them to the trash . your photo would look normal again and have those two points in them . press control - M or go to the menu and bring up curves again . now click the shadow dropper (left) - single click . then click the onto the dark thing you have numbered on the photo . do the same with the right dropper (the highlighter) and click on the other numbered on the photo . you may need to move the curves dialog box with the mouse to see the photo - drag the window frame . what is left is the middle dropper . this cannot be done like this except by trial and error . so click single at the middle dropper and click onto something you think is mid tone in the photo - if it look wrong, undo and redo until you like it . if you need some help with the mid tone . then go to the right side where u see the folder navigator and info . choose info . the top left section in there you see a icon of a eyedropper . click it and choose total ink . now try to click the mid tone (middle eyedrop) in curves and choose something that is gray, the ink box may tell you its 128 . beware that upon diff lighting 128 maybe wrong as 128 works in perfect afternoon sunlight . so take it as a pinch of salt . click in the middle of the graph and life it up for a bit of contrast . click ok to get out of curves . on top click clear to get rid of your two pointers in the photo . hope this helps .	nomad (3693)
257456	2004-08-04 11:47:00	> click in the middle of the graph and life it up for a > bit of contrast. click ok to get out of curves. on > top click clear to get rid of your two pointers in > the photo. when u have clicked the middle section a dot should appear. you pull it up and add some life and contrast. click ok to get out. save file.	nomad (3693)
257457	2004-08-04 21:22:00	godfather: he who needs to be watched is being very helpful apart from dowloading too many photo sites for us to try, thereby shooting our Jetstream limit a tad over the top...a little trap we will be aware of now!! rockwood: Great site this, isn't it! These guys have taken PJ and I through some huge learning curves (probably tearing their hair out at times)...but hanging in with us. Our grandchildren can 'cut and paste' but we kept getting it wrong. However...easy- peasy now. Another memorable thread for us was....NETWORKING!! Even seeing the word brings chills to my spine. Once again....success at the end of many posts!! They are also generous with their resources too, and sent us "freebies" to help us out. :D Have you done alot of work on photos??? METLA: how is the baby...taken many photos?? joe90ak...thanks for all that info. Also, whoever mentioned a book....PJ looked it up on line, and it's available in Auckland for around $80, with cd. Will look up the other author mentioned on next post too. Library, I wonder. Don't want to be "blinded by science" so his books sound great. This is "rockwoods" thread, but thanks to everyone, from me too. B-) Maryanne.	Maryann (2010)
257458	2004-08-04 23:47:00	Hey guys I'm soooo overwhelmed with all the replies.....have sent Joe my Grandparents photo and boy has he a task....when you talk about a Grandma's Grandparents...imagine the quality!!! You're my absolute hero Joe....hope you will post also the before and afters here. Have printed out some of your replies also for the How to's 1-100 steps. Hey I'm actually travelling to my first photo enhancing course soon...it will be like opening the Christmas stocking. cheers as always rock:)	rockwood (3244)
257459	2004-08-04 23:55:00	> METLA: how is the baby...taken many photos?? Only about 400 or so,the problem is now Mrs Metla would like them printed out,Seems ill have to do some intensive culling and then pay a visit to the Kodack shop. Other then that i've started teaching him the lyric's from Pink Floyds The Wall alum,when he gets a littlle older ill teach him the concepts behind the lyrics.....Fore-arming him for his first day at school.....	metla (154)
257460	2004-08-05 05:30:00	that would work with RGB color photographs . i have not tried it with sepia photos . what u can do is . just via curves pick color sampler the dark and brigh areas with your eyes . and try the same with the midtone . . . so u can avoid putting in values etc . . and sliding those arrows . . . this may work too . go to levels instead from the adjust from image menu . then 2x click on the dark dropper and plonk 0% 0% 0% and 95% for C M Y K do the same for the white dropper of 0 0 0 5% respec . press ALT and slide the dark arrow the same fashion to the side and pull back - make a mental note in the head . do the same with the white arow when you are back in the level window . you can click the dark dropper and clik into photo you thought off . same with the white dropper . the mid tone is the mid arrow in the level window dialog box . basically just drag it left or right until you are satisfy . less guess work with this i guess . .	nomad (3693)
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