|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Removing Cracks and Creases when Restoring Old Photos ? 5 Minute Digital Fix
A common problem with old photos is that they often have un-desirable cracks and creases. These can be removed quite easily using the Clone, Healing and Patch tools found in Adobe Photoshop. The problem is that this can become a very time consuming activity if the photo in question is severely damaged. This article describes a correction method using a free Action for Adobe Photoshop that can take less than five minutes to correct the majority of cracks and creases in an old photo For several months now I have been using a Photoshop Action called de-crack, developed by Tim J. Edwards, with very effective results. The original example image (Image 1) on our web-site page is typical of the sort of damaged photos we encounter on a daily basis. As mentioned, correcting these flaws in Photoshop is actually not difficult but can take a lot of time. Using Tim's excellent de-crack Photoshop Action will not necessarily result in a perfect "de-cracked" photo. Having said that, it certainly eliminates the more obvious cracks and creases resulting in you then needing to "tidy up" the outstanding cracks and creases manually with the Clone, Healing and Patch tools. Now before we get started, you will need to get a hold of a copy of Tim's de-crack Photoshop Action which you can download for free from the RetouchPRO web-site by searching for "de-crack" at the following link:- "http://www.retouchpro.com/pages/search.html" You will have to download a very small .ZIP file which will contain the single Photoshop .ATN action file. After you uncompress the de-crack.zip file you will need to save decrack.atn in Photoshop's "Photoshop Actions" folder and then "load" the de-crack action into your current action list. You're now ready to give it a try ... Step ? 1 Open up your damaged image in Photoshop Step ? 2 Run the De-crack Action with a high-pass value of 0.3. Each steps takes only a few seconds and should result in three new layers which collectively mask out the majority of image damage. Step ? 3 The end result is the elimination of most of the cracking damage, which will then allow you time to spend on the remaining cracks and creases, which are usually quite easy to correct manually. If you find that the de-crack action has in-advertently lost some of the detail of parts of the image, you can easily go to the offending "de-crack" layer in question and erase the de-crack effect selectively using the eraser tool, bringing back wanted detail. And there you have it!! Less than five minutes of digital image manipulation to remove cracks and creases from old photos. If you find the steps taking are a little hard to understand in this text based article, you can click on the link at the end of this article to see the same method explained on our website with the aid of example graphical images. © Gary Wilkinson 2005 - All Rights Reserved You can see this removal method complete with example images at Removing cracks and creases in photos Feel free to re-print this article provided that all hyperlinks and author biography are retained as-is. Gary Wilkinson is a photographer, photographic restorer and the owner of a photographic retail business. He is also the publisher of the http://www.restoring-photos-made-easy.com website, where other methods of correcting common photographic restoration problems are discussed.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Digital Photography: The RAW vs JPG Debate If you use a digital camera (I use a Canon EOS Digital Rebel/300D myself) and that camera is an SLR, then it most likely can record images in RAW format. In general, you should record your images at the highest resolution possible. If you only have a small memory card and are worried that you can only record a few RAW images on it, then it's time to buy a bigger card! [They don't cost much these days]. You can always shrink an image after it's taken but you can't enlarge a small one without introducing artifacts. At the very least, you should have your camera record images in Hires JPG format but RAW format is even better. How to Take Great Photos of Your Child Children are naturally photogenic. Ive worked in studios and children are so easy to photograph. What I hear from parents is that they dont think that their kids are that easy to photograph. Thats only because they dont know some basic tips. Everybody is Fixing Their House or Apartment Up These Days. Use That Digital Camera to Capture That's right, you go through all the trouble of making your house or apartment nicer by hauling yourself off to the local fix it yourself store or hiring some professionals to come in and do it for you, so why not capture an accurate record of it for posterity. At almost no cost I might add. How to Create a Great Video - a Simple Guide on How to Shoot Home Movies with a Camcorder So you have bought a camcorder and have shot some footage, but truthfully you don't much like the results. Maybe I can help. My advice is based on ten years of looking over people's shoulders at my business, the Video Kitchen in Louisville Kentucky, where people transfer old home movies, duplicate video tapes they've shot, and edit their raw footage. My staff and I see a lot of mistakes being made. Other times we see exciting footage shot by an amateur who claims to have no education in the art of videography. What makes the difference? Lots of things. I'll cover a few of the biggest issues here. Photography - Things to Consider Before Buying a Camera Before you are able to take the kind of photos you want to take, it is important to think about the equipment you would like to start out with. Probably the most important decision you will have to make is what kind of camera to buy. There are so many options and brands now that the whole process can seem quite overwhelming. Digital Image Files ? Megapixels, Megabytes, or DPI? When I promised readers that I was going to do an article on this topic I was scared. For two reasons - firstly, it's a HUGE subject. I get lots of questions about it, and I see a fair bit of misunderstanding about it. Secondly, there are already a lot of good articles about it on the web, like this one on luminous-landscape.com. The Arizona Desert Museum The vast beauty and richness of the desert can be easily seen in one place in Tucson, Arizona. Known as the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum ["Desert Museum"], this gorgeous and convenient site is host to a cornucopia of plants, birds and animals native to the desert. Home to more than 300 animal species and 1200 plants in natural settings, it is a photographer's paradise. Start a Photography Business from Home Anyone with the right camera equipment, and the necessary skills can set up a home business, marketing photography. You need only to convert a room of your house into an office, and then you can work immediately. Start Your Own Photography Business from Home Anyone with the right camera equipment, and the necessary skills can set up a home business, marketing photography. You need only to convert a room of your house into an office, and then you can work immediately. The Venice Rookery Love is in the air at the Venice Rookery. The birds (and the bees) are there doing the thing they are so famous for, and you can take pictures of it! Seriously, though, the Venice Rookery is an ideal spot to photograph birds mating, building their nests, fighting for territory and feeding their chicks. It's a requisite for bird photographers, and sheer delight for the rest of us. Photography Success Without School What I learned from a mentor that enabled me to go from an amateur photographer to a professional portrait photographer in very specific steps is something I like to pass on. Rather than spending countless hours in classes learning every possible detail, I learned just the necessary specifics and now I work out of my home full time and have been in business for over 17 years, but I started out with practically nothing; just an interest in photography and the need to earn more money. Removing a Textured Pattern from a Scanned Photo ? 5 Minute Digital Fix One of the most common problems when dealing with scanned photographs as part of a digital restoration activity is that after scanning, the digital image appears to have a textured pattern to it. Take Spectacular Nighttime Photos with your Digital Camera - Part I Night photographs express a special something that cannot be seen in normal daytime photography. Whether it is a photograph of a moon and starlit sky over a windy deserted beach, the excitement of a downtown cityscape when the lights go on, or just a picture of you and some friends in front of a favorite hangout, nighttime photos, when done right, are sure to attract attention. Using a Camcorder to Record Family Events Quickly and Easily Let's start there (but not spend too much time on it because you are probably already checked out on their use): Understanding Digital Photography Most serious photographers and all professionals use a Single Lens Reflex camera (SLR), the definition of an SLR camera is that the image is captured exactly as you see it in the viewfinder. However there are now two types of SLR the single lend reflex film (SLRF) and the single lens digital (SLD). They are both single lens camera, but digital does not use film and the resulting image can be processed at home with the aid of a photographic editor such as the chemical component in a traditional camera is film. When film is exposed to a real image, it makes a chemical record of the pattern of light, coming through the lens. Film has a collection of light sensitive frames, suspended on a strip of plastic. Colour film has three different layers of light sensitive material, which respond to red, green and blue (known as the (RBG) values. When the film is developed, it is exposed to chemicals, which dye the separate layers of film, into a color negative. All modern film is made up of silver halide crystals. How to Take Better Photos of Your Baby or Toddler Every Mom wants to take great photos of their babies and toddlers. We all want professional looking photos for our children without paying a fortune! This better baby photo article will help you take the best photos you can and you don't even have to own an expensive camera. Digital Camera Basics Digital Camera Basics? The Vocabulary Why 1.5 Megapixels is Enough Dots Per Inch is a useful measure of relative resolution. But if you don't know the image size in inches or some other measure of size, then the amount of dots per inch doesn't mean much. That's why DPI is used in conjunction with scanner Specifications, because you know that the size is going to be 3.8 by 1.7 inches! Digital Camera Auto Exposure and Auto Focus The digital camera being a fantastic and technologically advanced device contains many different applications of its own. Many users of this fabulous device are unaware of quite a few of these functions which can actually do wonders. And it is the duty and right of every person possessing the digital camera to intervene into the depths of knowledge to understand their prized possession and their varying qualities in order to foster the true respect that this device deserves. This article deals with providing information regarding one those qualities - Auto focus and auto exposure! The Alligator Farm - Home to Beautiful Winged Creatures Your first thought when you read "Alligator Farm" might be "tourist trap," but that could not be more inaccurate. And while the alligators are wonderful and plentiful at the place fondly referred to as the "Gator Farm," it is the birds that attract the world's best photographers.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
