Shadows on Old Picture

[nkeevers]

This picture is pretty old and not the greatest but my mom wanted me to eliminate the shadows on the back wall. I was just going to clone them out but was wondering if anyone has any ideas on an easier way.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1olk8mxxJrctn1M2fLJj6wZF8Fw67O_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1olk8mxxJrctn1M2fLJj6wZF8Fw67O)

[Tom K]

Hi Norma,

There may be other ways, but I find cloning the most consistent.

Don't forget to do the work on a duplicate layer... Tom:)

[Wendy]

Hi Norma ...

There is a tutorial in the Subscriber Area on shadow removal .. I think its by Dave Cross :)


Wendy

[nkeevers]

Tom, I do tend to use the clone tool a lot...thanks.

Wendy, gee, I didn't notice that tutorial. I'm going to go look for it now. Thanks a lot for letting me know!

[GaryK]

Hi Norma

Dec 30/2005.:)

[Daviskw]

Hi Norma

Here is a real quick go at your picture.

Rather than try and clone out the shadows why not just reduce them.

I made a selection along the boy...around the heads at the top to the widow then back along the top to select the back wall. I filled this area with a sampled gray from the old wall. I then reduced opacity of the fill layer so some of the shadow showed…..and any mistake I made with the selection would not show as much. Then I filled a blank layer with 50 percent gray and added noise then changed mode to soft light. I then grouped this layer to the wall fill layer.

Hope this helps

Butch


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/184yt6tgG7Z3c2ajSQNiS5er8eNA_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=184yt6tgG7Z3c2ajSQNiS5er8eNA)

[46thGA]

Butch,

The photo looks much better after your work on it, but I was just wondering. How did you know she was a widow? :D :D ;) ;)

[quillabee9]

You might want to look at the video on "Selections" dated April 28, 2005. He does a number of techniques (like a threshold layer) that helps. His application is different but not unrelated. Good luck.

[nkeevers]

Gail, I'll check that one out! Thanks.

In the meantime, I check out the video about removing shadows but I don't think it worked well on this picture. There was just too many dark areas and the magic wand was going crazy.

I used the clone tool and cloned the shadows out for now. What do you think?

Original...
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/14oAUbaW4s55ksTE6aGH4VAi7JVQXJ0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=14oAUbaW4s55ksTE6aGH4VAi7JVQXJ0)

Edited...
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1zFXka1JDvw1rXSylrLVBLjw6Z15V_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1zFXka1JDvw1rXSylrLVBLjw6Z15V)

The picture will never be perfect...there's just too much grain in it...but my mom only wanted the shadows removed. Thought maybe I'd try my hand at coloring it but I'm not sure how great that'll look. We'll see.

[Bayla]

Norma,

Just adding my two pennyworth. I think it needs just a hint of a shadow still there. Compare Butch's with yours - I think it looks a bit flat without any shadow.

Bayla

[nkeevers]

Yeah, you're right! Now I'll have to go back and try it again.

[nkeevers]

Hi Norma

Here is a real quick go at your picture.

Rather than try and clone out the shadows why not just reduce them.

I made a selection along the boy...around the heads at the top to the widow then back along the top to select the back wall. I filled this area with a sampled gray from the old wall. I then reduced opacity of the fill layer so some of the shadow showed…..and any mistake I made with the selection would not show as much. Then I filled a blank layer with 50 percent gray and added noise then changed mode to soft light. I then grouped this layer to the wall fill layer.

Hope this helps


Butch


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/184yt6tgG7Z3c2ajSQNiS5er8eNA_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=184yt6tgG7Z3c2ajSQNiS5er8eNA)

Is changing the mode to soft light how you got rid of all that grain in the picture? Because it looks great. I only took all the shadows out because she didn't want any. Now I'll go back and change.

[msbrad]

do you have one of those "noiseward filters"?
they can be helpful in pics like that.

http://www.imagenomic.com/
http://www.neatimage.com/
m

[Daviskw]

Hi Norma

Good job on the cloning.... Michelle is right I used a noise filter on your picture. But I also used the hard round bristle brush and the smudge tool with an opacity between 20 and 40 depending where I was smudging. I went over some of the legs and faces where needed. I did not take a lot of time with this but you could do much better...
You can use this tool to blend some of the noise. If I want to save a line ....say the edge of the lips... I reduce opacity and smudge in the same direction. If I want to remove a line I bursh across it or in circles. Patience is important here, make small strokes and smudge slowly. Pay attention shadow and highlight and where the smudge is pulling.
Sometimes this leaves the area over soft or smooth. If this is the case I use a noise layer to blend with the rest of the picture.

Butch

[nkeevers]

Hi Norma

Good job on the cloning.... Michelle is right I used a noise filter on your picture. But I also used the hard round bristle brush and the smudge tool with an opacity betweem 20 and 40 depending where I was smudging. I went over some of the legs and faces where needed. I did not take a lot of time with this but you could do much better...
You can use this tool to blend some of the noise. If I want to save a line ....say the edge of the lips... I reduce opacity and smudge in the same direction. If I want to remove a line I bursh across it or in circles. Patience is important here, make small strokes and smudge slowly. Pay attention shadow and highlight and where the smudge is pulling.
Sometimes this leaves the area over soft or smooth. If this is the case I use a noise layer to blend with the rest of the picture.

Butch

Well, Butch you're more of an expert than I am so it sounds a little hard to me but I'm going to try it. How much noise do you use - like about 8-10 depending?

[Daviskw]

I'm not sure what I used for your picture. But i do not apply the noise directly.

I open a blank layer at the top of the pallet

Fill with 50 percent gray

Change blend mode to overlay...soft light or hard light. These different modes just give a slightly different look to the noise.

To this new noise layer I apply noise watching my picture till it looks close. The noise applied this way may look a little too sharp so I often apply a small amount of gaussian blur. If when I apply the blur the grain is too big or small I just use history and reapply the grain at a different amount.

With a little tweeking you can approximate the existing grain.

Remeber this will add grain to the whole picture but you can group this layer to the smudge layer and only where you smudged will get the new grain. IF you did your smudging on its own layer.

Butch

[nkeevers]

Thanks Butch! I'll try it out.

[Cmcburnett]

Norma, nice looking family. Your photo is looking really good. I like the way Butch restores the old photos. He is always so helpful and I love to see pic's after he has edited. Never over kill like I usually end up with.

[Daviskw]

Hi Charlotte

Wendy has been hitting me over the head with baseball bat saying.... less is best... I am finally understanding she is right.

I used to wield the eyedroppers with determination in levels clipping left and right. All I looked for was white black and midtones determined to rid all color castes in one fell swoop. I've found this often deletes detail and adds too much contrast. I am very careful now to pay attention more to theses powerful procedures.

Don't get me wrong I love contrast and big color to my fault, as you can often see, but I am getting better controlling that compulsion.

Butch

[Wendy]

Oh Butch ...

That really made me laugh ... I know I can be very evangelical about old photos :D :D

You really did an excellent job on this image. Its a perfect balance between restoring and yet keeping all that detail.

Wendy :)

[nkeevers]

I'm not sure what I used for your picture. But i do not apply the noise directly.

I open a blank layer at the top of the pallet

Fill with 50 percent gray

Change blend mode to overlay...soft light or hard light. These different modes just give a slightly different look to the noise.

To this new noise layer I apply noise watching my picture till it looks close. The noise applied this way may look a little too sharp so I often apply a small amount of gaussian blur. If when I apply the blur the grain is too big or small I just use history and reapply the grain at a different amount.

With a little tweeking you can approximate the existing grain.

Remeber this will add grain to the whole picture but you can group this layer to the smudge layer and only where you smudged will get the new grain. IF you did your smudging on its own layer.

Butch

I know when I try all this out something is going to go wrong. A couple of questions. What is the purpose of the gray layer? Is the blend mode done on the gray layer? Then apply the noise layer on top of that on the same gray layer? Sorry I'm just trying to get it down pat before I go and make a mess out of it!:eek: I've never done something this complicated so that's why I'm asking so many questions.

The first time I hit a snag I'm going to be bugging you again! Probably won't try anything til tomorrow since I'll be out all afternoon/evening today and this morning I'm spending my time trying to get tickets to a concert.

[Daviskw]

Hi Norma

To add noise you have two options...apply directly to your picture layer or apply on a separate layer.

If you add directly to your picture and want or need to soften or blur the noise added, you will blur the whole picture not just the noise. There is no control.

So..... The best way to add noise is to put it on its own layer...BUT you can't add noise to a blank layer.
You need to fill the layer first with 50 percent gray. This gives a base for the noise.
Why 50 percent gray???? will because it is a neutral color of various layer modes. This means if I fill a layer with gray in normal mode it will hide my picture...BUT if I then change the layers mode to Soft light the gray will disappear or become transparent in this case leaving the noise I had applied to it.

I use these steps;

Just above the layer I want to apply noise to I open a new blank layer...I'll call this layer "Noise layer"

I then fill the layer with 50 percent gray by.....Edit>Fill Layer and from contents select.... 50 % Gray....then OK

Now I change the new Noise layers layer mode to " Soft light" The gray should now disappear.

I now add noise to the new noise layer with....Filter>Noise>Add noise

In the dialog box that appears I move the slider all the way to the left then slowly slide it to the right until the noise looks right. Sometimes it is easier to add numbers in the box I usually start around 1.5 pixels... when done...OK

On this same noise layer if the noise looks too sharp.... I apply a very small gaussian blur...usually less than 1 pixel….BUT what ever looks good to you... then OK

All done with the noise layer you can mask or erase parts...reduce opacity as needed.

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/15RH910LcH2jehlMDQhXpkIXeXKU5_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=15RH910LcH2jehlMDQhXpkIXeXKU5)

[nkeevers]

Thanks for the lesson Butch! I'll post when I'm done trying or if I need help!:eek:

[nkeevers]

Butch, I'm back from my vacation. I'm going to try your techniques out and I'll post my picture again. Might take me some time from all the tips you gave me.

[nkeevers]

Hi Norma

To add noise you have two options...apply directly to your picture layer or apply on a separate layer.

If you add directly to your picture and want or need to soften or blur the noise added, you will blur the whole picture not just the noise. There is no control.

So..... The best way to add noise is to put it on its own layer...BUT you can't add noise to a blank layer.
You need to fill the layer first with 50 percent gray. This gives a base for the noise.
Why 50 percent gray???? will because it is a neutral color of various layer modes. This means if I fill a layer with gray in normal mode it will hide my picture...BUT if I then change the layers mode to Soft light the gray will disappear or become transparent in this case leaving the noise I had applied to it.

I use these steps;

Just above the layer I want to apply noise to I open a new blank layer...I'll call this layer "Noise layer"

I then fill the layer with 50 percent gray by.....Edit>Fill Layer and from contents select.... 50 % Gray....then OK

Now I change the new Noise layers layer mode to " Soft light" The gray should now disappear.

I now add noise to the new noise layer with....Filter>Noise>Add noise

In the dialog box that appears I move the slider all the way to the left then slowly slide it to the right until the noise looks right. Sometimes it is easier to add numbers in the box I usually start around 1.5 pixels... when done...OK

On this same noise layer if the noise looks too sharp.... I apply a very small gaussian blur...usually less than 1 pixel….BUT what ever looks good to you... then OK

All done with the noise layer you can mask or erase parts...reduce opacity as needed.

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/15RH910LcH2jehlMDQhXpkIXeXKU5_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=15RH910LcH2jehlMDQhXpkIXeXKU5)

Butch, I'm starting to finally work on this original picture again. Question...did you add the noise at the end after you used a brush and smudge tool? I only ask because I tried your instructions for noise and I don't see anything happening to my picture. It still looks grainy same as before. Either I'm doing something wrong (and I thought I followed your directions to the T) or I should be adding the noise at the end.:eek: