Photo Restoration Tutorials techniques
Family pictures are treasured so what can you do when your pictures are ruined from water damage, fading, discoloration, or creases? Photo restoration with the right tools, can repair images that are most important to you. If you have photos to restore, we'll explain which techniques work for which types of damage, so you can bring your memories back to life.Scan your pictures
The first step to fixing your photos is to scan them. Before you scan, check your pictures for dirt and dust, lint, or smudges. Gently clean the photos using a soft brush. Scanner resolution is measured in dots per inch(dpi). Higher resolution means your image will be sharper. A good rule of thumb is to scan your image at 300 dpi.
Copy and crop
Make a copy first and never alter the original. Then, as you begin each stage of restoration, consider doing a "save as." That way, you can go back to your most recently saved version. Not every part of every photo is essential to preserving the memory. You can save yourself a lot of time and improve the image by cropping out unnecessary elements, especially if those areas of the photo are severely damaged. Cropping tools are available in all image-editing programs.
Brightness, contrast, and saturation
Over time, photos can become faded, too light, or too dark. If this is you're image problem take this opportunity to alter the brightness, contrast, and saturation. Brightness changes the light levels. Contrast helps distinguish between light and dark areas in faded photos. And Saturation will bring vibrancy to your pictures.
Correct color
Discoloration is frequently caused by water and smoke. If your photos have more serious color problems, such as too much red or too much yellow, you may need to use the Levels and Curves tools. Use the Levels tool in Photoshop to adjust the brightness and contrast of individual colors. Levels is also particularly helpful for adjusting shadows and highlights. The Curves tool in Adobe Photoshop is an extremely powerful tool that can be used to make precise color adjustments.
Fix flaws
For photos that have missing pieces or are torn or creased, use the Clone stamp in Photoshop. It's similar to copying and pasting. First, find what you'd like to fix and find an undamaged part of the photo that looks similar. Then use the Clone stamp to select an area to copy and paste over the damaged part.
Remove marks and scratches
Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Photoshop have a Dust and Scratches filter that can get rid of dust, specks, and scratches. Apply this filter to the affected areas only. Otherwise, you might remove important small details such as eyelashes, or teeth. Most image-editing programs have a Sharpen tool. Use it to fix a blurry photo before saving it.
Printing and archiving
When you're ready to print your newly restored photos, make sure you have everything you need to print pictures for yourself and to give out to friends and family. Get professional-quality prints with a printer that has inks that resist fading for up to over 100 years.
If you can not restore your photos yourself Contact Us and we will be glad to restore your photos for you. HOME