Expert: LizaL - 6/23/2005

Question
Lizal, can you help me fix a photo? I have an old picture from my sister of our aunt. Its got a lot of cracks in it and also a big tear on one side, all the wya down. There are also a lot of specks on it and what might be a finger print.

Its a black and white picture. I would like to fix it and print it to give to my aunt.

thanks
shonda

Answer
Hi Shonda,

I'd really like to be able to see your picture in order to help you restore it. Please feel free to email it to me at lizal_ae@hotmail.com. I'm sure you understand that without seeing your picture, it's virtually impossible for me to tell you how to go about fixing it, but if you send me a copy, I'll be more than happy to help you with your restoration.

In the meantime, here are some things you can try:

1. For the specks problem, you can try using the healing brush, in conjunction with the Pattern Maker filter. To do this, you need to open your image, and use the healing brush to clean up any fairly obvious dings. Then take your marquee tool -- and a rectangle is fine here -- and select a "cleaned up" portion of the image. Make sure your marquee tool feathering is set to 0.

Now, with that cleaned-up area still selected, go to the Filter pulldown menu and select Pattern Maker. Click on the Generate button at the top right of the dialog box, and Photoshop will generate a pattern based on your selection. You'll see the pattern you've just generated in place of your image -- and if you don't like what you see and want to create a new pattern that you think might be more suitable, click on Generate again.

This is the tricky part - at least for me, LOL! To save this pattern, find the teeny little Save icon at the lower left of the controls in the Pattern Maker dialog box. It's shaped like a little floppy disk, and is below the Tile History area. Click that, and your pattern will be saved.

Hit Cancel -- not OK -- and you'll exit to your image. Now choose your healing brush again, but this time, at the top of the screen where the tool options are, select Pattern. You'll be presented with a selection of patterns, and all you have to do is choose the one you just created (it's probably going to be the last one).

Now use the healing brush as usual.

Of course, you could just use the healing brush altogether, but what this step does is take the healing brush a bit further. Where this tool normally calculates the light and texture of your image and repairs using those values, it's now acting on a corrected piece of your image -- in other words, you've already made the calculations via the pattern you've made, and all you have to do is use the tool to generate those calculations.

This will make your restoration more lifelike -- you can create healing patterns for different areas of your image that might have varied forms of damage.

Go here to see 2 little movies connected with this:
http://little-works.com/all_experts/pattern_maker.mov
http://little-works.com/all_experts/use_pattern.mov


2. The patch tool is wonderful for repairing scratches and blemishes. It's in the same position of the tool box as the healing brush, and as a default, is located right below it.

Just like the healing brush, the patch tool works well with small selections. Once you've selected the patch tool, go to the tool options at the top of your screen and make sure "source" is selected. Now click and drag around a small damaged area of your image. Hold down the mouse button as you drag over to a "clean" (or clean-er) part of your image. Release, and you should see that the damaged area is fixed.

I use the term "fixed" loosely here, because you'll probably have to do much more than this, depending on the damage to your photo. You can also fade the patch tool selection by following the steps I've just outlined, then under the Edit pulldown menu, selecting Fade Patch Selection. Up will come a slider, and also a place where you can type in the value of fade, if you like.

Go here for a "down and dirty" example of how to use this tool:
http://little-works.com/all_experts/patch_tool.mov


So, without seeing your image, these are two things you can try. But please send me your picture, so I can make a proper assessment.

BTW -- one thing I urge against is using the Dust & Scratches Photoshop filter. Basically all this does is add a slight blur to your image, and you could do that with any of the blur tools, if you really wanted a blur! But there are many, many ways of eliminating dust, scratches, tears, etc. -- many more sophisticated ways, that is -- other than using the Dust & Scratches filter.

I'll look forward to receiving your image and helping you restore it!

Lisa

P.S. These movies are kind of large and if my server's slow, you might have to wait a minute while they load. Any trouble, send me an email.