Photography Restoration

Photo Restoration 

Even before I got into photography, I was always fascinated with the restoration of old worn and damaged photos. I remember when I joined Facebook at first. I joined a few small groups of photography groups. When I saw some of the detailed work that went into a restoration, it really pushed me to say to myself 

"This is what I want to do" 

I love all styles of photography, from landscapes, night time photography and even photographing old abandoned buildings. There's just something therapeutic I find about restoring pictures. I could sit for hours, and be in a world of my own. The hours really do fly by when your having fun they say. I started trying out some old photos lying around at home, and also some free stock images I found online. 

Yes it can be time consuming sometimes. My eyes might be sore from a computer screen, back is aching from slouching over a computer. But it's worth every second in my eyes. These old photos mean the world to people. Memories captured and moments that last forever. I like to think I'm keeping the persons memories alive. Breathing new life into a snapshot of time. I don't do it for praise. To see a friends family member eyes light up, when they see it finished, is enough for me. They can sometimes even get emotional. They put trust in me. 

Sometimes I'm afraid to even handle them. Brittle and weather beaten, they are placed in my hands, to do as I wish. 

But how is it done?

Photoshop is a great tool to enhance or modify images. It's is also a fantastic piece of software to repair or restore photographs damaged by the effects of age, neglect, or acts of nature. I first scan my photo, save it so it's easy to find, and open it in Photoshop.

OK so here is what we have to work with

Time to step into the restoration. I do this by using a mix of tools in Photoshop. I jump between the clone stamp tool, spot healing brush, and for bigger areas I use the lasso tool , to remove scratches and tears in the photo.

 Zooming in and changing the brush size as much as needed also helps. If I find something that needs more detail, I just leave it for a later stage. One area which I sometimes struggle with is the facial areas. without altering the face features. So I set my brush very small and if needed fix pixel by pixel until I clean the whole area to the best of my ability. 

I also find with the spot healing brush, I'm tempted to use it at an early stage. But I find this tool does not help in the early stages of a restoration, and actually messes things up.

 One of the final steps I do is use the reduce noise tool to get rid of the minute particles and specks all over the image.

Here are a few examples of some restoration work I have done

I'm not saying I'm a professional, I'm far from it. But I just wanted to share with you all, something that I truly love doing. I hope you have enjoyed reading.

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