[Gimp-user] Trying to remove fading from old b&w photo

[Denzo <forums gimpusers com>]

> Hmm.
> I said that, and now I go take a look at gimpusers.com, and I can't
> tell what
> notifications gimpusers com means. It may be an address that the
> gimpusers.com forum automatically adds to posts from their web UI. So,
> until I find out more about that, mea culpa. It was advice I shouldn't
> have been giving.
> Looks like you're having fun, and you've managed to clear quite a bit
> of the fading. And the effective focus is improved around the face and
> hands. But you've lost a lot of detail in their clothing.
>
> Looking at the man in the middle, in the back -- in the original, I
> can see the suit jacket. In your edited version, he is wearing
> something black.
>
> That detail usually can't be brought back out with further editing. I
> haven't pulled your trial_3 image off the forum to check, but I'm
> betting that will be the case here, too.
>
> So, unless you're rather sure that you (and your children's children?)
> won't be interested in the style of clothing, etc., in the future, you
> probably want to keep the original photo and the original scan, if you
> have a place to keep the photo and media for the scan.
>
> My files are rather disorganized, but I tend to keep a lot of
> intermediate copies around as long as I have room for them.
>
> Organizing files is still a problem I have not solved to my
> satisfaction, after forty years playing with computers. And the
> organization of our backups also affects whether our descendants will
> be able to access the information in the future, so I really should
> solve that problem. :-/
>
> One suggestion I might make is to include the original scans with the
> book, especially if you plan to distribute the book in digital form.
>
> I'm by no means an expert, but, so far, the only thing I have been
> able to find to help that kind of fading is careful and time-consuming
> use of various selection tools as I gradually apply the other tools
> I'm using to try to bring back the original colors (shades of black,
> in this case) -- equivalent, I think, to dark-room techniques
> involving graduated exposure. It looks like that may be something like
> what you've done.
>
> I think that there is software in existence that semi-intelligently
> figures out where the fading is and semi-intelligently cleans it up
> with semi-success that may or may not improve on what you can do by
> hand for a particular case. I have not been able to find such tools in
> the commonly accessible tools for the gimp (or for the commercial
> editing software, for that matter).
>
> If anyone has further input on that, I'm sure many of us would be
> interested.
> Unless things have changed in the last few years, a cheap scanners'
> settings generally don't alter the light source itself, just apply
> digital editing before they save the image. The editing functions that
> the manufacturer supplies may or may not be customized to the
> hardware, so they may actually be useful, or they may just be losing
> you information from the start.
>
> Which is the case for your scan settings on your scanner is something
> you'll have to figure out. I usually just take the rawest settings I
> can figure out so that I can control the editing myself, particularly
> if I'm using a scanner that I'm not familiar with.
>
> Professional scanners may allow you to adjust the light sources, and
> also provide you with custom software, some of which actually can be
> used to improve what the hardware gives you.
>
> But, as I said, I am definitely not an expert with this stuff.


Many thanks again for your thoughts Joel. You're right, I did have fun with what
to me was a real challenge. The photo was for my brother-in-law who has written
a family ancestry, just half a dozen copies to be given around the family. He
said he's really happy with the photo, he wasn't so concerned with the picture's
detail so much as generally improving the overall photo, especially the
discoloration.

I should have made notes re the process I followed, but didn't! I think,
similarly to what you said, I selected the very faded area and then used various
tools, also under the 'Fx-Foundry' tab I used some of the enhancement options
under 'Photo'. I also cloned and smudged to try and blend areas. It's a learning
process every time.

I'll look into my scanner!

I have learned all my Gimping by degrees since we retired to France twelve years
ago, I'm not a technical person (my hubby is but he's not into Gimp). Sometimes
I don't even understand some of the terms used, but I'm constantly curious and
fascinated by what Gimp can do.

Just checked your blog and I'm sure you'll become a novelist!

Thanks again 

-- 
Denzo (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)