How to restore old, damaged photos in Photoshop
Wednesday 12 December 2018, 15:31 by Michelle Peeters | 22,878 views | 5 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
Discover how to restore old (antique) and badly damaged family photos. Old photo prints are often badly damaged by being looked at and passed from hand to hand time and time again.
Photos often have stains, scratches, creases and other damage. Sometimes it is so bad that parts of the image have disappeared completely.
This first Photoshop tutorial shows how to bring re-scanned analogue images back to life and restore them completely. Unfortunately, there is no audio, but the actions on screen are easy to follow.
Restoring a face
In the video below, even completely erased areas of the face are brought back, using only the Clone Stamp, Patch Tool and Healing Brush. And of course by working with layers, allowing you to adjust the opacity and reduce the effect if needed.
The audio sounds a little like Stephen Hawking, but it is easy to follow along with the actions on screen. Restoring missing buttons or eyes requires considerably more knowledge and skill.
You now have to recreate something that is not there. Often by copying existing material and pasting it over the area where something is missing. Then slightly blurring the boundary.
Want to learn more about Photoshop image editing?
At Photofacts Academy, our online learning environment for photographers, we have several courses on Adobe Photoshop.
- Photoshop for Beginners (Johan Elzenga)
- Photoshop for Photographers (Piet van den Eynde)
- Photoshop for Advanced Users (Marit Hilarius)
- Photoshop Effects (Elja Trum)
And much more...
You can follow these courses for two weeks with a free trial membership.
About the author
Michelle Peeters is fotografe en oprichter van DeuxBleus Fotografie. Michelle herkent het bijzondere in het gewone en het gewone in het bijzondere. Ze heeft zich nooit willen specialiseren en is daardoor van alle markten thuis.
You might also like
-
Improve old photos automaticallyby Elja Trum
-
Light from the Old Mastersby Frank Doorhof
-
Video: Restoring a Canon AV-1 Cameraby Elja Trum
-
Do you print photos for the wall, or have them printed?by Nando Harmsen
5 comments
-
S. Hawking wrote on Thursday 13 July 2017 at 09:45 | replyHahahaha..... I can't stop laughing! Thanks for this great article. Is there anyone who can stand listening to a robot voice for over 5 minutes?
Translated from Dutch. -
Teejoo wrote on Tuesday 18 July 2017 at 14:37 | replyHonestly, I think the original photo of the lady is the most beautiful....I would limit the editing to restoring the face and otherwise keep everything original...so the way it was
Translated from Dutch. -
Michelle Peeters wrote on Tuesday 18 July 2017 at 18:27
| reply
@Teejoo: I do find creases and folds in clothing or the background distracting too, you know, I prefer to edit everything out!
Translated from Dutch. -
Teejoo wrote on Tuesday 18 July 2017 at 20:01 | reply
If only that were possible
Translated from Dutch.
. I have nothing against removing scratches and creases, but the photo on the right is a bit too much of a good (or bad) thing. With all due respect but the "soul has been taken out of the photo"... nicely done though, that much. -
Michelle Peeters wrote on Tuesday 18 July 2017 at 21:51
| reply
@Tejoo: indeed.. you have to be careful that the expression doesn't get completely cloned away too. Tricky sometimes, you know, often also a bit of guessing what it might have been like..
Translated from Dutch.
Have your say
Please note: Articles older than a week can only be commented on by signed-in visitors.Would you still like to comment? sign in or create a free account.
Become a better photographer every week
A practical photography tip in your inbox every week.
38,836 photography enthusiasts already receive the tips! More about the weekly mail. Or keep up to date via 
Facebook.
Elja Trum
Photofacts; everything to do with photography!
Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about PhotofactsPhotofacts is made possible in part by
