How to clean up dirt on photos

M
Posted By
mike
Dec 4, 2004
Views
743
Replies
6
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Closed
I have some old photographs of my grandparents, but many are covered in dirt and marks. Can you give me (a relative newbie) some advice as to what techniques to use to try to clear up the images? I tried using the clone tool, but the results are pretty poor because of the areas and amount of marks on the images.

A good example of the type of marks I would like to try to clean up is here: http://www.64apocalypse.com/files/marks.jpg

Mike.
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LC
Larry CdeBaca
Dec 4, 2004
That photo is in great shape!

Find a tool like magic wand or even the rectangle marquee tool; select area(s);
use the Clone or Patch tool to copy an adjacent area over what looks like adhesive tape marks.

I wish all the family photos I have tried to restore were this clean.

"mike" wrote in message
I have some old photographs of my grandparents, but many are covered in dirt and marks. Can you give me (a relative newbie) some advice as to what techniques to use to try to clear up the images? I tried using the clone tool, but the results are pretty poor because of the areas and amount of marks on the images.

A good example of the type of marks I would like to try to clean up is here: http://www.64apocalypse.com/files/marks.jpg

Mike.

C
Corey
Dec 4, 2004
Hey Mike. I took the liberty to play with the image and this is what I came up with. I mostly used the clone tool with a soft brush at about 70 % opacity and the healing brush. The background was copied and pasted into a new layer where I used a Gaussian Blur, reduced the contrast and added a tiny bit of texture (Bevel & Emboss + texture):

http://home.comcast.net/~oneravenlunatic/marks_fixed.jpg

Open yours then open mine in the same browser window and use the back and forward buttons to see the changes.

Peadge 🙂

"mike" wrote in message
I have some old photographs of my grandparents, but many are covered in
dirt
and marks. Can you give me (a relative newbie) some advice as to what techniques to use to try to clear up the images? I tried using the clone tool, but the results are pretty poor because of the areas and amount of marks on the images.

A good example of the type of marks I would like to try to clean up is
here:
http://www.64apocalypse.com/files/marks.jpg

Mike.

S
seaside
Dec 4, 2004
Mike have a look at http://www.retouchpro.com/

mike wrote:
I have some old photographs of my grandparents, but many are covered in dirt and marks. Can you give me (a relative newbie) some advice as to what techniques to use to try to clear up the images? I tried using the clone tool, but the results are pretty poor because of the areas and amount of marks on the images.

A good example of the type of marks I would like to try to clean up is here: http://www.64apocalypse.com/files/marks.jpg

Mike.

SW
Steven Wandy
Dec 4, 2004
I have been doing some with with some of my Mom’s old photos and that was VERY impressive work.
M
mike
Dec 5, 2004
Thanks to everyone for the good advice 🙂

Mike.
A
A
Dec 7, 2004
The Healing tool works good, too.

John

I have some old photographs of my grandparents, but many are covered in dirt and marks. Can you give me (a relative newbie) some advice as to what techniques to use to try to clear up the images? I tried using the clone tool, but the results are pretty poor because of the areas and amount of marks on the images.

A good example of the type of marks I would like to try to clean up is here: http://www.64apocalypse.com/files/marks.jpg

Mike.

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

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