Restore Old Black and White Photos in Photoshop
Old photographs begin to lose their luster over time. As a result, you may one day decide you would like to restore them. An important thing to remember is the original photograph is an artifact and therefore, should be kept as safe from harm and sunlight as possible. Restoring old photographs is an excellent way to keep and circulate pictures of your family and the past without risking damage to the original, as they can be printed out in bulk. It also decreases the amount of handling the original photograph endures.
Instructions
1. Clean your photograph with a soft cloth to remove dust and fingerprints. Simply rub the cloth over the photograph gently.
2. Scan your photograph at 300 dpi or higher. An optimum is 600 dpi, but the file size is much larger.
3. Open your scanned photograph in Photoshop. Save a duplicate copy of it by going to "Save" and "Save As" and giving the file a new name. This will leave your original photograph unchanged.
4. Create an adjustment layer of your photograph. Press "Control" and "A" to select the entire photograph, then "Control" and "C" to copy it, and then "Control" and "V" to paste the photograph.
5. Click on the third icon (like a yin yang symbol) at the bottom of the layers palette. A list of options will appear; choose "Threshold."
6. Move the slider bar completely to the left. Slowly slide it back to the right until the first black pixels begin to show on your screen. Click "Ok."
7. Zoom in on the pixels by rolling the mouse ball over the area, so that you can get an accurate sampling.
8. Hold down the Eyedropper tool, found on the left side of the screen, to get the Color Sampler Tool. Mark one of the black pixels by clicking on it with the Eyedropper tool.
9. Discard the Threshold layer by clicking on it and dragging it to the trash can at the bottom of the layers palette.
10. Repeat Step 4 to create another adjustment layer.
11. Choose "Threshold" from the third icon at the bottom of the layers palette.
12. Drag the slider bar all the way to the right, and then back toward the left until the first white pixels begin to appear.
13. Use the Color Sampler Tool to sample the white pixels and discard the layer by dragging it to the trash can at the bottom of the layers palette.
14. Select "Image," "Adjustments" and "Curves."
15. Click on the black eyedropper and click where you created the dark sample area earlier. Repeat the process using the white eyedropper in the white area you sampled.
16. Select the clone tool from the left side of the screen if there are any damaged areas. For any damaged areas, click next to them to select what should be in the damaged area. Then click on the damaged area to fill it in with the selected clone section. If you make a mistake, you can press "Control" and "Z" to undo your last action.
17.Choose "Filter," "Noise," and "Add Noise." Click the box labeled "Monochrome." Use the slider to adjust the noise level until you have a photograph you are satisfied with.
Tags: bottom layers, bottom layers palette, layers palette, original photograph, your photograph, adjustment layer