Brown areas on B/W photos

in article LsHRc.41954$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 2:28 AM:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be due to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

Scan using only shades of gray and not color.

Hi,

Yes I had tried that but I lose the "old" sepia look entirely. I’m trying to retain that old look but without strong sepia look in small areas. I also notice a lack of what I call "colour depth" ie lack of contrast.

Regards
"Combaticus" wrote in message

in article LsHRc.41954$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 2:28 AM:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be

due

to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

Scan using only shades of gray and not color.

After you scan in gray scale you can then add your sepia tone back in.

You can touch up the dark spots in the pic before you add the color back in.

in article XTIRc.42643$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 4:05 AM:

Hi,

Yes I had tried that but I lose the "old" sepia look entirely. I’m trying to retain that old look but without strong sepia look in small areas. I also notice a lack of what I call "colour depth" ie lack of contrast.

Regards
"Combaticus" wrote in message

in article LsHRc.41954$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 2:28 AM:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be

due

to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

Scan using only shades of gray and not color.

Thanks Mate,

I will try that

Regards

"Combaticus" wrote in message

After you scan in gray scale you can then add your sepia tone back in.
You can touch up the dark spots in the pic before you add the color back

in.

in article XTIRc.42643$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 4:05 AM:

Hi,

Yes I had tried that but I lose the "old" sepia look entirely. I’m

trying

to retain that old look but without strong sepia look in small areas. I

also

notice a lack of what I call "colour depth" ie lack of contrast.

Regards
"Combaticus" wrote in message

in article LsHRc.41954$, The Old

Bloke

at wrote on 08/09/2004 2:28 AM:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown

(sepia)

areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may

be

due

to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

Scan using only shades of gray and not color.

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Thanks Mate,

I will try that

Regards

"Combaticus" wrote in message

After you scan in gray scale you can then add your sepia tone back in.
You can touch up the dark spots in the pic before you add the color back

in.

Before you go to all that trouble, look at the information in the color channels. Usually using the red will eliminate a lot of the brown stain when you do the conversion.

Tom

The Old Bloke wrote:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be due to faulty "fixing" after developing.
Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?

My guess is you may have success creating a mask based on the a channel in Lab mode, and using it as the layer mask for a curves adjustment layer. Make this into an action, and run it on all the images with similar problems, perhaps making manual adjustments as necessary.

Put a sample up on the net, and some of us will give it a shot. —

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

Hi Mike,

I am not computer literate enough to have a website, and I am exceptionally new to Photoshop, and haven’t even mastered layers yet.

Can I email a 400K copy to your pcbell address?

Regards

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be due to faulty "fixing" after developing.
Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?

My guess is you may have success creating a mask based on the a channel in Lab mode, and using it as the layer mask for a curves adjustment layer. Make this into an action, and run it on all the images with similar problems, perhaps making manual adjustments as necessary.
Put a sample up on the net, and some of us will give it a shot. —

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

The Old Bloke wrote:

Hi Mike,

I am not computer literate enough to have a website, and I am exceptionally new to Photoshop, and haven’t even mastered layers yet.
Can I email a 400K copy to your pcbell address?

The problem with that is it would essentially be a private communication between the two of us, rather than a group effort.

I’d suggest you join one of the free online photo groups, such as www.snapfish.com, www.ofoto.com, or www.photosite.com. Then we can all tak a look at your image and take a crack at editing it.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

Thanks for the web site!!!

Picture is at http://dround.photosite.com

The photo was about 450K but I see that the website has cut these down to 22k and 44K

Regards

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Hi Mike,

I am not computer literate enough to have a website, and I am exceptionally new to Photoshop, and haven’t even mastered layers yet.
Can I email a 400K copy to your pcbell address?

The problem with that is it would essentially be a private communication between the two of us, rather than a group effort.

I’d suggest you join one of the free online photo groups, such as www.snapfish.com, www.ofoto.com, or www.photosite.com. Then we can all

tak

a look at your image and take a crack at editing it.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

No, it’s no longer there. I will try again

Regards

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Thanks for the web site!!!

Picture is at http://dround.photosite.com

The photo was about 450K but I see that the website has cut these down to 22k and 44K

Regards

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Hi Mike,

I am not computer literate enough to have a website, and I am exceptionally new to Photoshop, and haven’t even mastered layers yet.
Can I email a 400K copy to your pcbell address?

The problem with that is it would essentially be a private communication between the two of us, rather than a group effort.

I’d suggest you join one of the free online photo groups, such as www.snapfish.com, www.ofoto.com, or www.photosite.com. Then we can all

tak

a look at your image and take a crack at editing it.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

No, it’s no longer there. I will try again

Regards

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Thanks for the web site!!!

Picture is at http://dround.photosite.com

The photo was about 450K but I see that the website has cut these down

to

22k and 44K

Regards

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Hi Mike,

I am not computer literate enough to have a website, and I am exceptionally new to Photoshop, and haven’t even mastered layers

yet.

Can I email a 400K copy to your pcbell address?

The problem with that is it would essentially be a private

communication

between the two of us, rather than a group effort.

I’d suggest you join one of the free online photo groups, such as www.snapfish.com, www.ofoto.com, or www.photosite.com. Then we can

all

tak

a look at your image and take a crack at editing it.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 08:25:21 GMT, "The Old Bloke" wrote (with possible editing):

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

Well, for what it’s worth, I love it! The only thing I would do is to remove the crease in the upper right. You can do that easily with the clone tool. (It looks like a rubber stamp) You position the pointer and then I think it’s an alternate key press while left clicking. Then you can run the tool over the area and correct the image by either dragging or clicking. If you’re really fussy, you might blur the correction afterwards. (blur tool looks like a drop of water) —

Larry
Mail may be sent to rapp at lmr dot com. Please
use plain text only as html is filtered out as spam.

The Old Bloke wrote:

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

Glad that worked. Great picture, BTW.

Here is my version:
http://geigy.2y.net/tmp/BrownSpots-corr.jpg

The procedure was as follows.

1) set shadow and highlight, and adjust overall brightness with curves or levels. Be especially careful to keep the velvet texture in the dark clothing.
2) use the sponge tool to desaturate the darker sepia areas
3) sharpen with USM
4) add color back with Hue/Sat (settings Hue 34, Sat 31) in colorize mode.

There’s a small amount of work in the upper right corner for the clone tool or healing brush.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

Hi Larry,

The photo (of my ancestors) was a recent find. It is now a treasured possession. As I am slowly locating more old photos, I decided to buy Photoshop CS, But I am struggling to master the software. Thanks for the help.
Regards from Australia

"L. M. Rappaport" wrote in message

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 08:25:21 GMT, "The Old Bloke" wrote (with possible editing):

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

Well, for what it’s worth, I love it! The only thing I would do is to remove the crease in the upper right. You can do that easily with the clone tool. (It looks like a rubber stamp) You position the pointer and then I think it’s an alternate key press while left clicking. Then you can run the tool over the area and correct the image by either dragging or clicking. If you’re really fussy, you might blur the correction afterwards. (blur tool looks like a drop of water) —

Larry
Mail may be sent to rapp at lmr dot com. Please
use plain text only as html is filtered out as spam.

Good Morning Mike,

Thanks for effort and help! I do appreciate it.

I will work thru your steps to try to duplicate what you have done, and I’m sure I will learn a lot. I know the clone tool and will look up the healing brush.

Great!

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

Glad that worked. Great picture, BTW.

Here is my version:
http://geigy.2y.net/tmp/BrownSpots-corr.jpg

The procedure was as follows.

1) set shadow and highlight, and adjust overall brightness with curves or levels. Be especially careful to keep the velvet texture in the dark clothing.
2) use the sponge tool to desaturate the darker sepia areas
3) sharpen with USM
4) add color back with Hue/Sat (settings Hue 34, Sat 31) in colorize

mode.

There’s a small amount of work in the upper right corner for the clone

tool

or healing brush.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

In message <BD3C9734.11AAD9%>, Combaticus
writes

in article LsHRc.41954$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 2:28 AM:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be due to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

Scan using only shades of gray and not color.

Actually, you’d be better off scanning in color and then converting to monochrome. But for detailed instruction, you should invest in a book: Katrin Eismann’s Photoshop Restoration & Retouching – well worth the money.

-Lucrezia

—
http://www.dont-blink.net/lining_up.htm

You seem to have asked a very good question with lots of different approaches

FWIW this is what I did:

1 – copy background and turn off the eye on Background – click in copy to work in it

2 – i applied a cooling photo filter – the blue will help to make reddish areas easier to spot

3 – i opened a levels layer (least ways I think it was that) then reduced the right hand bit of the histogram gauging results in preview until the blemished/stained area harmonised with the rest of the pic

4 – image -> mode -> grayscale and that seemed to confirm the stains had gone (there may be a better way to do this bit)

As other learned colleagues and contributors have stated the clone tool set to, say, 10 pixels will help with the creases and spot blemishes

Overall strategy
a – work on copy layer of image only

b – apply a filter that is complimentary to the stain (it acts as an indicator)

c – use histogram (red) to reduce intensity of stain

d – convert to grayscale

you may possibly automate the above to batch process images

the Arty one

ps – i ain’t even going to say that this is the best way but it seemed to wurk for mee

A

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Good Morning Mike,

Thanks for effort and help! I do appreciate it.

I will work thru your steps to try to duplicate what you have done, and

I’m

sure I will learn a lot. I know the clone tool and will look up the

healing

brush.

Great!

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

Glad that worked. Great picture, BTW.

Here is my version:
http://geigy.2y.net/tmp/BrownSpots-corr.jpg

The procedure was as follows.

1) set shadow and highlight, and adjust overall brightness with curves

or

levels. Be especially careful to keep the velvet texture in the dark clothing.
2) use the sponge tool to desaturate the darker sepia areas
3) sharpen with USM
4) add color back with Hue/Sat (settings Hue 34, Sat 31) in colorize

mode.

There’s a small amount of work in the upper right corner for the clone

tool

or healing brush.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

ps – after doing that try

filter -> noise -> despeckle

filter -> noise -> dust & sctratches (set at 1 pixel)

and maybe as the final touch

filter -> sharpen (use a setting and option which gives pleasure to the eye)

Arts

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Good Morning Mike,

Thanks for effort and help! I do appreciate it.

I will work thru your steps to try to duplicate what you have done, and

I’m

sure I will learn a lot. I know the clone tool and will look up the

healing

brush.

Great!

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

Glad that worked. Great picture, BTW.

Here is my version:
http://geigy.2y.net/tmp/BrownSpots-corr.jpg

The procedure was as follows.

1) set shadow and highlight, and adjust overall brightness with curves

or

levels. Be especially careful to keep the velvet texture in the dark clothing.
2) use the sponge tool to desaturate the darker sepia areas
3) sharpen with USM
4) add color back with Hue/Sat (settings Hue 34, Sat 31) in colorize

mode.

There’s a small amount of work in the upper right corner for the clone

tool

or healing brush.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

An appeal to the great and experienced:

If I save into .psd can I also save the history too

Arts

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Good Morning Mike,

Thanks for effort and help! I do appreciate it.

I will work thru your steps to try to duplicate what you have done, and

I’m

sure I will learn a lot. I know the clone tool and will look up the

healing

brush.

Great!

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

Glad that worked. Great picture, BTW.

Here is my version:
http://geigy.2y.net/tmp/BrownSpots-corr.jpg

The procedure was as follows.

1) set shadow and highlight, and adjust overall brightness with curves

or

levels. Be especially careful to keep the velvet texture in the dark clothing.
2) use the sponge tool to desaturate the darker sepia areas
3) sharpen with USM
4) add color back with Hue/Sat (settings Hue 34, Sat 31) in colorize

mode.

There’s a small amount of work in the upper right corner for the clone

tool

or healing brush.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

Thanks for the tip!

"Lucrezia Herman" wrote in message

In message <BD3C9734.11AAD9%>, Combaticus
writes

in article LsHRc.41954$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 2:28 AM:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be due
to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

Scan using only shades of gray and not color.

Actually, you’d be better off scanning in color and then converting to monochrome. But for detailed instruction, you should invest in a book: Katrin Eismann’s Photoshop Restoration & Retouching – well worth the money.

-Lucrezia

—
http://www.dont-blink.net/lining_up.htm

Hi Arty,

I will give it a try

Regards

"Arty Phacting" wrote in message

You seem to have asked a very good question with lots of different approaches

FWIW this is what I did:

1 – copy background and turn off the eye on Background – click in copy to work in it

2 – i applied a cooling photo filter – the blue will help to make reddish areas easier to spot

3 – i opened a levels layer (least ways I think it was that) then reduced the right hand bit of the histogram gauging results in preview until the blemished/stained area harmonised with the rest of the pic
4 – image -> mode -> grayscale and that seemed to confirm the stains had gone (there may be a better way to do this bit)

As other learned colleagues and contributors have stated the clone tool set
to, say, 10 pixels will help with the creases and spot blemishes
Overall strategy
a – work on copy layer of image only

b – apply a filter that is complimentary to the stain (it acts as an indicator)

c – use histogram (red) to reduce intensity of stain

d – convert to grayscale

you may possibly automate the above to batch process images
the Arty one

ps – i ain’t even going to say that this is the best way but it seemed to wurk for mee

A

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Good Morning Mike,

Thanks for effort and help! I do appreciate it.

I will work thru your steps to try to duplicate what you have done, and

I’m

sure I will learn a lot. I know the clone tool and will look up the

healing

brush.

Great!

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

The Old Bloke wrote:

Try this link. It is now correct.

http://dround.photosite.com/Album2/

Glad that worked. Great picture, BTW.

Here is my version:
http://geigy.2y.net/tmp/BrownSpots-corr.jpg

The procedure was as follows.

1) set shadow and highlight, and adjust overall brightness with curves

or

levels. Be especially careful to keep the velvet texture in the dark clothing.
2) use the sponge tool to desaturate the darker sepia areas
3) sharpen with USM
4) add color back with Hue/Sat (settings Hue 34, Sat 31) in colorize

mode.

There’s a small amount of work in the upper right corner for the clone

tool

or healing brush.

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

That would be great

Regards

"Arty Phacting" wrote in message

Hit TOB

If you set up a use once email address I’ll set a similar one up and pop my
contributions to you by email if you wish

One is grayscale and t’other is sepia

they seem improvements on the original 🙂

Arts

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be

due

to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

Hit TOB

If you set up a use once email address I’ll set a similar one up and pop my contributions to you by email if you wish

One is grayscale and t’other is sepia

they seem improvements on the original 🙂

Arts

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be

due

to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

And here’s another: check out Katrin Eismann’s web site: http://www.digitalretouch.org/ – and take a look at the sample chapters and Reader Gallery examples!

-Lucrezia

In message <htcTc.56295$>, The Old
Bloke writes

Thanks for the tip!

"Lucrezia Herman" wrote in message

In message <BD3C9734.11AAD9%>, Combaticus
writes

in article LsHRc.41954$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 2:28 AM:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be due
to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

Scan using only shades of gray and not color.

Actually, you’d be better off scanning in color and then converting to monochrome. But for detailed instruction, you should invest in a book: Katrin Eismann’s Photoshop Restoration & Retouching – well worth the money.

-Lucrezia

—
http://www.dont-blink.net/lining_up.htm

—
http://www.dont-blink.net/lining_up.htm

Groovio The Old Bloke

3 emails should be winging there way through cyberspace to oz at this very moment

i did not attach a fully fledged grayscale or sepia image

what i did in addition to what appears in the NG was to tweak final color of overall image

starting with a sepia base to retain than aesthetic associated with time i tweaked towards different colors to maintain a notion of age while refreshing and cleaning the original image

Arts

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

That would be great

Regards

"Arty Phacting" wrote in message

Hit TOB

If you set up a use once email address I’ll set a similar one up and pop my
contributions to you by email if you wish

One is grayscale and t’other is sepia

they seem improvements on the original 🙂

Arts

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may

be

due

to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

In message <BD3C9734.11AAD9%>,
Combaticus wrote:

in article LsHRc.41954$, The Old Bloke
at wrote on 08/09/2004 2:28 AM:

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may be due to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?

Scan using only shades of gray and not color.

That’s a quick solution, but not the best. If you scan in color, you can make an alpha mask of the affected areas from their saturation, and process them for contrast and levels. If you scan in greyscale, you won’t get the masks you need to do this properly.
—

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
John P Sheehy

<<> <>>< <>>< ><<> <>>< ><<> ><<> <>><

pssst T’old Bloke

erm ssshhh leesten eye veel say zees ony vunce

1 – start IrfanView

2 – load the image

3 – click on Image -> Convert to Greyscale

4 – save the file with a slightly different file name using best JPEG compression (make sure that show options box is ticked and select 100)

5 – close IrfanView

6 – start PSCS to finish off the job

Arts

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

That would be great

Regards

"Arty Phacting" wrote in message

Hit TOB

If you set up a use once email address I’ll set a similar one up and pop my
contributions to you by email if you wish

One is grayscale and t’other is sepia

they seem improvements on the original 🙂

Arts

"The Old Bloke" wrote in message

Hi People, I an new to Photoshop, having just bought it.
I am scanning very old B/W photos which often have marked brown (sepia) areas within them. The photos were home developed and the problem may

be

due

to faulty "fixing" after developing.

Will someone give me detailed help on how to remove these?
Regards

On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 23:52:00 GMT, "Arty Phacting" wrote:

pssst T’old Bloke

erm ssshhh leesten eye veel say zees ony vunce

1 – start IrfanView

2 – load the image

3 – click on Image -> Convert to Greyscale

Convert to grayscale is not a good way of doing it. You’re far better off using the Channel Mixer in PSCS.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

in article , Hecate at
wrote on 08/14/2004 5:49 PM:

On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 23:52:00 GMT, "Arty Phacting" wrote:

pssst T’old Bloke

erm ssshhh leesten eye veel say zees ony vunce

1 – start IrfanView

2 – load the image

3 – click on Image -> Convert to Greyscale

Convert to grayscale is a good way of doing it.

You don’t know very much, do you.

LOL yes, you are quite right 🙁

I do not know very much at all and I see a wonderful learning curve ahead

(but <whispers> -ssshhh- it did work)

Though I thought it was sorta smart applying a near complimentary colour to ID the stains

Arty

"Branko Vukelic" wrote in message

in article , Hecate at
wrote on 08/14/2004 5:49 PM:

On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 23:52:00 GMT, "Arty Phacting" wrote:

pssst T’old Bloke

erm ssshhh leesten eye veel say zees ony vunce

1 – start IrfanView

2 – load the image

3 – click on Image -> Convert to Greyscale

Convert to grayscale is a good way of doing it.

You don’t know very much, do you.