lwhitlow

Thank you, rmalarz. I think that is the way to go:-)

lwhitlow

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you:-)

lwhitlow

Thank you very much for the tip:-)

lwhitlow

Thank you so much for sharing. That is really awesome!!

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I believe the edge detection was probably done in IrfanView (freeware, Windows only). Those were done around 2004 before I had really gotten into LR/PS. It's possible that it was done with GIMP, which I did use back then, but my memory (and documentation) is not that good these days.

lwhitlow

Thank you, my memory isn’t as good now, either😊

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

My sister gave me a faded portrait of her in-laws to restore. And when I say faded, I mean almost white with some yellow and brown pigments, with no discernable features on it. Scanned using restore Epson software and brought out full facial and clothing detail, no way you get that with a camera shot.

lwhitlow

Oh, thank you- I have one like that and wasn’t sure if I could get anything out of it. 😊

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks! I am pretty sure you can't do this in Lightroom, btw. It lacks the layering, cloning, channel replacement and selection tools that are typically used in image restoration. Photoshop is the industry standard for this type of work.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

There are several possibilities. I prefer an Epson V600 scanner.

https://www.diyphotography.net/scanned-old-negatives-0-budget-dslr-stuff-home/
https://fstoppers.com/education/how-use-your-dslr-scan-negatives-137248
https://www.scanyourentirelife.com/scanning-your-film-negatives-vs-prints-interesting-comparison/
https://petapixel.com/2012/12/23/why-you-should-digitize-your-film-using-a-camera-instead-of-a-scanner/
http://lifehacker.com/digitize-old-photos-better-with-the-negatives-510606513
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2buwklEqvmU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yLUvYoMUYI

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Epson scanner 850V has software that removes dust and corrects color that would take forever to do in PS.
Especially the color restoration I doubt you or anyone could do as well as the scanner
Also it holds prints flat.
If the photos are not the same format as your camera then you have to crop the image where the scanner you draw a box around the photo, slide or print, and it just scans that.
And is overall much faster because of these features done at the same time rather than spending hours messing around trying to remove dust specs and other reservations.
Oh well do as you please but I have done both and I know what works.

dave.m

When it comes to restoring colour prints a huge amount can be acheived with PS especially using the white point dropper in RGB using curves (paticularly one colour channel at a time with heavy colour castes), followed by curves for contrast adjustment. And if I was doing a handful that is exactly what I would do.

But if you intend to do loads have a look at Kodak ROC restorer. The speed of use and colour rendition achieved so easily, often without any adjustment, I think is amazing.

The screen shot below was a 45 year old print, scanned at 600dpi with an epson scanner. I tend to fill the platten then crop for each print to save time.I know you only need 300 dpi for prints, but if there is more detail to be had, then I take it, then resize for final storage/ printing.

I then selected filter>Kodak> digital ROC and the inset screen is what I would get with no further adjustment at all. Total time after crop at least 30 seconds!

The only time I typically use PS original tools is if there is physical damage or similar to repair

Downsides:
* The plugin only works on PS x86 (the only reason I still have PS CS6 x86 installed.)
* its perhaps a bit pricey for an unsupported application running on obsolete application
see http://asf.com/products/plugins/rocpro/pluginROCPRO/

Upside:
* for me its worth every penny as I can easily process 30+ prints an hour and there is no way I could achieve that with curves or colour correction, so I occasionally scan 40 or 50 prints as the mood takes me, then have a processing binge for a couple of hours :)
* with 300 + 40 to 50 year old prints and slides done already its less than 25c an image and reducing!

Another downside, is when relatives see what you achieved they have been known to offer a shoe box with prints and ask if you can do some of theirs

akamerica

Been there done that. Still not finished with higher priority items in play. Highly recommend the Epson FastFoto FF-640 that quickly scans your prints. Fast great results.

Toment Loc: FL, IL

I tried photographing the old prints but light was the problem.
Then I tried scanning on my Canon mx 920.(?)
One at a time slooow
Then I tried putting 4-6 prints on the scan bed at the same time. Guess what?
The scanner separated the prints!
Easy peasy!
Got good clean photos that I was able to clean up in PP! Now I realize I still have the prints and am wondering what to do with the digital versions! I have to change dates to approximate time. On some of the old prints the processing date is available, a big help for this old brain...

ggab Loc: ?

Scan