Today I just wanted to explore the idea that using a pen and tablet would help speed up your photo restoration work.
By taking advantage of the sensitivity of the pen you may be able to speed up your workflow and retouch damage out faster, especially over large areas and when photo restoration is a tricky one. With a mouse, this could take lots longer not to mention wrist ache!
With a mouse, you are no able to take advantage of the “sensitivity” settings. Why is useful? The Pen is pressure sensitive. This means when you draw a line you can draw a thick line by pressing harder and a thinner line by using less pressure. Just like a real pen or brush or felt tip. This is especially useful for photo restoration when you need to “spot” a photo. Big dabs with the pen for big spots and little dabs for smaller spots. The same works with removing crack and damage.
When restoring a crack in a photo the crack often widens and narrows randomly. With the pen sensitivity settings, you can simply apply a bit more pressure to widen the brush tip and less to narrow it. This time-saving element prevents the need for constantly changing the tip size, watch the video and see what I mean.
If you have not tried a Wacom pen yet, do so. I will be very surprised if you are not a convert right away. If you stick with it you will do more work and faster than ever before, without wrist. Another advantage is no sweaty mouse in the summer when the thermometer is in the read. Holding a pen is far cooler. They even come with their very own stand so it is always ready for use! Who could ask for more?
If you wanted to try your hand at using a pen a tablet this link might be useful Wacom Intuos Pro Medium Pen Tablet