Spots over entire photo

[frizzylee]

This may be an impossible task, but I worked on a similar photo a week or so ago.  The area with the spots was small but I was able to fade them out and get an even color.  Because I was trying so many ways to do it, I forget exactly what worked.  Besides this photo is different in that the spots (caused by a plastic cover stuck to the photo surface 40  years ago) are all over the photo. 

Anyone have an idea for removing the spots but keeping the photo intact?

[fotofrank]

Pat,

As this is a random pattern of spot all over the image there is no simple way to remove them. If you want to keep the photo intact you may need to clone them out one at a time or use the spot healing brush. Increasing the details will only make it worst.

You could brake this down into to two steps to restore. One would be to adjust the whole image and then mask out the woman and then work on her with the clone stamp and spot healing brush.

Good luck on this one.

[Chris]

Frizzy Lee, this is a difficult one. The most difficult part is the face which will need special attention. FotoFrank has given some good suggestions about using the spot healing brush and the clone stamp tool.

I would suggest that you make 3 layers. The original background and 2 copies. Copy the main subject to a separate fourth layer as this will need special attention.

You can probably leave the bricks alone. Using a noise reduction filter may help as a starting point to remove the colour noise and fine noise. You could download the Free Noiseware community edition (stand alone programe). You could also experiment with just a fain touch of the smart blur filter being careful not to overdo it (experiment with the radius and threshold). You can also smooth over some areas using the clone stamp tool set to 20-30% transparency.

Out of interest, is the plastic still stuck to the photo or has it been removed? If the negative was available it might have saved the day. Otherwise it might be possible to photograph the print using carefully positioned lighting to make the spots less visible. This might give better results than scanning.

Please let us know how you get on.

Kind regards
Chris

[tourerjim]

As mentioned above and I'd make 4 or 5 copy layers then copy 1 (background) is kinda good for that era so I would just use some Levels adjustments, layer 2, 3, 4/5 to divide the person into each of layers so your working on the individual coloured parts.

[frizzylee]

To Frank, Chris and (?) Jim,

Thank you so much to all of you for the suggestions. I really like the idea of splitting this image into various layers (parts) and working on it that way. In fact, I am encouraged by this as I was thinking of just giving up on it. But doing it the way all of you suggest makes it seem possible. I will work on it and if I feel I can live with the results, I will post back about it.

Much appreciation for your help!!

Pat

[Sepiana]

frizzylee,

You already got all the help you need. I'm just coming here to add to Frank's suggestion.

Mar 6, 2021 0:44:33 GMT fotofrank said:

As this is a random pattern of spot all over the image there is no simple way to remove them. If you want to keep the photo intact you may need to clone them out one at a time or use the spot healing brush. 

You may want to check these suggestions about using these two retouching tools. 

 The Spot Healing Brush vs the Healing Brush.

[frizzylee]

Hello, Everyone. I said I would post back and so I am. First off I have learned more about how to deal with this kind of photo. I tried mightily (sp?) to work on the photo in various layers and it did work pretty well UNTIL I came to the skirt part of the dress. No matter what I did it looked flat and phony. Just bad. The problem is that I am not advanced enough to know how to take a piece of a photo which has the proper soft folds and somehow overlay and combine it. Be that as it may, I also thought the idea of re-photographing it might work and I tried that. Not too bad, but not too good either. Then, when I was digging around in all these photos I came across the answer. . . . .the same person, same dress, but in a different pose and it scanned very nicely. That photo was a complete surprise to me as I did not know it existed. Please don't think your efforts are wasted as I am learning more every day by doing all this. Below is the pic I decided to use. It has to be small on the page so it looks fine. MANY MANY THANKS!  P.S.  Don't give me a bad time about the awful job on those curtains.  It isn't even noticeable on the small pic on the page.

[pontiac1940]

frizzylee
Glad it's work out for you. 
Don't give me a bad time about the awful job on those curtains.
You  can use a soft brush with the clone tool and blend the lower right curtains to soften the sharp edge. But like you say, no one will notice. 
Clive

 

[Sepiana]

Mar 17, 2021 23:53:09 GMT frizzylee said:

Hello, Everyone. I said I would post back and so I am. First off I have learned more about how to deal with this kind of photo. 

Then, when I was digging around in all these photos I came across the answer. . . . .the same person, same dress, but in a different pose and it scanned very nicely. That photo was a complete surprise to me as I did not know it existed. Please don't think your efforts are wasted as I am learning more every day by doing all this. MANY MANY THANKS!  

Pat, 

Thanks for keeping us posted! You learned how to handle "spots" and you found this other photo which works better for your project. Success!

As to this . . .

Mar 17, 2021 23:53:09 GMT frizzylee said:

I tried mightily (sp?) to work on the photo in various layers and it did work pretty well UNTIL I came to the skirt part of the dress. No matter what I did it looked flat and phony. Just bad. The problem is that I am not advanced enough to know how to take a piece of a photo which has the proper soft folds and somehow overlay and combine it.

There is more than one way to achieve the effect you want. Here is a very easy way. Give it a chance!

- Copy/paste the photo with the folds onto the photo which looks flat.
- Change the layer blending mode to Overlay. Reduce the opacity if needed.

NOTE: 

- Try also the Multiply or the Soft Light blending mode.
- To apply this technique to an area in your photo (such as the skirt), make a selection of the area, and do Edit>Copy>Paste into Selection.

[frizzylee]

Aha! Thank you so much, Sepiana. So that's how it's done. I did do some research but never found exactly what I needed. I am going to play with it a bit and see if I can make it happen because that is definitely a valuable tool.

Thanks, again.

Pat

[Sepiana]

frizzylee,

You are most welcome! If you need further help with the technique I suggested, just post back. Help is only one post away!