Many of us still have printed photos from regular old film cameras safely tucked away in an album. However, these photos have a limited lifespan and can deteriorate, leaving faded pictures with tattered edges and scratches. Photo restoration services allow you to bring these captured memories back to life. While the process can take time since it focuses on fixing every detail, the results are well worth the time and effort spent on mending damaged pictures.
All The Steps Involved In The Photo Restoration Process
Gathering Different Image Pieces
Sometimes, old photos can deteriorate to the point of being completely torn. These parts need to be collected and put together to create the original image using photo editing services. Select a single piece of the photo and paste it on different layers using the lasso tool. Once that is done, hide the original layer.
After forming a mask on all the layers, use an edged brush to reveal the rough, edgy points in the original image. Setting up a darker layer under the current layer will also help you discover the areas that need to be concealed.
Assembling All The Pieces
After matching the different pieces and joining them together, you can use rotation to position the parts properly without overlapping. Create a duplicate layer of the result to remain on the safe side.
Fixing Any Defects
Use the clone tool to remove all the scratches and marks. While repairing damaged areas of the image, utilize clear parts and prevent overuse to avoid an unrealistic picture. Remove any visible torn pieces but ensure any essential details are not erased. Smoothen out the creases on the photo and free the image from any fold lines.
Mending Key Areas
In this step, any complicated parts missed out on earlier are restored. Faces are fixed using the smallest brush size to clear the damage between pixels. The in-depth details are dealt with in the next few steps.
Adjustment Of Shadows
Once you have converted the colored image into a black and white photo, turn the shadows and contrast into sepia. Form a black and white adjustment layer in correspondence to the restored layer. Hide the layers after replicating and merging them.
Click on the color range, choose the right bends and a feather radius of 5 pixels. Select the burn tool and choose a large, smooth brush on the rest of the areas till they look similar to the shadowed ones.
Use Crop & Healing Tools
Crop the image using the crop tool and ensure the content of the original image is at the maximum level to prevent the cropping of the required portion of the picture. Select a spot healing brush to find and remove all the spots from the image carefully. Use the paint option and a 1-pixel size brush to get rid of the non-removable spots.
Noise Reduction
Use the noise reduction tool to remove minor stains left on the image. Duplicate the layer and apply the required setting without overusing the noise reduction tool.
Polishing Off The Final Image
The smallest spot healing tool can help eliminate specks of dust and any remaining spots or stains on the picture. You can zoom in to check out any imperfections on the subjects' faces. Use the brush tool or clone tool to fix those defects.
Restoring old photos requires using multiple tools and software to get the best results. The steps mentioned above allow you to fix old, damaged pictures and digitize them to remain safe and easily accessible.
If you don't have access to the right tools or want to choose a more cost-effective and less time-consuming alternative, contact us at Clipixie, a photo editing agency in USA, to get your photos restored without any fuss. All you have to do is upload your images and convey any specific requirements, and our experts will do the rest and get the job done in no time.
