Old Slide deterioration repair: I have about 10,000 slides of various manufacturers going back to the early 1950's. They have been stored in non-AC spaces for most of this time and for...

HamBar06 Loc: Philadelphia, PA

I have about 10,000 slides of various manufacturers going back to the early 1950's. They have been stored in non-AC spaces for most of this time and for the past five years in another location under unknown conditions.
Surprisingly, some of these have held up well. My scanner has done a great job of color restoration, but on many slides the emulsion seems to have crackled (pixelated ?). I have Photoshop Elements 2021 but cannot find any way to restore either sharpness or rid me of this "rash"; mostly of the darker colors. I attach an example of a problem slide. Without spending a lot of money on another program, can anything be done here?
Thanks for any advice.
Larry Biond (HamBar06)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

HamBar06 wrote:

I have about 10,000 slides of various manufacturer... (show quote)

Have you tried denoise on them, that might help smooth out the image.

HamBar06 Loc: Philadelphia, PA

Thanks for your response.
I only seem to have two real options listed: remove Haze and Sharpen. I have used both, either separately or together and it does nothing to eliminate the mottled dark areas. If "denoise" is another option, I don't know how to access it in Elements 2021.
Larry

pendennis

HamBar06 wrote:

Thanks for your response.
I only seem to have two real options listed: remove Haze and Sharpen. I have used both, either separately or together and it does nothing to eliminate the mottled dark areas. If "denoise" is another option, I don't know how to access it in Elements 2021.
Larry

On the top menu bar, look under the "Filter" sub-menu. Lot's of options there.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

HamBar06 wrote:

Thanks for your response.
I only seem to have two real options listed: remove Haze and Sharpen. I have used both, either separately or together and it does nothing to eliminate the mottled dark areas. If "denoise" is another option, I don't know how to access it in Elements 2021.
Larry

https://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/1759/reducing-noise-with-photoshop-elements/

I use LR & PS CC and also Topaz DeNoise AI so I just looked this up, can't test it as I don't PSE, well I have a disk with a 10 year old version but it isn't on my machine.

HamBar06 Loc: Philadelphia, PA

pendennis wrote:

On the top menu bar, look under the "Filter" sub-menu. Lot's of options there.

Thanks. I will check out the filter menu...I may have missed something there.
Larry

HamBar06 Loc: Philadelphia, PA

robertjerl wrote:

https://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/1759/reducing-noise-with-photoshop-elements/

I use LR & PS CC and also Topaz DeNoise AI so I just looked this up, can't test it as I don't PSE, well I have a disk with a 10 year old version but it isn't on my machine.

Thanks Robert,
I don't think I am up for buying any more programs. I am actually in the process of downsizing and have been trying to keep only the photos that are my favorites and or reminders of things and places that are important to me. It is a bittersweet project, but no one in my family will want these and if I don't trash the less important (to me) ones, they will all go to the curb after I'm gone. Too bad that some of the "keepers" need the help I asked about.
Larry

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

HamBar06 wrote:

Thanks Robert,
I don't think I am up for buying any more programs. I am actually in the process of downsizing and have been trying to keep only the photos that are my favorites and or reminders of things and places that are important to me. It is a bittersweet project, but no one in my family will want these and if I don't trash the less important (to me) ones, they will all go to the curb after I'm gone. Too bad that some of the "keepers" need the help I asked about.
Larry

Yes, I too have thousands of slides and negatives I need to scan, brought back over 3000 from two years in Vietnam and 1-2 thousand from a 3 month field school in the Mountains SW of Mexico City. Plus things I photographed ever since about 4th grade in the early 50s when I got my first camera.

The link is how to do denoise in Photo Shop Elements so it should help you.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

HamBar06 wrote:

Thanks for your response.
I only seem to have two real options listed: remove Haze and Sharpen. I have used both, either separately or together and it does nothing to eliminate the mottled dark areas. If "denoise" is another option, I don't know how to access it in Elements 2021.
Larry

If you’re using PS Elements, you can zoom in and clone clean sections into the mildewed areas. It’s tedious work but I’ve done it and gotten surprising improvements. Or, in the first photo, you could try replacing the entire sky with a clean one. Layers are your friend.

HamBar06 Loc: Philadelphia, PA

robertjerl,

Thanks for the reference file. I watched it and discovered that when using that tool in my Elements program, I was doing so incorrectly. I now know that I can slightly improve the noise issue but not eliminate it. What I can't figure out is that when the slides were new and projected, there was non of that speckling and that it seems to be a product of aging and bad storage.
Larry

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

HamBar06 wrote:

robertjerl,

Thanks for the reference file. I watched it and discovered that when using that tool in my Elements program, I was doing so incorrectly. I now know that I can slightly improve the noise issue but not eliminate it. What I can't figure out is that when the slides were new and projected, there was non of that speckling and that it seems to be a product of aging and bad storage.
Larry

The speckling is mildew. Slides can be cleaned with a solution but I chose to clone.

HamBar06 Loc: Philadelphia, PA

Thanks,
I will test one with slide cleaner and see if it makes a difference. Good suggestion.
Larry

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

gvarner wrote:

The speckling is mildew. Slides can be cleaned with a solution but I chose to clone.

Follow the instructions to the nth degree and don't get too enthusiastic. A prof of photography I had during a lesson on cleaning negatives and slides warned us that in some cases not doing it right could strip the emulsion layer right off the backing.

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

I will start the same process soon. I checked with my two sons and only my younger son is interested in my slides. Soo, I will work with him to create digital copies of some of the better shots.
Mundy

HamBar06 Loc: Philadelphia, PA

Thanks for the reply. Hope your collection isn't as large as mine.
Larry