There are many styles of photo restoration and not all of them lend themselves to the best results.
Photo restoration is one of those very difficult techniques to get right.
Colouring photos is a very tricky skill to master, its best avoid those colours that show garish hues and that are supersaturated. Flat colours on skin and clothes can look very odd so it is best to avoid these too.
Care must be taken when replacing the background without due cause to do so. If the skills are there to repair the background then its best do so without needlessly replacing it with a quick fix. If the background has to be replaced then try to replace it with an exact, recreated one, with both matching grain and texture.
Smoothing everything over, rather than repairing the damage is also something to be avoided. Avoid airbrushing or simply blurring out the cracks. This makes the whole “restoration” look like a painted scene. It destroys much of the original detail and subtle tones that form the shapes within the photo. A process which turns facial features into a smeary mess of either painterly swirls or plastic flatness. Concentrate on using the patch tool or healing brush tool to repair and maintain texture.
Anyone wishing to improve these techniques should take a look at the many tutorials out there on the web. If the photo restoration does not look natural or real and the photo looks restored then do some more research to improve. Everything I have learned I have read in books or gained through forum participation, retouching networks and articles or videos.
Make sure you watch the right videos and read the right articles and books. Don’t just read everything, check the author is well established and an expert in what they do. The same goes for videos, watch those put out by other well-established artists. If you are unsure, research their work first. Those that “wow” you by the standard of their work and comments and folio should be the ones to pay attention to. Don’t get into bad habits and do constantly learn new skills. The key to any restoration is taking it slow and avoid the temptation to cut corners.
Make sure you use a tablet and pen to benefit from using the right tool for the job.
I hope this has been helpful and should you need some help and tips please read the blog.
If you cannot get to grips with learning photo restoration and don’t know where to start, check out my main photo repair page for more details on how I can help you and how you can hire me.
Dear Sir,
I believe you may be referring to my website when talking about a restoration company that claims to be a specialist at one service, whilst showing little to no pictorial evidence to back that up.
I have only just started on this venture, and the website is yet to see any traffic. I have been hoping to amass further material, but the death of my mother last year put pay to that ambition. I understand your frustration at the standard of competition out there, but would say to you that while the competition is so weak, so you place in the market is much stronger. However, beware, for one my commitments to my late mother’s estate are complete, you will have greater competition yet!
yours
Rich H
Hi there
Many of the techniques in my blog post cover a wide range of styles used by the many hundreds of restoration companies. My blog post covers what is out there in general as is not aimed at any individual. In fact your site is not one I have come across before. When I do search for “photo restoration” on the web I get 38,700,000 results! I do not see how my observations could single out any one website. As you can read the article was not one sided. I offered advice on how to rectify any issues that restoration artists may be having with their skill set. This post was an observation and an education not a finger point.
I am glad you enjoyed my post and hope to see more work on your site, good luck in the market place.
Point taken Neil.
As I say, you’re work is quality and will rise to the top anyway. The company I mentioned below do seem to use the smooth technique but manage to keep the detail. As I say, I do my own restorations as a hobby and I’ve never come across this tecnique before where such a smooth finish is achieved without losing detail. In my experience you sacrifice clarity to achieve the smooth finish.
Its certainly possible when the image is restored to add a layer of similar tone over a problem area, match the grain and blend it over the top. This of course makes that bit of the image seem superb and like new, even if a little unnatural. Then the rest of the photo looks like wrong, so do more! But then the whole image should be done to make it the same. This is where it often goes wrong, some parts are “done”, others not, ending with a image with some “new” bits and some original bits looking like a Hollywood postcard. The reason why only some parts are done an not others is that its a lengthy process to select all the elements in a photo and treat it this way, thus too much cost for the whole thing. This leads me back to my previous comment about doing work that just inst needed. In my opinion this is not restoration. I don’t want an “illustrated” look to my photos, I want them to look like photos. 🙂
Ultimately I don’t really see the issue? From what I’ve seen your work is a good standard and will rise to the top anyway. Why shouldn’t other businesses have a go? If people want to pay them for shoddy work then fair play to those taking the money.
As an aside, I’ve had a look around and comparing your photos to pristineimage.co.uk I have to say that their finish seems to be of a better quality than yours. I’ve dabbled in this area as a hobby, hence me finding your blog and always find that I can smooth my pictures but I end up losing calrity. At pristine he seems to keep the quality but achieve a smooth finish as well. Any tips on how he does that? Or is it a marketing ploy?
Hi There. I am not suggesting other businesses should not have a go, just ensure that they don’t churn out so much bad work that it tars and dilutes the good work that is done. The article is aimed at those companies to take stock of their skills and improve them to ensure they don’t charge premium prices for poor work. I have only shared my opinion of course as you have shared yours.
I cant vouch for the website you speak of but in my opinion smoothing over details when they need not be smoothed over is just another example of work the need not be carried out or charged for. It rather depends on what restoration style you find your customers prefer, mine prefer to see the image as it was , “restored”. Some prefer their image to have skin smoothed so much it looks like baby skin. This is not what mine prefer, so i have tuned my restoration techniques to simply “restore” the photos rather than give them any Hollywood postcard finishes. Its just a “style” such I have mentioned in my article. They more often than not take the photo further away from its original state rather than retuning it.
(the above is just a personal opinion and not aimed at any individual or company)
This is so true. Seems everyone is jumping on the band wagon today! It’s also right that there has to be a clear distinction between photo restoration, photo enhancement and photo manipulation. Most of the photo restoration services that seem to have sprung up in the last 2 years fall more into the enhancement/manipulation category. Adjusting tone and contrast, blurring details, removing backgrounds and such is not restoration.