Ancient photo

[Mala]

My cousin has just given me a very, very faint and blurred photo of my great-grandfather. He died in 1921, and he was not an aged man in the photo, so it's probably nearly 100 years old.

Is there any possible way that I can scan it and use software to un-degrade the image?

[legion]

Originally posted by Mala
My cousin has just given me a very, very faint and blurred photo of my great-grandfather. He died in 1921, and he was not an aged man in the photo, so it's probably nearly 100 years old.

Is there any possible way that I can scan it and use software to un-degrade the image?

You can work on restoring it in Photoshop.. just take the highest resolution scan you can. If that fails, take it to a photo restorer and they should be able to improve the basic quality of the print and then you can try again to restore it digitally through scanning and Photoshop.

[Mala]

Thank you very much. I'll try both of these things. This is the only photo I've ever heard of of this man, and he has an interesting face.

What do I do in Photoshop to improve the image, once I have a scan, please?

[JDar]

Mala, the workflow--starting with the scan itself--is the subject of chapters, books, tutorials, experience, and opinions. If you are a beginner in PS you'll find many online tutorials, some that exactly describe what you should try. (It depends.)

Here are a couple of url's to get you started, and there is a lot of help on the Adobe site in the forums.

I use PS Elements and working with old photo restorations can be lots of fun, right up there with stitching together panoramas.:D

http://photoshopgurus.info/beginner.shtml

http://www.arraich.com/elements/psE_intro.htm

http://www.digitaldog.net/tips.html

[Mala]

Thanks so much for these. I actually use Photoshop in my work, but in a very basic way. It'll be great to learn more.

[Stinkysteve]

Just make a copy of the layer before trying anything new or unsure.
Start off with making an adjustment layer for the levels, and basic color balance. Adjustment layers are key, because you and go back and alter them later.

[snickelfritz]

Here's a quick tutorial for fixing old faded photos.
"Call for Help" photoshop tip (http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/answerstips/photoshoptips/story/0,24330,3570096,00.html)

Before:
http://graphics.techtv.com/graphics/callforhelp/3570149.jpg

After:
http://graphics.techtv.com/graphics/callforhelp/3570151.jpg