Photo Restoration Blog

Posts Tagged ‘photo restoration the right way’

I have here an example of a photo restoration, (removing a person) that if not correctly restored a simple brightness adjustment would reveal some very shoddy work indeed, I will explain.

Removing people from a photo

Lets have a look at this photo of some handsome college chaps on a night out with their partners. A request was made to remove the girls from the background which could be easy if it weren’t for the a hand on a shoulder and filling of the huge gap left behind.

There are two ways to go about this, the quick way and the right way. The quick way would be to select the girls with the selection tools and careful selection. Then simply clone over the girls with a large soft clone brush and rebuilding the pink shirt where the hand was.

Here is the image lightened a great deal to show the background detail.

Cloning in this manner creates repeat patterns where the clone brush has just laid down the same texture and detail each time creating an unconvincing background.

The incorrect way to clone

The right way would be to select and clone over but then make sure the background details were consistent with the image by following on the trees and the rocks behind the boys. I would not be able to sleep knowing that an image had been butchered in this manner.

Here is the image with corrected background detail and the top section of shadows lightened.

The correct way to clone

Now you know when your restoration is received and it looks like that “the people have been removed”. Think a bit more about what has gone on to achieve what you asked. I am sure that you will now begin to appreciate just how much is involved when a request is made to “remove those people”.

Image-Restore brings you a photo restoration service throughout the uk

If ever you look into having a photo restoration done, how do you know that you are going to have it done properly? You can look at the site that offers the restoration and look at their example images of “before” and “after” and surely if it looks good then that’s all there is to it. The price is right so why not go for it.

STOP! I will tell you why. Look closely at those “before” and “after” images of the so called photo repairs. Think about what the restoration artist has done. Let us check the skill level of the restoration artist.

1. When replacing a back ground on a portrait. Has the background got the same tone and texture and grain as the part of the image that is left. Look carefully as there may be some tell tale signs of a quick fix. Halos or smudged lines around the original subject or person. There may also be cropping of the photo repair where the artist has eased the workload and trimmed off background that they didn’t want to deal with. Did you ask for that, and do you mind?

Good background texture

Image showing good texture where a restoration has been carried out correctly

2. Restoring details in the background. Are there strange repeat patterns in the background? Does it look like the grass is like a repeat pattern wall paper? Does the same bit of wood appear many times, or is that brick wall just a 10 times copy and repeated over and over to save time? Is there smudging or are there ill defined areas where the artist has simply blotted out details?

Incorrect cloning technique

Image showing repeat patterns and bad texture where a restoration has been carried out incorrectly and with a lazy technique.

3. Does it look like it has been restored? When an image is very badly damaged, the artist will have to work hard to fix the damaged areas. Depending on the skill of the artist the image may look like it has been worked on. This will normally be where large areas of faces have been damaged or smooth tones or block colours have been divided by a tear or tape marks. However a skilled artist will make sure that the tones and the texture match and that the photo repair does not just look like a lifeless block of colour.

Look out for these pointers when examining the work on display, if you detect any of this go somewhere else, as the skills probably aren’t there in the first place.

Image-Restore.co.uk Providing photo restorations and repairs throughout the UK

If ever you look into having a photo restoration done, how do you know that you are going to have it done properly? You can look at the site that offers the restoration and look at their example images of “before” and “after” and surely if it looks good then that’s all there is to it. The price is right so why not go for it.

STOP! I will tell you why. Look closely at those “before” and “after” images of the so called photo repairs. Think about what the restoration artist has done. Let us check the skill level of the restoration artist.

1. When replacing a back ground on a portrait. Has the background got the same tone and texture and grain as the part of the image that is left. Look carefully as there may be some tell tale signs of a quick fix. Halos or smudged lines around the original subject or person. There may also be cropping of the photo repair where the artist has eased the workload and trimmed off background that they didn’t want to deal with. Did you ask for that, and do you mind?

Good background texture

Image showing good texture where a restoration has been carried out correctly

2. Restoring details in the background. Are there strange repeat patterns in the background? Does it look like the grass is like a repeat pattern wall paper? Does the same bit of wood appear many times, or is that brick wall just a 10 times copy and repeated over and over to save time? Is there smudging or are there ill defined areas where the artist has simply blotted out details?

Incorrect cloning technique

Image showing repeat patterns and bad texture where a restoration has been carried out incorrectly and with a lazy technique.

3. Does it look like it has been restored? When an image is very badly damaged, the artist will have to work hard to fix the damaged areas. Depending on the skill of the artist the image may look like it has been worked on. This will normally be where large areas of faces have been damaged or smooth tones or block colours have been divided by a tear or tape marks. However a skilled artist will make sure that the tones and the texture match and that the photo repair does not just look like a lifeless block of colour.

Look out for these pointers when examining the work on display, if you detect any of this go somewhere else, as the skills probably aren’t there in the first place.

Image-Restore.co.uk Providing photo restorations and repairs throughout the UK