Sometimes restoring a light leak or fogged film requires more than delving into the colour channels and making colour corrections. You can see below that I have shown you how to tackle restoring a light leak before. If you have negative that has fogged or had a light leak in the camera, it will most likely look similar to this when made into a print.
Our new image below is going to need some more creativity to help restore it!
Restoring a light leak or fogged film before restoration
Combining your skills and techniques to restore a photo
Using the skills you picked up from the post link at the start of this article we can use another skill to help correct the background. The wallpaper and woodwork behind the two men is very badly faded under the yellow light leak. We can either create new wallpaper or use one from pain stock or free stock or simply photograph our own. Read this post to create your own wallpaper for restoration.
When we have created the new paper and woodwork on top of the wallpaper, the elements can be assembled and layered on top of the image Here is a crop of the rough results.
Laer details of new background
The left orange brown coloured paper was added in perspective and shaded with 50 per cent grey “overlay” layer. Same for the blue paper. The ridges simulate the privacy glass texture in the glass. The woodwork was placed over the top in a matching colour and everything was blended into the grain of the original. This was done using noise and blur in various amounts until it looked right.
Basic drawing tools were used to create the wood. Masks and brushes were used for shading and shadows.
The final image had a bit of skin colour added and a final dodge and burn to ensure a good match between the foreground and background
The Final Image
Fogged film fix after restoration
I even recreated the beer sign on the right-hand side.
If your photo is badly affected by a light leak please visit the photo restoration page to see how I can help.
