CREATE

RESTORE A PHOTO
YOUR GUIDE ED DAVIS
Ed Davis is a corporate photographer with many years of studio and location experience. He specialises in image manipulation and creative solutions that combine photography and digital technology. He is a member of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals)

www.dcmag.co.uk/EdDavis

PORTFOLIO ED DAVIS WEBSITE WWW.ED-DAVIS-PHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK

Removing years of damage

Another cherished photograph to be saved! Ed Davis takes one readers time-worn print and works a little creative magic on it. The results are astounding
TIPS GUIDE

KEY DETAILS
SKILL LEVEL

2 2 2

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TIME TO COMPLETE

HOURS

he little girl in this picture is Monica Moss, now a grown woman. Robert Hightower a friend of her mothers sent me this in the hope that I could restore it. It has just about everything wrong with it: theres extensive damage to the baby's face and the background where the picture has been ripped and then repaired with adhesive tape. The glue from the tape has dried up and separated from the cellophane, leaving brown stains all over the image.

The photo is also creased where it was folded so that the white photographic paper is showing through beneath the colour emulsion. The face of the little girl is cracked all over and will need to be repaired with patience, flair and precision. Its a painstaking, repetitive job to copy and paste over and over again. Certain areas are so damaged that they will have to be re-created rather than retouched; we will have to guess what the original looked like. The

bow of the dress is a very good example. To gather the bow, we copied the curve of the left hand side of the bow and pasted it under the baby's chin, then transformed it to fit the shape. As always, when retouching an image, the work you put into it is supposed to be invisible. Adjusting the colour and framing the image to hide the missing areas are the final touches. We must try and keep the tonal range of the background as near to the original as possible.

NEXT MONTH
We combine elements from several photos

BEFORE

Photo is ripped, stained, and folded and the colours are dull

AFTER

Vibrant colours, good tonal range, shadow detail adds depth to the image

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EXPERT TIP
ED DAVIS PHOTOSHOP EXPERT

LASSO TOOL
When you are using the Lasso Tool and you come to the edge of the frame but need to go beyond it, press the Space Bar. The point of the Lasso Tool changes to a Hand Tool, enabling you to click and drag the image across. When you release the Space Bar it goes back to the Lasso tool.

01 ADHESIVE TAPE MARKS

Solution: Retouch the photograph to remove the brown adhesive tape stains using the Healing brush and Clone tool.

02 MISSING AREAS
Solution: Replace the parts of the image that have been lost through surface flaking by using various Copy and Paste techniques.

03 DAMAGED BACKGROUND
Solution: Remove the damaged background and replace with a new one. Also square up the photograph so the child looks upright.

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ONE-CLICK FIX

Double-click on the Zoom Tool to make your image 100%. Double click on the Hand Tool to make the image fit the Photoshop work area

STAGE 1
REMOVE THE STAINS

The photograph has been damaged and then repaired with adhesive tape. The first task is to remove the yellowy brown stains which have been left behind and appear across the image. The Healing brush and Clone tool will be used.

01

REMOVE TAPE STAINS

The staining is extensive on the face of the little girl. It is the first thing we are going to take care of before dealing with the fading and bringing back the colour. Find an area on the less damaged side of the face to use to repair the damage on the other side.

Enlarge the image to 200%-300% using the Zoom tool (Z). Click on the image. The small cracks and defects on the photo surface will become more apparent. Select an area without damage to use as your source to clone from. Go to the next step.

02

EXTENSIVE SURFACE DAMAGE

Select the Healing brush (J) from the Toolbar, move the cursor over an undamaged area, hold down Alt, drag the mouse to a damaged area and release. The damage has now disappeared. Work outward from the centre of your selected area to avoid stepping.

03

USE THE HEALING BRUSH

STAGE 2
REPAIR THE FACE

The face is stained, cracked, has been folded and has faded over time. Our task is to find a good area of the face to work from and re-create the missing parts using the Copy and Paste tool.

Use the Lasso tool (L) to make a selection around the newly repaired area, then Copy and Paste it over the more extensive damage. Make sure the area you select is of similar colour and tone. The new section is on its own layer.

04

LARGER AREAS OF DAMAGE

The right-hand side of the face will be used to replace the left-hand side. Click on Transform (Ctrl + T), move the new selection across the photo, click the right-hand edge of the box; drag it over to the left, until it is in place. The image is now flipped.

05

FLIP THE IMAGE

Now we can correct the eyes and extend the jaw line. Lower the Opacity slider at the top of the Layers Palette to 50%: this will enable you to see through the new layer to the image below. Use this method to align the two layers.

06

MAKE IT FIT

The eyes are very important in a photograph as they give a point of focus. The little girl's eyes look odd. Copy and Paste the centre of the eye then flip it with the Transform tool (Ctrl + T). The eye is now in its own layer and can be moved to match the other eye and give the subject a natural look.

07

EYES RIGHT

Copy, Paste and Transform sections of the newly retouched area to create the other missing parts of the face. The area around the eye needs to be extended; the cheek, forehead and jaw line will have to be stretched to match the original image. Flatten the layers before the next step.

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COPY AND PASTE

Now we must blend the new segments using a combination of the Clone tool and the Healing brush. There is still some damage around the hairline so click the Clone tool (S) on the Toolbar, select a soft-edged brush. Click on a good area of the hair and drag the cursor to a damaged part of the hair to remove the damage.

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BLEND THE SEGMENTS

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CREATE
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EXPERT TIP
ED DAVIS PHOTOSHOP EXPERT

RESTORE A PHOTO

CLONE TOOL
You can either use the Clone tool to clone from all the layers or just the layer you are working on. Click the Use all Layers box on the Option bar.

10

PATCH THE DRESS TEXTURE

Theres some damage to the texture of the dress. The Patch tool will clone it and retain the clarity. Click Patch tool (J) on the Tool Bar. On the Options bar set the tool to Destination, select a clean area with similar texture and drag the new piece over the damage.

The surface of the whole photo is pitted and cracked. This part of the retouching will be time consuming. Use the method in Step Two. Repair a section using the Clone tool and the Healing brush then use the section you have repaired to clean up the rest.

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CLOSE-UP ON THE DAMAGE

The neckline and right side of the bow are badly damaged and must be re-constructed from good sections. Use the Clone tool (S) to repair small bits of damage. Then Paste the repaired area over the damage. Move into place with the Transform command.

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DRESS AND BOW

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CREATE THE BOW

To create the loop at the top of the bow, Copy and Paste part of the large bow then using Transform, (Ctrl + T) move the new section into position and adjust. Continue doing this with as many parts of the existing bow and surrounding dress as necessary.

Make a selection around the damage with the Lasso Tool (L). Click inside the selection and drag it to a repaired area. Now click Copy then Paste to create a new layer. Click the Move tool (V) to move the new section over the damage you need to repair.

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THE DRESS

As you add new layers the whole picture starts to look better. Continue until the girl is finished. Before moving on to the next stage, merge all layers. Click on the small arrow at the top of the Layers palette and on the drop-down menu click on Merge Visible.

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CONTINUE UNTIL DONE

STAGE 3
THE BACKGROUND

The background is very badly damaged and discoloured. It is not of great interest and can be replaced. Select the little girl using the Lasso tool then Copy and Paste her onto a new layer, and insert a new background.

16

SELECT THE GIRL

Click the Lasso tool (L) on the Toolbar, set the feather setting on the Option bar to 2px and go around the little girl. Don't worry if your selection is not perfect, it can be added to and subtracted from, once the selection is complete.

In Photoshop 6 and 7 you have a set of icons on the Options bar that let you add to and subtract from the selected area. Click on the icon required and draw around the area you want to add or subtract. Release the mouse, the selection is now correct.

17

CORRECT THE SELECTION

Double click on the Hand tool (H) this fits the whole image on the screen. Copy (Ctrl + C) and Paste (Ctrl + V) the little girl is now on her own Layer. Turn off the background layer by clicking the eye icon next to the background layer on the Layers palette.

18

REMOVE THE BACKGROUND

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ONE-CLICK FIX

Pressing the Alt key when clicking the Bin icon in the Layers palette will delete the active layer, instead of having to drag the layer into the Bin

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NEW BACKGROUND

Create two new layers. Click twice on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. One is for the new background, the other for the seating area. Pick two colours similar to the original background in the Background and Foreground colour selector. Open Filter Menu8Render8Clouds and click.

On the original photograph the little girl was sitting on a rug. We are going to sit her on the background. Highlight the layer, click the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), set the feather setting to 10px and make a selection from knee level to the bottom of the image. Follow step 19 to change colour and create texture.

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SEATING AREA

Set colours to black and white. Press Alt and click the mouse on the layer with the girl. Click the Create New Layer icon. Press Alt + Back Space to fill new selection with black. Move the shadow a little to the left of the girl, open the Filter Menu8Blur8Gaussian Blur which you set to 25. Reduce opacity to 50%.

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CREATE SHADOWS

STAGE 4
PRESENTATION

IN FOCUS

Final presentation

Both the subject and the background have now been retouched so we need to think about the presentation.

However you want to create your background Photoshop has a wide variety of choices. You can use: Filter8Render8Clouds or Edit8Fill8Use Pattern or Edit8Fill8Use Foreground Colour. I decided to go with a similar background to the original.

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BACKGROUNDS

EXPERT TIP
ED DAVIS PHOTOSHOP EXPERT

The photograph was shot with the girl's feet cut off. We can square up the photograph as per the original, or present it in an oval vignette.

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FRAME THE IMAGE

ADD A BORDER An oval-shaped border cunningly hides the missing feet

CUSTOMISE IT Turn to p62 for more advice on printing out photos with borders

YOUR PROGRESS
Keep a copy of the original photograph untouched on the computer so you can refer back to it. It will help you to check your progress.

The photograph was slightly washed out and the image had lost contrast. To adjust these go to Image8Adjustments8Colour Balance. Move the sliders until correct then: Image8Adjustments8Brightness/ Contrast to increase the contrast a little.

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FINAL COLOUR ADJUSTMENTS

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