Stan Fayer

I do a fair amount of restoration of old pictures mostly useing Apple Photo, which is just ok for most , but it doesn’t have enough contrast control and am not generally happy with the clone feature. Are there any simple programs or add ones that would work better, something user friendly.

fredpnm Loc: Corrales, NM

The current Photoshop has both a photo restoration and colorizing features in their Neural Filter. Click the filter and watch it work - couldn't be any more user friendly than that.

You can, however, make adjustments to the results it comes up with to suit your taste.

JBGLADSTONE Loc: Oregon

You may want to try ON1 2023 with 14 day trial.
The AI for shaping and no noise can really improve your images.
Then you can select AI which will select various types within your image. Like people, sky, buildings animals, and etc. Then within each of those objects you have the ability make selections with in .

I would suggest you watch a few ON1 2023 videos from YouTube.

If you select to buy, ON1 2023 offers 3 ways to acquire.

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

Adobe Photoshop will give you what you need as suggested by fredpnm. Adobe Photoshop Elements will also do the job. Photoshop requires a subscription whereas Elements can be purchased outright. Both have free trial periods.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

Just like everything else photographic, there are differences in restoration procedures and outcomes. Most people likely use Photoshop for most restoration work, but doing it well requires skill and a lot of time. I also think most people doing this kind of work use more than one program, and in this day of AI this and AI that, programs like Remini are being used extensively (although I don't know if professionally; I would think not.) The problem is that at this point in the development of machine learning, that type of program only works well for creating artificial faces (although they can be remarkably good in a few cases) and pretty much ignores the rest of the photo. Photoshop's neural restoration filter, mentioned by some here, is still in beta, rarely works well for anything, and crashes Photoshop most of the time. I use it very sparingly.

I have "Ctein's Digital Restoration From Start to Finish," both volumes, and he demonstrates pretty effectively that a good traditional restoration can take a very long time using extensive and esoteric masking techniques, but if you see it through, you can be rewarded with a photo that rivals or even exceeds the quality of the original. Of course. it all starts with a great scan, and that is half the battle.

It sounds like this is not what you're looking for, though.

Remini claims that it is a photo restoration app, but it is a phone app, and after 5 free images, it costs $3.99 per week. That's more than the Photographer's package for Photoshop/Bridge/Camera Raw/Lightroom. It only works well on faces, and will give weirdness to blurred details, hair, backgrounds, clothing, etc. Same with others like FaceApp, Facetune, etc.

It probably depends on the level of restoration you want to do. Personally, I strive for the look of the original and not the sanitized, plastic-looking fakery of the AI face apps.

domcomm Loc: Denver, CO

There's also Preview on a Mac, which helps a lot.

Capn_Dave

TerryMc I haven't had the restore photo Neural filter crash. Yes it is in Beta and perhaps your graphics card is older or not a lot of ram. It could even be your internet connection as some of the Adobe filters are using their computers for the AI

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

If you aren't ready for Adobe's Photography Plan, which includes Lightroom, Lightroom CLASSIC, Photoshop, Bridge, and some online storage, all for $10 a month or so, then I would look seriously at Affinity Photo 2 by Serif. It runs well on the new Macs, and it is well worth its price. Affinity Photo can be used as a stand-alone application, OR as a plug-in inside Apple Photos.

Another tool worth ten times its price is Raw Power, which is a raw file editing program that can be used as a stand-alone application, OR as a plug-in inside Apple Photos.

You don't say whether you are scanning or copying prints for restoration. I use a macro lens on my camera, save raw files, and edit them in Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. I'm using color-correct Neewer LED video light panels with a 96+ CRI.

farwest Loc: Utah

Wondering about which color-correct Neewer LED video light panels with a 96+ CRI you are using as there are several on amazon are several different models to chose from. I'm wanting to do the same plus used the light for duplication of slides.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

Or perhaps not. My graphics card is about 1½ - 2 years old with 4Gb RAM and is supported by Photoshop; the age is well within the 7 years years Adobe requires and the RAM is the recommended amount, minimum being 1½.

I live in a rural area and have a very slow Internet connection; however, Photoshop allows you to choose Edit in the Cloud or Edit on Device. I have edit in the cloud selected, but when the connection is slow, Photoshop automatically defaults to Device, and this works well for everything except the Restore filter, including all of the content aware selection tools. I can see no reason why, if everything but one filter works well, it is the fault of my system and not the beta filter. After the failure of the Restore filter I have to close Photoshop and restart, as it will not open any file after that.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

I know a lot of people today recommend using a camera or even a phone to copy photos, because the resolution is high, but it makes no sense to me since a scanner is designed to scan, and has dedicated software to get the most out of it without having to use a special stand to keep the image flat, special lights to assure proper white balance and even lighting, and special techniques to avoid reflections and flare.

I always scan images from film or print to a TIFF file, whether for restoration or just analog to digital conversion.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Neewer RGB 168 2-pack. Too big for slide duplication. For that, read the PDF attachment below.

Attached file:
(Download)

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

if you go that route and still want to use apple photos as your Data Asset Management you can get it as plugins and use it right from Photos. Also there is a raw developer app made by the guys that created aperture (damn you Apple, laughs ) which should give you more features than the basic Photos raw (I am assuming you are shooting raw) processor. I think this is it https://www.gentlemencoders.com/raw-power-for-macos/

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Raw Power is indeed evolved from the raw file processor from Aperture.

Lots of folks use Apple Photos with Serif Affinity Photo and Raw Power as plug-ins. It's a decent budget substitute for the Adobe Photography Plan, and it only costs around $120 once (plus the Mac, which Photos came with).

farwest Loc: Utah

Thank you so much for the information I really appreciate it.