Photo restoration

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floydbloke

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#191246 29-Jan-2016 09:52

We've got a 5 x 7 ( or maybe it's a 6 x 8) print from our wedding that has faded after 23 years exposed to sun.

I managed to get hold of the photographer, but he has long since given up photography and he hasn't kept any negatives so a reprint is not an option.

I've got an OK scanner to make a digital version of the faded original but my GIMP skills aren't up to scratch to attempt any restoration.

Please is there anyone here with the right tools and skills who can and wants to spend some time and effort, for a reasonable fee of course, at breathing some colour back into the image so I can get a fresh print.

Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not ****ing blue!

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#1481094 29-Jan-2016 10:32

Can you post it somewhere public that we can download it. You might be happy with some different attempts by users here, and maybe look to pay if you're happy someone is on the right track.

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throbb

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#1481100 29-Jan-2016 10:45

Warehouse Stationery offer a photo restoration service.

http://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WSL-B2C-Site/en_NZ/-/NZD/GetContent-ViewContentPage?CategoryName=caricatures-photo-restoration

xpd

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#1481114 29-Jan-2016 11:13

Ive scanned a few of my old washed out/faded photos and run them through Picasa's "Im feeling lucky" and been impressed with the results - its free, give it a shot :)

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LookingUp

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#1481173 29-Jan-2016 12:38

Jaxson:

Can you post it somewhere public that we can download it. You might be happy with some different attempts by users here, and maybe look to pay if you're happy someone is on the right track.

+1 I'm happy to have a crack. I use a number of different tools for my astrophotography and underwater photos, both of which often start out dim and noisy, so if you'd like to post it somewhere or email it to me I'll see what I can do.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

timmmay

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#1481192 29-Jan-2016 13:02

I can give it a shot. It would take me 1 minute in Adobe Camera RAW to do global adjustments, but I don't have time for detailed work.

mattwnz

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#1481197 29-Jan-2016 13:10

I have been using photoshop for over 20 years so have done a fair amount of photo restoration over the years. Mainly on b/w and fixing fading, removing creases and rips, as well as colour tinting old b/w photos

floydbloke

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#1481223 29-Jan-2016 13:49

Wow, great responses thank you. I'll scan it hopefully tonight and upload it to flickr and post a link here.

Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not ****ing blue!

Jaxson

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#1481236 29-Jan-2016 14:12

I feel a competition coming on here...

I can add a dolphin or something in the back if you'd like

shk292

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#1481326 29-Jan-2016 16:06

xpd:

Ive scanned a few of my old washed out/faded photos and run them through Picasa's "Im feeling lucky" and been impressed with the results - its free, give it a shot :)

I've had great results with this too, certainly worth a try as it's free software

floydbloke

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#1481374 29-Jan-2016 17:31

floydbloke:

Wow, great responses thank you. I'll scan it hopefully tonight and upload it to flickr and post a link here.

Quick question before I do the scan. What's the best file format and what resolution (DPI)?

Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not ****ing blue!

timmmay

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#1481377 29-Jan-2016 17:34

TIFF, sRgb, 600ppi. Jpeg at max quality is almost as good.

floydbloke

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#1481421 29-Jan-2016 18:49

Flickr didn't like a big tiff file so have used Google Drive instead:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwK_f6vJqPkbN0o0ekZpUnV2LWs&usp=sharing

4 files in there, most with descriptive names:

1200dpi jpg - 13MB

1200dpi tiff - 147MB

600dpi tiff - 39MB

Those are the scans of the faded picture which is 8" x 6"

The 4th file, wedding3-1.jpg (12MB) is the same picture, scanned from one of the pages in the album. It's only a 6 x 4 and I couldn't quite get the page to lay flat on the scanner. I've included it to show what the colours used to look like. The bow-ties are the same colour as the bridesmaids' dresses.

Please note that we're heading away for a few days holiday with little or no connectivity so I'm unlikely to check back in until Wednesday.

Thanks to all of you prepared to have a crack at this, it means a lot.

Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not ****ing blue!

mattwnz

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#1481437 29-Jan-2016 19:18

Sorry to say but that looks like it has lost almost all it's colour. So to reintroduce colour would need tinting. It is pretty much a B/W at the moment. SOmeone maybe able to pull some colour out of it, but it is mainly green at the moment.

michaelmurfy

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#1481468 29-Jan-2016 19:43

I've asked on Reddit - they're normally quite good at this too: https://www.reddit.com/r/estoration/comments/437p0g/wedding_photo_restoration/

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timmmay

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#1481470 29-Jan-2016 19:55

mattwnz:

Sorry to say but that looks like it has lost almost all it's colour. So to reintroduce colour would need tinting. It is pretty much a B/W at the moment. SOmeone maybe able to pull some colour out of it, but it is mainly green at the moment.

Sorry to say, but I agree. Someone would have to recolor it by hand, or maybe there's specialist software.

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